Electronic design automation (EDA) software developer Altium and electronics manufacturer MacroFab last week announced the launch of Altimade, an application the companies say allows their customers to obtain quotes and place orders for printed circuit board (PCB) assembly without leaving the design environment.

Altimade provides a direct connection from Altium’s PCB design applications to MacroFab’s electronics Manufacturing-as-a-Service platform, according to a press release from the companies. With Altimade, PCB designers can request rapid quotes from MacroFab, place orders for their PCBs, and track these orders directly within Altium design software (including Altium Designer, NEXUS, and Altium 356). Previously, users had to export their PCB design data and upload it to MacroFab’s platform.

Once a PCB order is placed, MacroFab will source all the components and organize assembly at one of its 75 partner factories spread across North America. A record of this process, including any necessary changes to the design or bill of materials, will be available in Altimade.

The design software industry continues to move towards tighter integration between disparate parts of the design and manufacturing process, and Altimade appears to fit snugly in this paradigm.

“By integrating Altium’s cloud platform for PCB design with MacroFab’s modern, digital-first manufacturing platform, Altimade represents a huge step towards the digital transformation of the electronics industry,” said Ted Pawela, Chief Ecosystem Officer of Altium, in the press release. “We’re no longer designing FOR manufacturing as a separate activity, but designing WITH manufacturing in a collaborative environment.”

The new integration did not come out of the blue. The Altium-owned Octopart electronics search engine was already integrated with MacroFab’s platform, and last May, Altium was one of three investors in a $15M Series B funding of MacroFab. In an interview with engineering.com following the funding announcement, MacroFab CEO Misha Govshteyn spoke glowingly of the EDA provider.

“[Altium] have big plans for what they’re going to do with manufacturing… we’ll definitely be doing more together,” Govshteyn teased at the time.

Altium Designer 22

Altium separately announced Altium Designer 22, the latest version of the company’s PCB design software. Among the new features of the product is Parts Insight Experience, which Altium says provides designers with real-time specs and availability for more than 1 billion parts from over 300 distributors. This feature will alert designers if they select components that are supply-constrained or near end-of-life and will suggest lower-risk alternatives.

“Altium Designer 22 and Altium 365 work together to streamline the design process and ensure our engineers have the supply chain intelligence to complete their work in a single design environment,” said Lawrence Romine, Altium’s Vice President of Global Marketing, in a press release.

Other updates to Altium Designer 22 include the ability to model new board characteristics, enhanced SPICE simulation, smarter automatic routing, and improvements to solder paste settings.