Reliability Matters

Episode 26: My guest today is Alun Morgan, he is a Technology Ambassador at Ventec International Group. Our conversation today is all about cars, and the increased reliability expectations associated with their electrical systems. The electronics in modern vehicles provide an unpresented level of safety, not just for the driver, but for those people and objects around the vehicle. Because our cars...

Episode 25 - An interview with Indium's Kay Parker. We discuss SMT solder paste printing and Kay's experience as a new engineer in the electronics assembly industry. Kay Parker is a Technical Support Engineer based at Indium Corporation’s headquarters in Clinton, N.Y. In this role, she provides guidance and recommendations to customers related to process steps, equipment, techniques, and materials...

Episode 24 - A conversation with Teradyne's Manager of Reliability Mark Levin and Senior Software Engineering Manager Jon Bodin about reliability, DFM, and their new book "Improving Product Reliability and Software Quality: Strategies, Tools, Process and Implementation", 2nd Edition. The book is available here: https://tinyurl.com/y2f3nhav

Episode 23 - A conversion with Datest Founder Robert Boguski Jr. about testing circuit assemblies. The conversation covers many types of circuit testing, ethics in testing, and how to share results with customers.

Episode 22 - A Conversation About Adhesion Testing with BTG Lab's Elizabeth Kidd On this episode, we’ll be discussing surface adhesion. What makes a surface more adherable, what makes it less adherable, and most importantly, how can one determine a surface’s adhere-ability (is that a word?) before applying a coating.

A Conversation with Manuel Schöllig of Emil Otto, a German manufacturer of soldering and cleaning materials about cleaning stencils, pallets, fixtures, ovens, and assemblies. There's more to clean than just circuit assemblies. Manual reviews many non-assembly cleaning requirements. Manuel also describes a new flux type that reportedly does not rely on heat activation to remove harmful flux activat...

Episode 20- A conversation with Electrolube's conformal coating expert Phil Kinner. We discuss the reasons for conformal coating and the variety of conformal coating materials available.

My guests today are two of the people behind Anders, a UK-based company which manufactures displays and embedded control systems. Anders manufactures display and embedded controller products for a variety of industries including medical, marine, industrial, home, and much more. My guests are Ander’s General Manager, Paul Mullen and Display and Input Technology Manager, Mike Logan. Both Paul and Mi...

Yash Sutariya is the President of Saturn Electronics Corporation, Saturn Flex Systems, and Saturn PCB Services, all PCB-centric operating entities. Today, we’ll discuss what every buyer of printed circuit boards should be concerned about and Yash will offer a few auditing tips that would be helpful when auditing or selecting a PCB supplier. Yash is the author of PCB RELIABILITY: AUDITING YOUR SUPP...

My conversation with Automated Optical Inspection (AOI) and Solder Paste Inspection (SPI) system supplier Brian D'Amico covers AOI and SPI best practices. Modern circuit assemblies are difficult, if not impossible, to inspect without the aid of advanced inspection systems. Brian has been in the electronic assembly equipment industry for thirty six years. His knowledge (and passion) for inspection...

SMT-WARS Lessons Learned from a Contract Manufacturer and Their Customer Who Sued Them What happens when an electronic contract manufacturer follows their customer’s instructions to the detriment of the product? Product failures, blame, drama, and a really big lawsuit. Mike Konrad reviews the trials and tribulations of a contract manufacturer and their customer. Assembly residue-related failures (...

Welcome to another episode of Reliability Matters. I’m coming to you from Baltimore MD where I am speaking at the IPC High Reliability Conference. This is our 16th episode. We began this podcast journey in January 2019. Every week this year, we released a new episode. Many of the past 15 episodes featured interviews with various industry experts in a variety of subjects including X-ray, thermal ma...

An interview with reliability expert Fred Schenkelberg. Fred Schenkelberg is an international authority on reliability engineering. He is the reliability expert at FMS Reliability, a reliability engineering and management consulting firm he founded in 2004. Fred left Hewlett Packard’s Reliability Team where he helped create a culture of reliability across HP to assist other organizations. His pass...

Most of our episodes feature guests representing specific segments of the electronic assembly industry. Today’s episode is no exception. My guest on this episode is MB Allen from KIC. KIC provides thermal profiling hardware and profiler software tools that help define, measure, monitor, and improve thermal processes for electronics manufacturing services. Today, more than ever, thermal management...

An interview with US Ambassadors of FLITE (Female Leaders in Tech Everywhere), Michelle Ogihara and Sherry Stepp on the subject of women in electronics and FLITE's mission to build a platform based on real-life experiences to help raise the visibility of females in technology.

Tips & Tricks for Successfully Cleaning Circuit Assemblies In the last half of the 20th century, cleaning of circuit assemblies was a standard assembly practice. The abolishment of popular CFC-based cleaning solvents ushered the introduction of "no-clean" assembly processes. For much of the electronic assembly industry, cleaning became nonexistent. Due to assembly and component miniaturization and...

X-ray has come a long way since its discovery in 1895. Originally used in the medial field, X-ray technology has been integrated into many industrial sectors including the electronic assembly industry. Dr. David Bernard is an expert in X-ray technology within the electronics industry. Dr. Bernard and I discuss the modern use of X-ray technology, applications within the electronic assembly industry...

Episode 9 features an interview with Dr. Mike Bixenman. We’ll be talking about cleaning for reliability, challenging components and fluxes, methods to determine how clean is clean enough, and how and why he co-founded Kyzen Corporation. Mike is one of the founders of Kyzen Corporation and serves as its Chief Technology Officer. Mike is well known within the electronic assembly industry and is a fe...

On this episode, we’re hosting a roundtable discussion on the subject of cleaning circuit assemblies after reflow. After all, contamination removal is exclusively performed to increase the reliability of circuit assemblies and the products they are installed in. With the rapid expansion of electronics due partly to automotive and IOT, cleaning of circuit assemblies has increased dramatically and w...

I’ve known Phil Zarrow and Jim Hall for many years. Phil, Jim, and what they describe as their brothers, operate ITM Consulting, a consulting and advisory firm for the electronic assembly located in Springfield, TN. Phil and Jim also produce a question and answer program, answering technical assembly-related questions in an equally valuable and humorous manner. As you will hear, Phil and Jim, whil...

Collins Aerospace's Doug Pauls chaired the IPC committee to implement a new cleanliness testing specification. IPC J-STD001-G Amendment 1 which is now active. Doug explains the new requirements of this standard and provides suggestions on how to comply.

Episode 5 features an interview with Dr. Craig Hillman of DfR Solutions. The theme of this episode is design for reliability. Dr. Hillman expresses some interesting views on circuit assemblies for space and automotive applications and as well as battery reliability.

With the rapid expansion of IOT, many circuit assemblies are now functioning in unfamiliar environments, many of these environments are harsh. Additionally, many new electronic applications control critical systems such as automotive electronics. This webinar focuses on the influence contamination plays on reliability of circuit assemblies, particularly when operated in harsh environments. Several...

Changing a customer's mindset is often difficult. When a process is working well, we often resist changing the process, even if the change provides a better result. This is the "Good is the Enemy of Great" syndrome. My guest, Wendy Casker of Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory tells of us how she introduced a "better process" to her space customer.

What happens when failure happens? This episode features Failure Analysis Investigators Eric Camden and Paco Solis. Together, they discuss stories from the field and some "interesting investigations".