PCB Chat

The PCB/MCM design software market grew in the first quarter 2023, the ninth straight quarter of growth, according to the latest data from the ESD Alliance. Mike Buetow speaks with Wally Rhines, ESD Alliance spokesperson, and Merlyn Bruncken, market intelligence director with Siemens Digital Industries, about the record quarter, booming employment in the sector, and why the recovery in Japan be lagging the rest of the world.

When it comes to circuit assemblies, defects result in one of two situations. The preferred result of a defect is to capture it on your factory floor and repair it before it ships to the customer. The second scenario is referred to as an escape. That’s when the board ships to the customer and fails in the field. This is a scenario, all assemblers dread and strive to prevent. One way to prevent escapes is through the use of automated inspection or AOI systems. Mike Konrad's guests are Arif Virani, chief operating officer and cofounder of Darwin AI, and Bart Piwowar, CTO of Darwin AI, a manufacturer of innovative inspection systems. Virani is a technology leader with over 20 years of experience in the industry. He spearheads the company’s mission to transform manufacturing with a new standard for quality inspection using AI. DarwinAI’s solutions have been implemented at top electronics manufacturers to increase quality and efficiency while reducing waste. DarwinAI was selected by CBInsights for its AI 100 annual list of the 100 most promising private AI companies in the world in both 2020 and 2021. Before founding DarwinAI, Virani had a successful career in management consulting at McKinsey & Co., where he advised Fortune 500 enterprises on technology investments and transformation. He led several technology-enabled programs, including building and commercializing data and analytics capabilities. Virani started his career working as a software developer at various technology companies. In addition to his work at DarwinAI, Virani is an Advisory Board Member of NGEN Canada’s AI for Manufacturing Initiative. He has a master’s in business administration from the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School and a bachelor’s in applied science (computer engineering) from the University of Waterloo. Piwowar is an experienced product leader, leading high-performing product teams driven by data to deliver solutions that solve customer's problems. He has spent many years leading data science teams, applying Innovation methodologies, and working with emerging technologies to bring solutions in many disciplines. He graduated from University of Waterloo with a degree in physics and computing and followed with an MBA from Wilfrid Laurier University. Piwowar's career interests range from AI product development, decision science and entrepreneurship.

It goes without saying finding talent is a big deal in electronics design and manufacturing. John Watson is customer success manager at Altium, with more than 20 years' experience as a senior PCB designer. Watson also teaches classes on printed circuit design at Palomar Community College in San Marcos, CA. We discuss the Printed Circuit Board Design and Advanced Printed Circuit Board Design curricula, other related courses offered at Palomar, and why he emphasizes hand routing over autorouting. Palomar's website is palomar.edu. Watson may be reached at [email protected] or 619-886-8860. Watson will also participate on the Next-Generation Engineers panel at PCB West this year. The conference takes place Sept. 19-22, at the Santa Clara CA Convention Center. The panel takes place on Sept. 20, same day as the exhibition, and is free to attend; register at pcbwest.com.

Can reliability training be both entertaining and effective? The Manufacturing Game's Michelle Ledet Henley has a different approach to traditional training methods. Henley has worked with The Manufacturing Game since 1998 as a developer of new simulations and training material. She has traveled worldwide in her capacity as a facilitator and trainer for The Manufacturing Game and other simulations developed by Ledet Enterprises. Henley has been instrumental in developing simulations with a focus on reliability, project management and distribution. She began her career with KPMG Peat Marwick in San Francisco, and then worked for a real estate management and development firm in the Washington, DC area. Before joining The Manufacturing Game, Henley formed her own company, Innovative Interfaces, which provides computer programming services around the United States. Henley has a bachelor's of business administration degree from the University of Texas - Austin in accounting and information services.

Mike Konrad's guest is Dr. James Whitfield. Dr. Whitfield is an associate professor of physics at Dartmouth. He earned a bachelor's of science and chemistry and mathematics from Morehouse University and a Ph.D. in chemical physics from Harvard University. He was a postdoctoral fellow at Columbia University in New York, Vienna Center for Quantum Science and Technology in Vienna and Gant University and Belgium, and he is currently an Amazon visiting academic.

Wally Rhines, the former chairman of Mentor Graphics and now spokesperson for the ESD Alliance, updates us on the latest PCB design software and semiconductor market trends (spoiler alert: sales were up again), and addresses why ECAD companies are hiring even in the face of layoffs among Big Tech. He is joined by Merlyn Brunken, director of marketing strategic planning at Siemens Digital Industries Software to provide the quarterly report, which showed gains across a number of sectors and geographies.

Flux says every step of the electronic design process is slow, expensive, and error-prone. The startup company’s engineers think they have a solution: a browser-based PCB design platform and programmable simulator. Matthias Wagner, CEO and cofounder, and Kerry Chayka, product expert, both veterans of PCB design with companies like Facebook and Apple, discuss the problems that led them to develop an all-encompassing tool that includes a programmable SPICE simulator for testing circuits with real parts and environments.

The subjects of Industry 4.0 and Big Data have been widely discussed on this podcast. What is Industry 4.0? What data is our industry collecting? And, perhaps more importantly, how can we sift through all of that data to make it useful and actionable? To help answer these and other data-related questions, Mike Konrad interviews Ryan Gamble, CEO and Founder of Intraratio. Intraratio is a company that provides on-premise and cloud hybrid software with platforms to track, manage, control, and automate the manufacture of advanced electronics. Intraratio serves the semiconductor, SMT, space/military, medical device and EV markets. Ryan earned a dual electrical and computer engineering degree and spent many years in the semiconductor industry. He’s responsible for improving product manufacturing and testing of commercial and space/military product lines including multi-core DSP, RF and silicon photonics devices. During this period he developed software systems to automate and manage quality and reliability of complex electronics, extending this to hyperscale web-based platforms that interconnect factories globally. His passion is working with all levels, to identify and recommend solutions to business problems, based on a deep technical understanding of operational processes and product complexities.

Eric Camden (lead investigator with Foresite) and Mike Konrad discuss electrochemical migration (ECM) and other failure modes caused by residues on circuit assemblies.

On this episode, Mike Konrad speaks with Mark Goodwin, COO of Ventec Europe, a supplier of copper-clad laminates and prepreg bonding materials for the circuit board fabrication industry, about supply chain challenges.

The Printed Circuit Board Association of America, or PCBAA, was founded in 2021 to advance US domestic production of PCBs and base materials. The organization is made up of corporate members of all sizes, and includes fabricators, assemblers and suppliers. My guest today is David Schild, executive director of the PCBAA. We discuss government investment in printed circuit board manufacturing in the US, the just announced allocation for PCBs as part of the Defense Production Act, and how innovation can't stop at design. This episode of PCB Chat is sponsored by PCB East, the Electronics Industry’s East Coast Conference and Trade Show. Coming to the Boston suburbs May 9-12, and registration is now open at pcbeast.com.

VVDN Technologies is perhaps best known as a provider of end-to-end engineering and manufacturing of hardware, mechanical and electronic assemblies, and embedded software, among others. Founded in 2007, it now has 11 product engineering centers worldwide, plus seven manufacturing plants across India where its capabilities include SMT, injection molding, tooling, die casting, and metal stamping, among others. The company in February announced plans to invest $100 million over the next five years in a new 100-acre factory in Tamil Nadu. That plant will add PCB fabrication capability, rounding out the firm's vertical integration strategy. Vivek Bansal, co-founder and president of engineering, discusses the company's plans and future expansion in India and elsewhere with PCB Chat host Mike Buetow. This episode of PCB Chat is sponsored by PCB East, the Electronics Industry’s East Coast Conference and Trade Show. Coming to the Boston suburbs May 9-12, and registration is now open at pcbeast.com.

Metallic Resources is a developer of high purity solder for electronics applications, making paste, bar, and cored wire products, among others. Metallic Resources’ slogan is “not your typical solder,” and one big reason for that is the high purity solder it supplies. This is credited to the company’s electrolytic refining process. David Bao, Ph,D., director of New Product Development, Erik Ozan, senior manager and head of the recycling division, and Jeff Giles sales manager of Metallic Resources talk about that refining, reclaiming, the pros and cons of risk aversion, and why some companies are wasting money stuck in higher cost solder assembly processes with PCB Chat host Mike Buetow. This episode of PCB Chat is sponsored by PCB East, the Electronics Industry’s East Coast Conference and Trade Show. Coming to the Boston suburbs May 9-12, and registration is now open at pcbeast.com.

You don't have to be in the tech industry you understand importance and value of data. Industries have always collected various sets of data, first manually and, in modern times, automatically. The volume of data has historically been limited to the ability to capture and store it. Recent advances in technology have vastly increased the ability to capture and store data. The industry 4.0 movement has fueled both of desire and requirement to capture data. We have created a "be careful what you ask for" scenario as we now are capturing data at an unprecedented rate but frequently lack the ability to discern and analyze all of our newly captured data. Luisa Herrmann, head of product for Arch Systems, is helping to transform "big data" into useful data. Luisa has 10 years of experience in product management and product marketing, launching products, building teams, and scaling organizations in the data software space. She was most recently the head of product at Cape Privacy, an encrypted machine learning company, and before that she was the Head of Product at expert.ai, an NLP company. She has a degree in chemical engineering from the University of Pennsylvania and lives in the Boston area. Luisa Herrmann may be contacted here: [email protected] https://archsys.io/

APCT in February completed the acquisition of Advanced Circuits, a printed circuit board fabricator located in Aurora, Colorado. The acquisition nearly doubles APCT’s annual revenue, to $200 million, which immediately thrust it to the number 2 spot among PCB fabricators in North America, behind TTM. Steve Robinson, president and CEO of APCT, discusses the acquisition, the pending integration, and APCT's new responsibilities as one of the largest North American PCB fabricators with Mike Buetow. This episode of PCB Chat is sponsored by PCB East, the Electronics Industry’s East Coast Conference and Trade Show. Coming to the Boston suburbs May 9-12, and registration is now open at pcbeast.com.

On this show, we’ve discussed many aspects of the electronics assembly process. We talked about reflow, thermal management, printing, soldering materials, additives, and so much more. What do all these topics have in common? When done correctly, they all contribute to the reliability of circuit assemblies. Today, we’re going to dive into the subject of cleaning circuit assemblies after reflow. For many assemblers, the cleaning process was replaced by the use of no clean flux technology. Time and technology have eroded the concept of allowing all residues to remain on the assembly. Today, residue caused failures are such a concern, that IPC recently and radically changed the way circuit assemblies are considered to be clean. Mike Konrad's guests are Sal Sparacino and Eric Camden. Sal is sirector of sales at Zestron Americas, located in Manassas, VA. Zestron is a manufacturer of cleaning chemicals for the electronics industry. Eric is lead investigator for Foresite, an analytical laboratory based in Kokomo IN. Eric, is the person you call when things go wrong. Together with my experience as a cleaning equipment manufacturer, we’ll discuss how cleaning contributes to increased reliability, and we’ll review the reasons cleaning has returned as a mainstream assembly process.

We are all aware of the “oldest profession in the world.” Perhaps the second-oldest is counterfeiting. Whenever a product is introduced, a counterfeit version soon follows. While the electronics industry has experienced counterfeit components from its inception, recent events such as the pandemic and supply chain shortages have fueled the counterfeit industry. Statistics by the Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA) reveal that the counterfeiting of electronic parts in the US alone cost the chip industry more than $7.5 billion in revenue annually. According to new data from the ERAI, a global information board for counterfeiting, reports of counterfeit electronic products are growing. Although it is difficult to put an exact figure on just how many counterfeit products are in circulation, estimates suggest that consumer and industrial businesses lose approximately $250 billion each year due to counterfeit parts. To talk more about counterfeit components and detection technologies is Dr. Eyal Weiss, Founder and CTO of Cybord. Dr. Weiss received his Ph.D. in electronic and computer engineering from BGU (Ben-Gurion University) in Israel as well as a master's in plasma physics and bachelor's (cum laude) in mechanical engineering from the Technion–Israel Institute of Technology. He worked as a researcher on pulsed plasma at Soreq Research Center (SNRC). He then worked as a technology department manager in the high-tech fiber-optics industry. He was the technology manager at Lynx Photonics and then at Explay, developing state-of-the-art silicon and optical chips production, packaging, and assembly production lines. He developed a new fiber-pigtailing and packaging technology and built full-scale production lines utilizing this new technology. He returned to Soreq SNRC and for 15 years served as manager and leading scientist of the R&D Systems Department. He built mass-production lines and assembly lines for new sensors technology and developed their test equipment. He has twice received the prestigious Israel Defense Prize. In 2018, he founded and became CTO of Cybord, developing electronic component qualification and authentication technologies. He is a member of the Israel Innovation Authority, Euramet, SAE, and IPC committees. He specializes in multidisciplinary technology development and has received significant awards and accolades in the fields of machine learning, plasma physics, optical assemblies, laser technology, and electromagnetics. Dr. Weiss is an expert in technology development and manufacturing technology and has published over 20 peer-reviewed articles, 4 patents, and a book. This podcast is brought to you by PCB East, the original conference for the #electronics #design, #manufacturing and #assembly industry on the East Coast. Coming to Boxborough, MA, on May 9-12, with the one-day exhibition and a day's worth of free technical sessions on May 10. Visit pcbeast.com for details.

This episode was recorded live at the SMTA Pan Pacific Microelectronics Symposium in Hawaii. David Raby is president of Madison Alabama-based STI Electronics, a contract manufacturer for the EMS industry. David worked at the family business since he was a child and eventually took over the family business when his father (and company founder) Jim Raby retired. The electronics industry moves at the speed of light and any business within the EMS industry must learn to stay ahead of technology and trends. David shares some of his experiences in taking over the family business and some of the challenges his business (and many other businesses) face on a near daily basis. This podcast is brought to you by PCB East, the original conference for the #electronics #design, #manufacturing and #assembly industry on the East Coast. Coming to Boxborough, MA, on May 9-12, with the one-day exhibition and a day's worth of free technical sessions on May 10. Visit pcbeast.com for details.

On this episode of PCB Chat we discuss the third quarter 2022 printed circuit design software market data from the ESD Alliance, which were released Jan. 23, 2023. Our guests are Wally Rhines, who spent more than 45 years in in semiconductor and PCB design as an executive with Mentor Graphics and before that, TI; and Merlyn Brunken, whose is the longtime market intelligence director with Siemens Digital Industries, formerly Mentor. This podcast is brought to you by PCB East, the original conference for the #electronics #design, #manufacturing and #assembly industry on the East Coast. Coming to Boxborough, MA, on May 9-12, with the one-day exhibition and a day's worth of free technical sessions on May 10. Visit pcbeast.com for details.

Travis Kelly, president and chief executive of Isola and chairman of the Printed Circuit Board Association of America, joins PCB Chat host Mike Buetow to discuss the latest policy plans in support of the US printed circuit industry, and the new president of the trade group. Kelly gives updates on HR 7677, the bill introduced last year in support of the US PCB industry, and weighs the impact of the Chips Act on similar legislation for circuit boards.

Electricity is the life blood for all circuit assemblies. It can also afflict significant damage via electrostatic discharge. Today, Christopher Almeras of Raytheon reviews the various ESD mitigation strategies as well as some ESD horror stories! Almeras began his career in process engineering for a small electronics manufacturer in the late 1990s. There he became responsible for the sites ESD compliance verification. His next career move took him to a high-volume manufacturer where he added ESD Coordinator to his process duties. He eventually made the jump into the Military/Aerospace side of electronics manufacturing (with Raytheon) in 2010 where he has remained working in process, capital installations, continuous improvement, and ESD. In 2009, he completed the ESD Certified Program Manager from the ESDA. He serves as a member on several ESD Association standards committees including S20.20, TR53, Process Assessment, High Reliability, Electrostatic Attraction among others. In 2022 he took over the working group chair for Soldering/Desoldering Hand Tools. Almeras was elected to the ESD Association Board of Directors and continues to be active with the ESD Symposium each year. In 2018 he presented his technical paper “An ESD Case Study of Defect Analysis in High Speed Electronics Manufacturing” at the symposium. Almeras has a BS in mechanical engineering from Purdue University and an MS in industrial engineering from Oklahoma State University. He is an ESD Certified Program Manager (ESDA). During this episode, host Mike Konrad references the following: Reliability Matters Episode 104: A Conversation about ESD Flooring with Thomas Ricciardelli 4 Easy Ways to BLOW UP Your Test Gear Daniel Bogdanoff - Keysighthttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dDvue5whx0s

Historically, circuit assemblies are rigid devices. IoT (Internet of Things) has opened up the opportunity to embed electronics into a near limitless array of form factors. Some of these form factors require the electronic assembly to be flexible such as in wearable and medical applications. To complicate matters, the metal conductors on the assembly are rigid, not flexible or malleable. That may change with the adoption of liquid metals. We were exposed to the concept of liquid metal in the 1991 film "Terminator 2." Will science fiction become reality? Mike Konrad's guest is Dr. Michael Dickey. Michael is currently the Camille and Henry Dreyfus Professor in the Department of Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering at NC State University. Michael Dickey received a bachelor's in chemical engineering from Georgia Institute of Technology and a Ph.D. from the University of Texas. From 2006-2008 he was a post-doctoral fellow in the lab of Professor George Whitesides at Harvard University. Michael completed a sabbatical at Microsoft in 2016. Michael’s research interests include soft matter (liquid metals, gels and polymers) for soft and stretchable devices (electronics, energy harvesters, textiles, and soft robotics), and hopefully, for the sake of humanity, not liquid metal T1000 villains. Dr. Michael Dickey's contact information: [email protected]

Industry 4.0, the fourth industrial revolution. Beyond the buzzwords, what does this mean? David Graham is chief technology officer of 4IR.UK, a wholly owned subsidiary of Internet of Things-focused British Systems. 4IR.UK specializes in creating monitoring, control and automation solutions, often based on the MultiPlug Edge Computing Platform, for manufacturing environments. They also provide consultancy and development for other Industry 4.0 platforms. Host Mike Konrad was intrigued by a webinar presented by David titled “A Decade of Industry 4.0 – What it Wasn’t, What it Was,” and they speak about his thoughts, experiences, and opinions of Industry 4.0.

Allspice has developed a software platform that supports users of CAD tools for collaboration, design and schematic reviews and commenting, and tracking various hardware-specific attributes such as order status, manufacturing, and connection to the PLM. Allspice CEO Valentina Ratner and CTO Kyle Dumont have extensive experience in electronics hardware and software, both with startups and some of the largest companies in the industry. They share the origins of the company, and how their personal experience drove development of the AllSpice platform, which seeks to wean the supply chain off PDFs as a product development tool.

HDP User Group is an industry consortium made up of more than 50 leading companies that collaborate on research in order to reduce cost and time to market. Madan Jagernauth, marketing director and a project facilitator, discusses the latest programs, including ones on Pb-free manufacturing, with PCB Chat's Mike Buetow.

SMTA is well known for producing high-quality relevant technical conferences and symposiums. This includes, among others, the technical conference held at SMTAI, the High Reliability Cleaning and Coating Conference, the Symposium on Counterfeit Parts and Materials, the Advanced Electronics Assembly Conference, the Wafer-Level Packaging Symposium, the Electronics in Harsh Environments conference, and the Pan Pacific Microelectronics Symposium, often referred to as Pan Pac. Pan Pac is unique in many ways, beginning with its venue. Pan Pac is held annually at one of the Hawaian islands. This fact alone makes this symposium stand out. But there are many other factors that make this symposium unique. As Pan Pac’s steering committee says: "The Pan Pacific Microelectronics Symposium strives to build bridges and nurture relationships across all boundaries, oceans and cultures, industries and technologies, companies and individuals. Its location in Hawaii always provides the requisite isolation from day-to-day distractions necessary to support these goals and enhance personal face to face interactions. The Pan Pacific continues its mission of building the vision and future directions for the electronics industry!" Pan Pac 2023 is scheduled for January 30 - February 2, 2023, at the Sheraton Kauai Resort on the island of Kauai. To talk more about the upcoming Pan Pacific Symposium, Mike Konrad invited two colleagues who are instrumental in curating the technical contact for this symposium. Dr. Chuck Bauer, one of the creators of this symposium, and Keith Bryant join him to discuss the conferences technical tracks and presentations as well as their view on what makes this conference unique.

Like most manufacturers, the electronics manufacturing industry relies on countless suppliers to fulfill its manufacturing needs. I'm quite certain there is no one within the EMS space who fabricates their own boards using materials produced in house, operates their own semiconductor foundries, designs and manufacturers their own components, and produces soldering materials for their reflow process. Our industry relies on a vast network of manufacturers throughout the world to build even the simplest electronic assembly. Intellectual property security, cybersecurity, national security, are all hot topics today. No one wants their hard-earned intellectual property stolen. This is most true within the US military establishment. There are, at present, numerous policies, procedures, and regulations designed to protect various parts of our supply chain from unscrupulous people and companies. Today, companies are concerned about “controlled unclassified information” (CUI) and “controlled technical information” (CTI). That brings us to IPC-1791. What is IPC-1791? Randy Cherry, Mike Konrad's guest on this episode, explains. Randy Cherry has over 30 years' experience in engineering and is a certified SMT process engineer and an IPC auditor. He is director of Validation Services at IPC. Validation Services is a series of certification programs that qualify products and processes to the IPC industry standards.

It's been said on this show that one key factor to international competitiveness is automation. While labor rates vary widely across the world, automation helps to level the field. Michael McHale is CEO of Production Systems Automation, otherwise known as PSA. He graduated from Drexel University with a BS degree in mechanical engineering. PSA is a privately owned engineering and custom manufacturing firm founded in 1985, with three locations in Pennsylvania. They are experienced as a turnkey systems integrator, providing solutions for capital projects including, but not limited to; flexible robotic solutions, custom automated machinery, drives and controls & custom PLC projects. They also offer a line of standard products developed for industry specific customers. They are a robotic systems integrator at heart, representing leading global robotic OEMs. He joins Mike Konrad on Reliability Matters.

Last July, Indium Corporation announced a partnership with SAFI-Tech, an Iowa-based startup that is creating no-heat and low-heat solder and metallic joining products. They call these supercooled molten metal products, and they have direct application to electronics soldering. Dr. Ian Tevis, SAFI-Tech’s president and co-founder, and Dr. Andy Mackie of Indium Corporation, discuss this supercooling platform and what’s next toward bringing it to market with PCEA president Mike Buetow.

Today we’re diving into conformal coating best practices. With the explosion of IoT, the electrification of vehicles, and the miniaturization of circuit assemblies and associated components, many of which are operating in harsh environments, the need for conformal coating has never been greater. Coating your assemblies? Where does one start? What material should one choose? Should it be applied in-house or through a contract-coating house? What are the best practices in materials selection, application, inspection, and thickness? So many questions! To answer these and other questions, Mike Konrad invited a conformal coating expert to shed light on this subject. David Greenman began his career in the conformal coating business at Concoat distributing Humiseal products and eventually manufacturing them under license for Europe, the Middle East, India and Africa. After 25 years of distributing and manufacturing Humiseal products, Chase Corp, which owns Humiseal purchased Concoat. David now serves as director of Humiseal UK, Europe and India, responsible for corporate responsibility as well as supporting HumiSeal sales and technical teams. He is qualified as a radio, TV/electronics engineer and a member of The Society of Radio and Electronics Technicians, now the Institution of Engineering and Technology.

Wang Lu is cofounder of Jove Enterprises, a China-based printed circuit fabricator with five facilities in mainland China and one pending in Thailand. She discusses the company's technical strengths and markets, and reasons for branding out to Thailand, with PCEA president Mike Buetow.

Modern electronics assembly has seen so many changes over the years. In today’s era of IoT, the electrification of vehicles, the explosion in the use of bottom terminated components, the increasing implementation of electronics into harsh environments have all contributed to the increasing complexity and difficulty of building electronics. While so much has changed, there are some things that have remained the same. One such thing is the need for ESD control. There always was and continues to be the challenge of protecting components from the dangers of static electricity. My guest today is Thomas Ricciardelli, founder and CEO of SelecTech, a manufacturer of ESD flooring for the electronics assembly industry. Tom is also the chairman of the Flooring Committee of the EOS/ESD Association. Tom earned a master's in chemical engineering from MIT and an MBA from the MIT Sloan School of Management.

Stephen Chavez spent the past 12 years as a principal engineer and global subject matter expert of PCB design for Collins Aerospace and Raytheon. This year, he joined Siemens as a senior product marketing manager, where he focuses on methodologies for adopting a strategy for resilience and integrating the Design-to-Source Intelligence insights from Supplyframe. He speaks with PCEA president Mike Buetow about automation in design, from autorouting to integrating component data in a timely fashion, to reduce design time.

Today, Mike Konrad talks about low-volume electronic assembly. We all know who the “big players” are when it comes to solder paste printers, pick-and-place machines, reflow ovens and other assembly equipment. But what choices does one have if they need to produce low volumes of electronic assemblies such as prototypes and other low-volume applications? Let’s face it, most assemblers can’t justify a multi-million-dollar production line for low-volume production. One solution may be to outsource the production to a contract manufacturer but there are specific circumstances which may prevent that. In today’s episode, we’ll review some of the equipment options for low-volume SMT production and we’ll see if the barrier to entry for in-house assembly is lower than one might think. Mike's guest today is Ed Stone. Ed is a sales manager at Manncorp, a provider of SMT assembly equipment for the EMS industry. Manncorp was founded 55 years ago back in 1967. Just imagine how much our industry has changed over the past 55 years!

Today, we're going to talk about contract manufacturing. Do you have a circuit assembly that needs to be built? Don’t have the equipment in-house or enough bandwidth or specialized expertise to build it? You may be best served by utilizing the services of a contract manufacturer. Contract manufacturers come in all shapes, sizes and capabilities. Should I seek out a Tier 1 manufacturer? How about Tier 2, 3, 4? What does tier stand for anyway? should I have my assemblies built overseas or in-country? What about issues such as ITAR? Who will be providing the components? What if I need more than just boards assembled such as design, testing and box build? To answer these and so many more questions Mike Konrad turns to his friend and colleague David Raby. David is the President of STI electronics, founded in 1982 by David's father the late Jim Raby. Those of you who have been around the electronics industry for some time will know Jim Raby for his work with the US Navy in establishing military standards for electronics manufacturing and the development of the NASA and Department of Defense Soldering Schools. Over the past 40 years, STI Electronics has expanded its focus from consulting and technical seminars to providing training, laboratory analysis, advanced research and development, microelectronics assembly, prototyping, and small to medium volume PCB contract assembly for the electronics industry. David graduated from Auburn University with a bachelor’s degree in Aviation Management.

It seems today, the entire world is experiencing supply chain challenges in nearly all product categories. In the electronics assembly industry, the focus has been within the semiconductor market, especially in North America. Why is this? How did the US allow this to occur? Was it shortsightedness, greed, an overreliance on foreign suppliers, other factors, or a combination of all these factors? What would it take to finally address this issue and are we doing anything about it? My guest today is Matt Kelly, chief technologist at IPC. IPC recently published a report on the chip shortage and, perhaps most importantly, came up with a list of 28 recommendations our industry can consider to remedy this issue. Matt is focused on driving next-generation technology advancements and supply chain transformation across the electronics industry. He works within the association’s executive leadership team to identify and develop new strategic initiatives, meeting member and industry needs. He delivers influential thought leadership, research, and advocacy to industry and governments. He leads IPC’s Chief Technology Council to continually drive the electronics industry forward. His focus areas include Industry 4.0 – Factory of the Future digitization, modernization, adoption, and implementation; IPC expansion into new advanced packaging technologies including IC-substrates and OSAT manufacturing; and next generation electronic systems design methods. When I first met Matt he was with IBM. Matt comes to IPC following a 15-year career at IBM, holding several senior technology and engineering leadership positions within IBM Systems Division. His technical contributions include 25 patents, 85 publications, and numerous industry awards. Matt is a licensed Professional Engineer with a degree in chemical engineering from McMaster University and holds an MBA in strategic management from Sir Wilfrid Laurier University.

This is the 100th episode of the Reliability Matters podcast! Hear clips from past episodes and messages from past guests on their views about reliability. Mike Konrad gives a special thanks to the 117 guests he has had the privilege to learn from. Also, thank you to listeners and viewers of this podcast. Here is a list of guests (subject matter experts in their fields) that had been on RM: Jen Fijalkowski - Keith Bryant - Dr. David Bernard - David Kruidhof - Robert Boguski - Phil Zarrow - Jim Hall - Dr. Ron Lasky- Dr. Kunal Shah - Marco Sanchez - Colin Harper - Jesper Lykke - Greg Papandrew - Kevin Huo - Mike Adamson - Tony Lentz - Brian O'Leary - Joel Scutchfield - Bob Doetzer - Christopher Frederickson- Miles Moreau - Paul Salerno - Stan Rak - Bev Christian - Matt Kelly - Cheryl Tulkoff - Greg Caswell - Dave Trail - Dr. Martin Anselm - Tanya Martin - Greg Vance - Dr. Raiyo Aspandiar - James Kovacevic - Trevor Galbraith - Phil Stoten - Eric Miscoll - Mike Buetow - Patrick Stimpert - Chris Denney - Tim Jensen - Mark Waterman - David Leventhal - Joan Carrol-Kennedy - Murray Percival Jr. - Todd Wittmer - Amit Dror - Melissa Hough - Norman Mier - Annaka Balch - Nadia Clement - Raaga Kannan - Tim O'Neill - Fred Dimock - Dock Brown - François Monette -Tara Dunn - Dave Hillman - Graham Naisbitt - Dr. Eric Fossum - Prakash Gango - Kalyan Nukala - Dr. Martin Anselm - Michael Ford - Dr. Sean Clancy - Dr. Bill Cardoso - David Alexander - Matthew Chalkley - Dr. Jennie Hwang - Phil Zarrow - Bob Willis - Ray Prasad - Dr. Chris Jackson - Dr. Mike Stull - Keith Bryant - Greg Papandrew - Mark Hughes - Greg Ziraldo - Dr. John Mitchell - Jim Hall - Dr. Darren Williams - Barbara Kanegsberg - Dr. Ed Kanegsberg - Judy Warner - Greg Smith - Tony Lentz - David Heller - Eric Camden - Brook Sandy - Alun Morgan - Kay Parker - Mark Levin - Jon Rodin - Robert Boguski - Elizabeth Kidd - Manuel Schöllig- Phil Kinner - Paul Mullen - Mike Logan - Yash Sutariya - Brian D'Amico - Fred Schenkelberg - MB Allen - Michelle Ogihara - Sherry Stepp - Dr. Mike Bixenman - Doug Pauls - Dr. Craig Hillman - Sal Sparacino - Dr. Terry Price - Ravi Parthasarathy - Umut Tosun - Wendy Casker - Paco Solis

Reshoring has been a buzzword for a few years now. But when supply chains are undergoing dramatic disruption and inflation is raging worldwide, what is the reality? To answer those questions and more, we are turning to Dr. Matthew Dyson, senior technology analyst at ID Tech Ex. Dr. Dyson just coauthored a white paper titled "Factory of the Future." He discusses what that looks like, explaining the key trends in industrial manufacturing -- sensors, additive manufacturing, automation and flexibility -- and the timeline for adoption with PCEA president Mike Buetow.

Is there a broad consensus on what "smart manufacturing" is, and more specifically, its application in electronics assembly? Brian Morrison, vice president of engineering for Vexos, a mid-tier multinational EMS with manufacturing facilities in the US, Canada, China and Vietnam and more than 900 employees worldwide, gives his take on smart manufacturing and its relationship to AI and Lean to PCEA chief content officer Chelsey Drysdale.

In late 2018, IPC shocked the electronics assembly community by introducing an amendment to section 8 of the J-STD-001G. This amendment radically changed the way industry determines cleanliness. Now, assemblers must prove their assemblies are clean enough not to experience electrochemical migration events which would cause the assembly to fail. This new process of obtaining objective evidence has been met with a considerable degree of confusion. To help clear up the confusion, Mike Konrad speaks with Graham Naisbitt, vice chair of the IPC 5-30 Cleaning and Coating Subcommittee that oversees 15 IPC Standards Development Committees and recipient of 14 IPC Standards Awards. Naisbitt is an IEC 1906 Lord Kelvin Award Winner, IEC TC91 WG2, 3 and 10 Maintenance Leader of 4 Standards, and a British Standards Institution EPL-501 Member. He is a specialist in surface insulation resistance testing, ionic contamination control, solderability, conformal coating materials and application systems, cleaning, inspection and test.

John Burkhert Jr., senior PCB layout engineer and author of Designer’s Notebook, the monthly column on PCB design engineering, talks about the so-called soft side of engineering: people skills. He recently posted a 1250-word piece titled There May Come a Time When PCB Design Requires People Management Skills. It struck a chord with more than a few designers and engineers, who shared similar anecdotes. He shares the story and some lessons learned over his three decades in electronics design. This special 100th episode of PCB Chat is sponsored by PCB West, the leading conference and exhibition for printed circuit and design engineering. Coming Oct. 4-7 to the Santa Clara CA Convention Center. Learn more at pcbwest.com.

Jen Fijalkowski works for Aim Solder. Jen obtained her B.S. from the University of Rhode Island in chemical engineering and is a certified Lean Six Sigma Green Belt. Prior to her role as a technical marketing engineer, she interned as a SMT Process Engineer, where she analyzed various reports regarding solder paste printing and coauthored "Comparison of Aperture Designs, Solder Pastes, Nanocoatings and Print/Inspection Systems," published in PCD&F/Circuits Assembly. Jen also produces a video blog titled “Line Down” where she discusses common questions about solder paste best practices and how to avoid solder paste induced line-down situations. Mike Konrad spoke with Jen about solder paste best practices as well as some of the latest advances in solder pastes such as low temperature, low voiding, and high reliability solder pastes.

The Rochester Institute of Technology in January launched its first course on printed circuit board design. Instruction was performed by Dr. Kirsch Mackey, an electrical engineer and head of hardware training at HaSofu. On this episode of PCB Chat, we speak with Dr. Mackey and Dr. James Lee, acting chair of the Electrical and Computer Engineering Technology department at RIT, about the new course, what was taught, the students’ response, and the next steps for the program.

Mike Konrad speaks with four experts, not about brands or models of x-ray equipment, rather about best practices for purchasing x-ray equipment. There are numerous manufacturers of x-ray equipment, each with multiple models with varying capabilities. Which type of x-ray equipment is right for your application (2D, 2.5D, 3D, etc)? What are the price ranges? What are the capabilities? What questions should I ask when speaking with manufacturers of x-ray equipment? How do I define my needs? How do I avoid buying too little or too much? These and other questions are answered by our expert panel. Our expert panel includes: Keith Bryant of Keith Bryant Consultancy. Keith has more than 30 years in the electronics industry and has worked for and with x-ray equipment manufacturers. [email protected] Dr. David Bernard of David Bernard Consultancy. David has more than 20 years of experience in the x-ray industry and has worked for and with x-ray equipment manufacturers. [email protected] David Kruidhof, sales manager for Creative Electron, a manufacturer of x-ray equipment. [email protected] Robert Boguski, president of Datest, an analytical laboratory specializing in failure analysis. Rob is a user of x-ray equipment. [email protected]

A couple episodes ago, Reliability Matters host Mike Konrad spoke with Dr. Ron Lasky about a couple of books he wrote. He also recommended one he didn't write: "Troubleshooting Electronic Assembly: Wisdom from the BoardTalk Crypt" by industry gurus Phil Zarrow and Jim Hall, available on Amazon (both were prior guests on this show). This episode, we’ll have a conversation with Zarrow and Hall about their book. If you’ve been in the electronic assembly industry for some time, there’s little doubt that you have heard of Phil Zarrow and Jim Hall. Zarrow has been involved with PCB fabrication and assembly for more than 35 years. He is president and principal consultant of ITM Consulting. Hall has been involved in the electronic assembly industry for the past 26 years. He’s a principal consultant and resident Lean Six Sigma Master Black Belt with ITM Consulting. He’s also an instructor in the Lean Six Sigma programs offered at Dartmouth College. Together with Dr. Lasky, Zarrow and Hall designed the SMTA SMT Processes Certification Course.

Cadence and Dassault Systèmes in late February announced the combining of the former's Allegro platform with the latter's 3DExperience platform in a joint solution that enables customers to perform multidiscipline modeling, simulation and optimization of complex, connected electronic systems. The firms say this new multidisciplinary approach can accelerate customers’ end-to-end system development process while optimizing their design for performance, reliability, manufacturability, supply resilience, compliance and cost. Today’s guests are Stéphane Declée, CEO of the Dassault Systèmes ENOVIA brand, and Michael Jackson, corporate vice president of R&D at Cadence's System, Package, Board Group. They address a range of topics related to the integration, including how this could help users working in both environments, the manufacturing elements that can now be simulated, the functionality updates, and how other partnerships with ECAD and MCAD providers will be affected.

In early May the Printed Circuit Board Association of America held its first annual meeting, at which they shared progress on their overarching goal, which is to advance US domestic production of PCBs and base materials. Coinciding with that meeting came an announcement from a pair of US legislators that they had introduced a bill to incentivize purchases of domestically produced PCBs as well as industry investments in factories, equipment, workforce training, and research and development. The bill, known as the Supporting American Printed Circuit Boards Act of 2022, is aimed at helping to level the playing field for US-based electronics companies by incentivizing investment in capabilities and training. Travis Kelly, president and chief executive of Isola and chairman of the PCBAA, joins PCB Chat host Mike Buetow to discuss the new bill and the highlights of the annual meeting.

Mike Konrad speaks with Dr. Ron Lasky and Jim Hall, authors of the SMTA SMT Certification Courses (along with Phil Zarrow) about the content of these courses. He also speaks with course students, Claire Hotvedt of Indium Corp. and Tom Watson of Kimball Electronics about their experience taking the courses and the value they received. SMTA offers two certification courses: • SMT Processes • Lean Six Sigma Green Belt Each SMTA Certification program is a three-day offering consisting of a 1.5-day workshop on topics in SMT Processes or Lean Six Sigma Green Belt. The program concludes on days two and three with an open and closed book examination (SMT Processes) and open book examination (Lean Six Sigma Green Belt.) This is not an entry-level program. Basic algebra will be used in the workshop and examination. This challenging examination requires both written answers and calculations with the intent to enable the attendee to establish competitive credentials as "Certified" by the SMTA in SMT Processes or Lean Six Sigma Green Belt. More information on the SMTA certification courses is available here: https://smta.org/page/certification

Dr. Ron Lasky talks about the many books he has authored on SMT processes and production efficiencies. Dr. Ron Lasky is a Senior Technologist at Indium Corporation, as well as a Professor of Engineering at Dartmouth College, where I have twice had the privilege of speaking on the Dartmouth campus to his students. If you're like some people who view the next generation of young adults skeptically and pessimistically, I can assure you your view would quickly change after spending time with his students. Dr. Lasky has more than 30 years of experience in electronics and optoelectronics packaging at IBM, Universal Instruments, and Cookson Electronics. Additionally, he has served as an adjunct professor at several colleges, teaching more than 20 different courses on topics ranging from electronics packaging, materials science, physics, mechanical engineering and science, and religion. Dr. Lasky holds numerous patent disclosures and is the developer of several SMT processing software products relating to cost estimating, line balancing, and process optimization, all subjects of paramount importance in today's hyper-competitive environment. He is the co-creator of engineering certification exams that set standards in the electronics assembly industry worldwide. Dr. Lasky was awarded the Surface Mount Technology Association’s (SMTA) Technical Distinction Award in 2021 for his "significant and continuing technical contributions to the SMTA." He was also awarded SMTA's Founder’s Award in 2003. Dr. Lasky holds four degrees, including a Ph.D. from Cornell University in materials science, and is a licensed professional engineer. He has authored six books, and contributed to nine more, on science, electronics, and optoelectronics,

Kunal Shah, Ph.D., is president and chief scientist at Lilotree, a manufacturer of novel surface finishes for circuit boards. He explains the advantages of surface finishes utilizing the thinnest thickness of gold as well as Ni-Less ENIG surface finishes to Mike Konrad.