Pcb Chat

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

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 esti

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. marco.sanchez@smtna.com Colin Harper of BPM talks about automatic device programming. colin_harper@bpmmicro.com

Mike Konrad talks with four guests: Jesper Lykke from Viscom talks about inspection systems. jesper.lykke@viscomusa.com   Greg Papandrew from Direct PCB talks about PCB buying and his new book "PCB Basics for Buyers": greg@boardbuying.com   Kevin Huo from EM Solutions talks about fast-turn contract assembly. kevinh@emsolutionstech.com   And Michelle Ogihara from Seika USA talks about the advantages of joining trade associations. michelle@seikausa.com

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 w

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. To

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.