PCB Chat

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

Regular listeners know that PCB Chat us always eager to hear about what’s going on in the minds of the next-generation of engineers. A team of students from the Rochester Institute of Technology Center for Electronics Manufacturing and Assembly (CEMA) spent the past semester automating parts of the surface mount process: Carmela Stone, Ian Youngs, Ethan Broshar, Brad Brewster and Kyle Mellendorf. Along with Martin Anselm, director of CEMA and Duane Beck, visiting lecturer, they describe their so-called capstone project, which marries component sourcing, programming, robotics and electronics engineering. 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.

Those who read PCD&F magazine or see us online at pcdandf.com have probably come across Terry Jernberg, the face of a new column this year under the eponymously named Jernberg PI. The title hearkens back to Magnum PI, the popular detective show of the 1980s. is, of course, a play on Terry’s last name and his subject matter, power integrity. We like to think of Terry as our own investigator of noise and timing problems in the power delivery network. He speaks with Mike Buetow on this episode of PCB Chat. 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.

The guest today is Bob Black. Since the late 1980s, Bob was selling drag soldering machines made by Zeva. While Bob has been involved in several businesses, he is perhaps best known for his work with Juki importing and selling component placement equipment. Bob has imported and sold equipment from Germany, Switzerland, Japan, and Italy. Bob shares his journey of entrepreneurship through several companies. Bob shares what he has learned working with international companies and even what he has taught his international colleagues. And, just in case anyone thinks owning your own business allows one to leisurely lounge around he talks about his years of spending 27 days a month traveling for his business. Bob may be reached here: [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.

The first quarter ESD Alliance design software tools sales figures are in and they are impressive! ESDA spokesperson Wally Rhines breaks down the numbers with PCB Chat host Mike Buetow, and offers optimism for why the growth may continue for awhile. To read the press announcement about the Q1 data, click here. 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.

Four manufacturer's representatives share their experience in supporting their customer's needs. They share how sales and support has changed over the years and review the "new normal". Mike Konrad's guests are: David Leventhal Restronics [email protected] Joan Carrol-Kennedy Restronics [email protected] Murray Percival Jr. Murray Percival [email protected] Todd Wittmer Wittco Sales [email protected]

Concept to Creation host Mike Konrad says, while I am the host of this podcast, interviewing entrepreneurs within the electronics assembly industry, several people have asked about my story of entrepreneurship. I was recently interviewed by Dr. Mike Stull from California State University San Bernardino where he is school director, professor, department chair and program director of the Inland Empire Center for Entrepreneurship. Dr. Stull recently had me on his hot-seat program, where we discussed the founding of my company and the nearly 30-year journey since day one of my company. 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.

Amit Dror is cofounder of Nano Dimension and customer success officer. Amit served as Nano Dimension’s chief executive from 2014 to 2019. Nano Dimension has produced a product which, arguably can be best described as a true disruptive force within the electronic assembly space. We’re all experienced with inkjet printers. Ink jet nozzles travel from left to right back and forth over a sheet of paper. When the printing process has been completed, out shoots a sheet of paper with text or images deposited on the paper’s surface. Now, imagine a different type of printer. Instead of four-color ink cartridges there are two basic inks, one a dielectric ink and the other a silver-based conductive ink. The print heads travel back and forth and, when the printing process is finished, out pops a multilayer circuit board complete with vias, through-holes, ground planes, and conductive traces, and markings, ready for component placement and reflow. Need another board, just press print. This technology gives new meaning to "printed circuit board." 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.

Merger and acquisition activity took a bit of a breather last summer as Covid protocols kicked in, but has really heated up since calendar flipped to 2021. Our guest is Bruce Mahler is Vice president and general manager at Ohmega and Ticer Technologies. Both are recent additions to Quantic Electronics, a newly formed umbrella company focusing on electronics components and materials. We break down what that means for printed circuit board engineers today on this episode of PCB Chat. 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.

Welcome to episode number 5 of the Concept to Creation Podcast. I’m so glad you’re here. Today, my guests are Robert Boguski and Regina Lathrop. They are the husband-wife team behind Datest, a Fremont California based company which provides advanced, integrated PCBA testing and inspection services, serving the CM and EMS industries as well as the OEM community since 1984. Robert and Regina purchased Datest in 2005 with business partners then bought out those partners in 2009. I think in many ways, purchasing a company is perhaps even more challenging than starting one from scratch. Rob and Regina describe their early venture as a rehabilitation project. 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.