PCB Chat

Smart manufacturing, generally defined as the use of fully integrated, collaborative manufacturing systems that respond in real time to meet changing demands and conditions in the smart factory, in the supply network, and in customer needs, is quickly becoming reality. Is the US ready, or has it already been beaten by offshore companies? Mike Buetow considers the possibilities.

On this last episode of 2020 there are no guests, no experts, no best-practice advice. Just a short recap of 2020. We just reached more than 10,000 downloads of the podcast! A HUGE thank you to my audience and my guests for making this podcast possible! On this episode I'll announce the first few guests of the 2021 season of Reliability Matters. This is looking like a terrific season! We are now p...

Kent Balius has been at the forefront of front-end engineering for 30 years at some of the world's largest PCB fabricators. He spent the past 20 years at TTM / Viasystems, where he managed software applications and automation solutions for North America and Asia-Pacific operations. He just launched EPIC Front-End Engineering, which provides consultation, project management, software applications a...

Conductive anodic filament (CAF) is a form of electrochemical migration (ECM). Unlike surface-level ECM, CAF exists beneath the surface of the circuit assembly. Graham and Mike Konrad discuss the causes of CAF and methods to test for and mitigate CAF. Graham has an extensive history working in the electrical and electronic manufacturing industry. Graham was the IEC 1906 Lord Kelvin Award Winner. I...

EMA Design Automation has recently added the Mentor ECAD sales staff from Trilogic EDA. Manny Marcano, president and founder of EMA, explains what this means for the PCB CAD marketplace, and how the mainstream CAD market is shaping up.  

Voiding is the cause of multiple failure mechanisms. Mike Konrad speaks with solder material expert Tim O'Neill of Aim Solder, stencil manufacturer Prakash Gango of StenTech, and cleaning materials manufacturer Kalyan Nukala of Zestron about how solder voiding leads to product failures and methods to reduce voiding.   The guests may be reached here: Tim O'Neill AIM Solder toneill@aimsolder.com www...

Dr. Martin Anselm is a professor at Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) and is also the newly elected president of the Surface Mount Technology Association or SMTA. Martin also worked for Universal Instruments. During his 12-year career at Universal Instruments, Martin was, among other positions, a process research engineer and manager of Failure Analysis Services. Martin completed his Ph. D....

IPC-2581 is a standard format for describing and transferring printed circuit board design and assembly manufacturing data from the OEM to fab and assembly. It is an open format developed by industry consensus through the auspices of IPC, and it is vendor-neutral. IPC-2581 is being rebranded as IPC-DPMX, which stands for Digital Product Model Exchange. On this episode of PCB Chat, host Mike Buetow...

Brad Griffin, product management group director at Cadence, returns to PCB Chat to discuss Clarity 3D Transient Solver, a new system-level simulation solution that solves EMI system design issues up to 10 times faster than legacy 3-D field solvers, and handles workloads that previously required anechoic test chambers to ensure EMC compliance.   

Michael Ford and Mike Konrad talk about Digital Twin, its purpose, value, and its future. Michael Ford, senior director of emerging industry strategy at Aegis Software, has more than 30 years working within the electronics assembly manufacturing space. With a degree in electronics from the University of Wales, he started his career with Sony in the UK, creating software solutions as he acquired a...

In this episode, Mike Konrad speaks with Mike Buetow, Editor in Chief of PCD&F/CIRCUITS ASSEMBLY, Trevor Galbraith, publisher of Global SMT and Packaging, and Philip Stoten of Scoop TV. We discuss the state of the electronics assembly industry, the effects of COVID-19 on our industry, emerging technologies, and more.

We hear a lot about the graying of the PCB industry. Charles Hutchins Award Andrew Daya  has been working in the industry fulltime for about six years and has bachelor’s and master’s degrees in engineering from Rochester Institute of Technology. He talks about his jobs to date, which include Garmin, Anaren and Bose, how design and manufacturing can and do (or don't) work together, and what winning...

Dr. Sean Clancy and Mike Konrad discuss the various types of conformal coatings designed to protect circuit assemblies from moisture and other hazards. They discuss coating best-practices and current IOT-based products that are increasing the need for protecting circuit assemblies from harsh environments. Clancy is director of coating technology at HZO, where he leads a group developing thin-film...

Bill started his first company in Brazil at age 17 and sold it a few years later to move to the US to work for the Department of Energy’s Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory to do nuclear and high energy physics research. As the Department Head for Systems Engineering and after a 10-year long career at Fermilab, He moved from Chicago to southern California to start Creative Electron from his gar...

Moriah Root is quality manager at Z-AXIS, an EMS firm in New York state. She just won a “Millennials in Manufacturing” Award from FuzeHub, the statewide Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP) center for New York State, for "young professionals doing their part to strengthen New York State’s manufacturing industry." She speaks with Mike Buetow about the award, what attracted her to electronics m...

IPC’s new chief technologist Matt Kelly will help IPC’s members to engage in latest technology trends and supply chain transformation that continues to evolve across the electronics industry. He will work to define the scope of what future products and services the association should develop in the areas of standards, education and advocacy. Kelly’s primary areas of focus will be leading the follo...

What are electronics companies doing, strategically and tactically, to adjust to today’s sourcing and manufacturing climate? Hassan Tawawalla, business unit director of the Printed Circuits Solution division at Molex, and David Palos, materials supervisor at Molex, join Mike Buetow to discuss inventory levels, double-bookings, supply chain transparency, and the need for companies to insulate thems...

Numerous exhibitors are taking part in this new format. More than 100 technical presentations and papers will be available on-demand. Additionally, nine 3.5 hour professional development courses will be presented live!

We are all familiar with the pros and cons of importing goods from China. China supply chain expert David Alexander discusses pros and cons of doing business in China. David also discusses the lesser known opportunities of exporting US goods to China and China's appetite for western brands. David is founder and president of Baysource Global, company which provides management of offshore factories,...

Matthew Chalkley has over 26 years of supply chain experience in the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) sector. Chalkley has held a number of senior operational management positions within, engineering, manufacturing, materials management, procurement, and customer order fulfillment. Chalkley was the Global Program Manager for IBM’s Supply Chain Social & Environmental Management System...

The coronavirus may have taken hold around the globe, but you couldn't tell from the latest printed circuit board design software results. ESD Alliance spokesman Wally Rhines discusses the first quarter EDA market statistics with PCB Chat host Mike Buetow. 

Benchmark Lark Technology this month opened the doors to its 122,000 sq. ft. state-of-the-art factory in Phoenix. The new site is significant because it includes both a fabrication and assembly capabilities, making Benchmark a vertically integrated manufacturer and creating one of the few greenfield fab shops in the US in the past 20 years. PCB Chat speaks with Kevin Walker, product line director,...

On this episode of Reliability Matters, Mike Konrad joins Dr. Jennie Hwang, Phil Zarrow, Bob Willis and Ray Prasad to discuss several industry topics including the pandemic, common technical issues, training and support, and other interesting topics.

Dr. Chris Jackson is founder of Acuitas, a company dedicated to electronics reliability. He has a degree in mechanical engineering from the University of New South Wales, and a master's and Ph. D. in reliability engineering from the University of Maryland. He is an American Society of Quality Certified Reliability Engineer (CRE), and a Chartered Professional Engineer (CPEng) from Engineers Austral...

Inspectar is a startup company whose signature product is a tool for fast debugging of electronics hardware. The novel system highlights the nets on a board and captures and shares the metadata with other engineers, regardless of the native tool environment. Mihir Shah (CEO), Darryl Day (CTO) and Matt Noseworthy (CIO) talk about Inspectar’s origins and highlights of the just-released InspectAR 2.0...