PCB Chat

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.

Jack Fisher is project facilitator of the High Density Packaging User Group, also known as HDP, and Madan Jagernauth is marketing director and project facilitator. They discuss HDP's new technology direction initiative, which focuses on projects to support enabling technologies, and share details of some of those new programs. They also invite nonmembers to their first face-to-face meeting in two years, taking place May 18-19 in Austin, TX. Nonmembers may attend the May 18 session and the facilities tour of Novacentrix.

On this episode of PCB Chat we discuss the fourth quarter 2021 market numbers from the ESD Alliance, which were released the week of April 4, 2022. 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 Marlboro, MA, on April 11-13, with the one-day exhibition and a day's worth of free technical sessions on April 12. Visit pcbeast.com for details.

Recorded at IPC Apex Expo in San Diego, Mike Konrad has conversations with two guests. Marco Sanchez from SMT North America talks about thermal control of reflow ovens. [email protected] Colin Harper of BPM talks about automatic device programming. [email protected]

Mike Konrad talks with four guests: Jesper Lykke from Viscom talks about inspection systems. [email protected] Greg Papandrew from Direct PCB talks about PCB buying and his new book "PCB Basics for Buyers": [email protected] Kevin Huo from EM Solutions talks about fast-turn contract assembly. [email protected] And Michelle Ogihara from Seika USA talks about the advantages of joining trade associations. [email protected]

Michael Kirschner is president of Design Chain Associates, where he helps manufacturers understand and ensure that their products comply with health and environmental regulatory, customer and market requirements. He has broad expertise in areas including semiconductor quality and reliability, software design and development, hardware design, development, and manufacturing as well as manufacturing processes and supplier/supply base management. The background enables him to help manufacturers assess and improve supply chain risk, readiness and performance, and achieve (and go beyond) compliance with product-related health, environmental and social regulations like REACH, RoHS, Circular Economy and EcoDesign, WEEE, Conflict Minerals, California's Proposition 65 and Safer Consumer Products, as well as performance standards like IEEE-1680.n (EPEAT), and customer demands around the world. He speaks with PCEA chief content officer Chelsey Drysdale on the open comment period for RoHS 3, the circular economy, and why environmental and sustainability standards have yet to achieve their goals.

While it may seem like an untimely topic given the current supply chain shortages, storage systems for electronic components are an important part of the electronic assembly industry. While we are still in the midst of a supply chain crisis, sooner or later this will be solved and the question of where to put all of our components will be waiting for us to answer. It's often said we don't have time to work on the important because we're so busy working on the urgent. Mike Konrad's guest is Mike Adamson, product manager for Inovaxe, a provider of material handling products and services for the electronics assembly industry. In today's hyper-competitive electronics assembly industry, efficiency and optimization are key to maintaining competitiveness. Mike received a bachelor's in physics from the University of Wisconsin LaCrosse as well as bachelor's in electrical engineering from the University of Minnesota Twin Cities. In addition, he earned an MBA in marketing from Lynn University.

Mack Technologies is one of the largest privately held US-based EMS companies. It recently moved into a 164,000 sq. ft. facility in Juarez, effectively doubling its footprint there. President Will Kendall and VP of operations, Juarez Oscar Gonzalez speak with PCB Chat host Mike Buetow on the demand behind the expansion, the local employment situation, and moving product over the US-Mexico border.

Tombstoning is a reflow issue causing components to stand up, creating opens. FCT Solder's Tony Lentz discusses the causes and mitigation techniques to illuminate tombstoning. Tony Lentz has worked in the electronics industry since 1994. He entered the industry as a process engineer at a circuit board manufacturer and worked there for 5 years. Since 1999, Tony has worked for FCT Companies as a chemical laboratory manager, production facility manager, and most recently a field application engineer. Since 2013, Tony has focused on field application and R&D for FCT Assembly solder and stencil products. Tony has extensive experience in research and development, quality control, and technical service with materials used to manufacture and assemble printed circuit boards. Tony has published and presented many papers at industry events. Tony is a speaker of distinction with SMTA,and participates in IPC J-STD-004 and J-STD-005 standards development task groups. Tony holds B.S. and M.B.S degree in Chemistry. Tony was a guesy in Episode 32 where he talked about stencil design and void reduction. Tony produced a DoE on the subject of tombstoning. View his presentation here: https://fctsolder.com

In January Rochester Institute of Technology launched a hands-on program focused on printed circuit board design. The first offering is one the first true PCB design classes available at a major university in the US to be taught by an experienced design engineer. Dr. James Lee (pictured), acting chair of the Electrical and Computer Engineering Technology department at RIT, and Chris Banton, director of marketing at EMA Design Automation, join Mike Buetow to explain the new program.

One of my favorite subjects is the electrification of automobiles, not just electric cars, which are with us now, but completely autonomous vehicles., says Mike Konrad. In the 1960s, we were promised flying cars by the year 2000. While that goal was not met, the real prospect of autonomous vehicles in our lifetime is extremely exciting, terrifying, and realistic. Brian Leary and Mike Konrad discuss the future of the automobile industry and what's required for the electronics industry and the world.

Wally Rhines, ex chairman of Mentor and spokesperson for the ESD Alliance, joins PCB Chat host Mike Buetow to discuss the latest data for the printed circuit board and semiconductor design software market. Led by big gains in analysis and physical design, PCB tools turned in another solid quarter. Rhines shares the data, along with observations on key end-markets and why electric vehicle designs are sometimes misunderstood.

In July 2021, in response to two decades of a declining US market, a group of printed circuit board fabricators and suppliers established the Printed Circuit Board Association of America, or PCBAA. The organization seeks market fairness and a level playing field on which US PCB manufacturers can compete against competitors subsidized by foreign governments. Travis Kelly, president and chief executive of Isola, the materials developer, and chairman of the PCBAA, joins PCB Chat host Mike Buetow to discuss the new consortium's outlook and strategy.

Today, we discuss Fit for Use solder paste inspection. As we've repeated several times on this show, it is said most reliability problems begin at the printer. Our industry utilizes a lot of materials in order to produce a circuit assembly. If the materials, specifically the solder paste is out of spec, that can affect reliability. Unfortunately, in most cases, one cannot simply open a jar of solder paste and easily determine visually if the solder paste their applying to the stencil is fit for use, or if it has gone bad, or is out of spec. Mike Konrad's guest will discuss what solder paste fit for use means, and how we can provide methods for determining its fit for use right on the production floor. On a completely unrelated topic, but maybe even more interesting, he also has experience in wearable electronics in temporary tattoos. You bet we ask him about that!

Lorain County Community College, located in northeast Ohio, about 30 miles west of Cleveland, became in 2018 the first community college to offer an applied bachelor’s in microelectronic manufacturing. And a year ago, it formed the Manufacturing Electronics & Rework Institute for Training, or MERIT, which the hands-on training lab. Last spring, the program graduated its first students. Johnny Vanderford, the director of MERIT and an assistant professor of MEMS at LCCC, and Courtney Tenhover, program developer, Engineering, Business, and Information Technologies, join Mike Buetow to discuss how industry companies shape the program curriculum and its potential for adoption by other colleges.

Larry Marcanti, executive director of the High Density Packaging User Group (HDP), and Madan Jagernauth, marketing director and project facilitator, talk with Mike Buetow about the trade consortium's recent semiannual meeting and its recently finished projects, including one for SIR. HDP (hdpusergroup.org) is a consortium of more than 50 global companies that conceives and runs projects on electronics packaging and reliability. It has completed more than 50 such projects over the course of its 25 years.

Larry Welk is co-owner of Smart Splice. Larry is a business owner with a history of working in the electrical and electronic manufacturing industry. Skilled in sales, business management, business development, business process improvement, and sales management, Larry says he obtained a Master's degree from the school of hard knocks. After getting knocked down, he says he always focused on learning and getting back up again, a valuable lesson we can all learn from! Mike Konrad talks to Larry about his “up and down” journey and learn what knocked him down and, more importantly, what his inspiration and techniques were to get back up again.

Miles Moreau, KIC’s general manager, has been with KIC for nearly three decades. He draws his deep and rich expertise from managing multiple business units across four continents spanning operations, field service, and sales and marketing channels. His expertise is in thermal management and that’s exactly what we’re going to talk about today. We’ve discussed how to profile a board on this show. Today, we’re going to talk about profiling an oven and a wave soldering machine, and how, when done correctly, may reduce the number of times one has to attach thermocouples to a circuit board and run it through an oven or wave soldering machine.

Jorge Cardona is CEO of Invertronica Group, the parent company of a trio of firms in Colombia. Those companies include Tecrea, an electronics design and engineering unit; LosComponentes.com.co, a parts distributor, and Colcircuitos, the largest EMS company in Colombia. He speaks with Mike Buetow on markets and manufacturing in Central America, and why Colombia is a nearshore possibility for US OEMs and EMS companies looking for low-cost partners.

Paul Salerno holds an MBA with specialization in finance and marketing from Rutgers Graduate School of Business. He is global portfolio manager at MacDermid Alpha Electronic Solutions with expertise in product lifecycle management and development of strategic technology roadmaps for the global surface mount technology business. Paul works with customers in both Europe and Asia with customers in automotive, computing, communications and consumer electronic markets. Paul and Mike Konrad discuss soldering materials including "high reliability" solder paste, low and ultra-low solder pastes, and design-for-use solder paste selection processes. Paul may be reached here: Paul Salerno Portfolio Manager, SMT Assembly Solutions [email protected]

The second quarter was "dynamite" for PCB design software sales, explains Wally Rhines, referring to the 16% year-over-year increase in ECAD sales. Rhines, the longtime Mentor CEO and spokesperson for the ESD Alliance, joins market research guru Merlyn Brunken of Siemens to review the latest market data and discuss the history of semiconductor trade wars and relationships between PCB and IC design starts with PCB Chat host Mike Buetow.

Episode 80: Cheryl Tulkoff & Greg Caswell's Book “Design for Excellence in Electronics Manufacturing”. My guests Cheryl Tulkoff and Greg Caswell discuss their new book "Design for Excellence in Electronics Manufacturing" (published by Wiley and available on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Wiley). An authoritative guide to optimizing design for manufacturability and reliability from a team of experts Design for Excellence in Electronics Manufacturing is a comprehensive, state-of-the-art book that covers design and reliability of electronics. The authors—noted experts on the topic—explain how using the DfX concepts of design for reliability, design for manufacturability, design for environment, design for testability, and more, reduce research and development costs and decrease time to market and allow companies to confidently issue warranty coverage. By employing the concepts outlined in Design for Excellence in Electronics Manufacturing, engineers and managers can increase customer satisfaction, market share, and long-term profits. In addition, the authors describe the best practices regarding product design and show how the practices can be adapted for different manufacturing processes, suppliers, use environments, and reliability expectations. This important book contains a comprehensive review of the design and reliability of electronics covers a range of topics: establishing a reliability program, design for the use environment, design for manufacturability, and more. Includes technical information on electronic packaging, discrete components, and assembly processes shows how aspects of electronics can fail under different environmental stresses. Written for reliability engineers, electronics engineers, design engineers, component engineers, and others, Design for Excellence in Electronics Manufacturing is a comprehensive book that reveals how to get product design right the first time. Cheryl Tulkoff may be reached here: [email protected] Greg Caswell may be reached here: [email protected]

Mike Konrad speaks with Dave Trail from Arch Systems about Industry 4.0. Dave may be reached at [email protected] 808-868-8298

Electrically conductive adhesives (ECAs) have been touted for decades as a potential replacement for solder. Technology roadmaps by organizations ranging from IPC to the Surface Mount Council often listed ECAs as a “coming” technology, and scores of papers have been presented highlighting possible uses and likely end-products. The international research firm IDTechEx released in early October a new study called “Electrically Conductive Adhesives 2022-2032: Technologies, Markets, and Forecasts.” Matthew Dyson, Ph.D., a senior technology analyst at IDTechEx specializing in printed, organic and flexible electronics, spoke with Mike Buetow about the study’s findings and the future of ECAs, including in-mold and flexible electronics and their potential applications.

Christine Davies is founder and CEO of Poligage. Poligage is an online marketplace for public policy insights and government affairs services, providing efficient virtual connection with a carefully vetted network of world class experts who are available for flexible pay-as-you-go consultations, content, and projects. Founded in May of 2020, Poligage is still in its infancy. Mike Konrad spoke with Christine about the her journey operating a business startup, why she choose to start a company, her vision, and strategies for growth. Christine may be contacted here: [email protected] https://www.poligage.com

Our guest has been quoted saying his personal mission is to make industry a profitable place; where individuals and manufacturers possess the resources, knowledge, and courage to sustainably lower their operating costs. Mike Konrad speaks with James Kovacevic about his maintenance philosophies and his work teaching maintenance best practices.

A conversation with media personalities Mike Buetow (Circuits Assembly Magazine), Trevor Galbraith (Global SMT & Packaging), Phil Stoten (Scoop TV), and Eric Miscoll (EMS Now). During our conversation we covered various topics including post pandemic production, innovations within our industry, supply chain and labor shortages, and more.

EMS provider Matric Group's Patrick Stimpert incorporated the Toyota Production System’s Lean principles into his contract manufacturing business. “Results are important. How do I get my results?," he states. "With the use of the Toyota Production System’s Lean principles and my simple rule 'Don’t waste time rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic, go fix the problem.' I believe in the "LEAN-IN" processes and gain improvements through RIPs (Rapid Improvement Projects) These projects are based on a standard of identifying problems, brainstorming solutions, attempting those solutions, and adjusting from there. If we are going to fail, we are going to fail fast and cheap.”

Dr. Harald (Harry) Wack earned a Ph.D. in chemistry from Johns Hopkins University in 2002. He began his career at Zestron’s American headquarters, reporting to his father in Germany, Dr. Oskar Wack. This was the beginning of Harry's long journey with Zestron culminating in his ascension to President of Zestron’s parent company, Dr.O.K. Wack Chemie GmbH. Mike Konrad spoke with Harry from his headquarters in Ingolstadt, Germany.

No matter how fast product developers move, there is pressure to pick up the pace. Gowtham Ramachandran, founder of Trace, a three-year old startup company based in Toronto, has a vision for just how the industry might speed the product development cycle: a desktop "microfactory" that automates much of the development workflow. He talks with Mike Buetow about how the new concept completely reimagines the entire product development workflow, and hints at how augmented reality might impact the future of electronics manufacturing. Trace's website is trace.so. This podcast is brought to you by Turnkey PRO from Sierra Circuits. What if you could source your components, upload your specs and receive an instant quote in less than 15 minutes? What if your designs could be fabricated, assembled and delivered to your door in five days with a guarantee of zero defects? Then try Turnkey PRO by Sierra Circuits for your next design, and use promo code PCBCHAT to receive $200 off your next order.

Terry Munson is the founder and president of Foresite, Inc. He founded Foresite in 1992, then known as CSL (Contamination Studies Laboratories, Inc.). Terry has extensive experience with how cleanliness issues are affecting product reliability for electronic hardware. He is the primary developer of ion chromatography analysis for use in the electronics manufacturing industry and is an active member of IPC. Terry’s insights have been seen in various industry trade publications, as well as at technical conferences. It can be said, Terry marches at the front of the band, using his unique experience and cleanliness testing methods, many of which have made their way to internationally recognized standards. Terry has been quoted saying “Everything is fixable, you just have to understand what’s causing problem.” Today, we’ll attempt to understand Terry Munson as he joins Mike Konrad on this episode of the Concept to Creation Podcast. Terry's Contact Info: Terry Munson Foresite, Inc. 1982 S. Elizabeth Street Kokomo, IN 46902 USA 1-765-457-8095 www.foresiteinc.com [email protected]

Worthington Assembly's Chris Denney speaks about the electronic contract manufacturing business. • How to select an appropriate contract manufacturer • Evaluating a contract manufacturer's capabilities • Mistakes made when selecting a contract manufacturer • Advantages and disadvantages of selecting a US-based contract manufacturer Chris may be contacted here: [email protected] Worthington Assembly's website: https://www.worthingtonassembly.com

Tim Jensen talks about: Solder paste selection best practices Low temperature solder Common mistakes made when using solder paste Solder paste jetting / micro-dispensing And much more Tim Jensen may be reached here: [email protected]

Vincent Bedat is a mechanical engineer and recent MBA graduate of the MIT Sloan School of Management, and founder of Volthub, one the finalists for the MIT $100K Entrepreneurship Competition. Bedat is from Zurich, Switzerland, where he graduated with a master’s in mechanical engineering from ETH Zurich. He worked at the robotics startup Synapticon in Stuttgart, Germany, as a mechanical engineer and eventually project manager. There, he recognized inefficiencies in the ways data are shared and managed in hardware development, and conceived a platform to accelerate the rate of innovation by streamlining the procurement process. His startup is called Volthub, and upon graduating from MIT in June, he has relocated to San Francisco to further develop the company. He can be reached at [email protected]. This podcast is brought to you by Turnkey PRO from Sierra Circuits. What if you could source your components, upload your specs and receive an instant quote in less than 15 minutes? What if your designs could be fabricated, assembled and delivered to your door in five days with a guarantee of zero defects? Then try Turnkey PRO by Sierra Circuits for your next design, and use promo code PCBCHAT to receive $200 off your next order.

STI Electronics (formally Soldering Technology International) was founded by the late Industry icon Jim Raby. Soldering Technology International became STI Electronics and was operated by Jim, David, and Ellen Raby. Jim and Dave Raby both were awarded the prestigious IPC President‘s award. This is the first and only time a father and son have won this award. David recounts the founding of STI and the challenges along the way. David also provides valuable advice for new entrepreneurs. David may be reached here: [email protected] STI Electronics website: https://stiusa.com

ECD's Mark Waterman discusses thermal profiling best practices. • Common mistakes made when using profilers • In-use best practices • Common applications Mark may be reached here: mailto:[email protected] ECD's Website: https://www.ecd.com