PCB Chat

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...

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...

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...

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...

Mike Konrad speaks with Dave Trail from Arch Systems about Industry 4.0.   Dave may be reached at dtrail@archsys.io 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 ne...

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...

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" pr...

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 head...

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 reimagi...

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 membe...

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: cdenney@worthingtonassembly.com Worth...

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: tjensen@indium.com

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 a...

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...

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:mwaterman@ecd.com 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....

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 nois...

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 co...

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 cou...

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 dleventhal@restronics.com Joan Carrol-Kennedy Restronics jcarroll@restronics.com Murray Percival Jr. Murray Percival mapercival@murraypercival.com Todd Wittmer W...

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 Empi...

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 pape...