Customer Success Stories
Learn how Breville increased the speed of its processes by up to 4 times through Altium 365 Pro
"We design, develop and manufacture innovative products sold in over 50 countries around the world. We drive innovation through a real understanding of consumer needs, their insights, and we empower development teams with tools like Altium 365. The Altium platform provides seamless collaboration between mechanical design and electronic design teams: we really want to bring those teams together far early in the development cycle, with a high level of maturity, allowing us to bring learnings, and reducing the number of unknowns, increasing confidence in the design.”
Learn how Breville, a consumer electronics company from Australia, was able to speed up its product development process by at least four times with Altium 365.
Founded in Sydney in 1932, Breville has become an iconic global brand that enhances people’s lives through thoughtful design and brilliant innovation, delivering kitchen products to more than 70 countries around the globe.
Its design facility in Sydney is staffed by around 200 engineers, industrial designers, product managers, and scientists, among other professionals. This fast-paced business requires a high degree of flexibility, which is why Breville decided to invest in cutting-edge tools to help with initiatives that support this growth and empower employees to make decisions quickly and accelerate the processes and innovations.
Feedback on Designs
Jacob Vartanian, Mechatronic Engineer, reports, “The biggest problem was communication. Information was disseminated through multiple channels, with screenshots, with reduced efficiency and difficulty to complete a given project on time.” Tibor Hegedis, Principal Electronics Engineer - Design Authority, adds, “With Altium 365, all communication stays within the project, providing greater transparency, traceability, and accountability of all data.”
Breville’s team also states that the web browser view alternative was an especially important change for those who are inexperienced with Altium Design or are non-technical.
“With Altium 365, all communication stays within the project, providing greater transparency, traceability, and accountability of all data."
Communication with Manufacturer
Vartanian mentions that the communication between the designer and the manufacturer was inconsistent. “We always needed to ensure they had the correct revision drawings. The adoption of Altium 365 was very important: it helped improve decision-making processes, identify design flaws and share appropriate information. Communication with manufacturers is the key ingredient that turns visions into reality. With manufacturing centers, supply chains, and third parties around the world, Altium 365 minimizes or even eliminates existing communication barriers.”
“I am sure that each of us had an experience with the manufacturing of the wrong version of a PCB design, and this could delay us for at least a month. With Version Control in Altium 365, we know exactly what is being produced,” Hegedis adds.
Choosing the Right Component
Zoe Zhao, Electrical Engineer, addresses the importance of managing the component lifecycle inside Breville. “In the previous process, the manufacturer would select components based on solutions that work for them, which may not work as well for the specific project.”
“Breville creates and owns the component library, so the manufacturer can only select components from that library. The parts chosen are reliable components from preferred suppliers. Breville can now manage the component lifecycle, reducing time spent on sourcing by staying organized and with access to real-time supplier availability and pricing.” Zhao concludes.
"The adoption of Altium 365 was very important: it helped improve decision-making processes, identify design flaws and share appropriate information. Communication with manufacturers is the key ingredient that turns visions into reality. With manufacturing centers, supply chains, and third parties around the world, Altium 365 minimizes or even eliminates existing communication barriers.”
Onboarding the Team
Hegedis shared that, at first, the team was too busy to look into anything new, but with only a few sessions with the Altium team, Breville implemented the new platform and experienced significant results. “With Altium 365 as the collection point for resources and online documentation, the team is able to share best practices and lessons learned with the tool. Design templates are now well-structured, containing a centralized and easy-to-maintain component library, allowing seamless collaboration between electrical and mechanical engineers with MCAD CoDesigner. This helped Breville to develop and build a highly structured approach.”
To view this webinar’s video recording (1:12:08), click here: How Breville Innovates 4x Faster with Altium | Altium.
