PCB Chat

RM 189: Predict, Prevent, Produce: RoviSys' Bryan DeBois on Manufacturing's Al Future

What if your factory could predict failures before they happen, capture decades of human expertise, and make better decisions than ever before—without replacing the people who run it?

Today’s guest sits right at the intersection of innovation and industry. 

Bryan DeBois, director of industrial AI at RoviSys, is helping reshape what manufacturing looks like in the age of intelligent machines.

From predictive analytics that catch problems before they happen, to data-driven systems that optimize production in real time, DeBois's work is transforming how factories think, learn, and produce. But this isn’t about replacing people, it’s about amplifying human expertise and capturing decades of industrial knowledge before it disappears.

In this episode, we’ll explore how smart factories are changing the game, what it really takes to begin a digital transformation, and why trust and transparency are just as critical as algorithms and code. What stands out most is DeBois’s ability to make advanced technology practical. He’s not talking about theory, he’s helping real manufacturers integrate AI in ways that improve safety, efficiency, and sustainability.

Mike Konrad speaks with DeBois about how artificial intelligence is redefining manufacturing, the challenges of digital transformation, and the future of smart factories.

PCB Chat 155: Breadboard's Nemanja Jokanovic on Automating BOM Management

Nemanja Jokanovic is the executive leader of Breadboard, an AI-powered platform that he believes will revolutionize BOM management. In this interview with Andy Shaughnessy, Jokanovic, an Octopart alum, discusses the many sourcing challenges facing EMS companies today, and he explains how Breadboard optimizes BOM analysis and supply chain management. 

Stop by and chat with Jokanovic in person at PCB East 2026. Breadboard will be exhibiting on April 29 at the DCU Center in Worcester, MA.

RM 187: An Academic Look at Al in Electronics Manufacturing: Where It Works, Fails, and Why It Matters

Artificial intelligence is being promoted as the next revolution in electronics manufacturing, but what happens when the people evaluating it aren’t traditional AI experts, aren’t software vendors, and aren’t selling anything? 

Today’s conversation brings together engineers and professors who live at the intersection of education, reliability, and real-world manufacturing to separate meaningful progress from speculation.

This episode is all about “AI in Action: Progress, Pitfalls, and the Future of Electronics.” Artificial intelligence is becoming a frequent topic in electronics manufacturing—from inspection and process optimization to predictive maintenance and reliability modeling. 

But rather than approaching this conversation from the standpoint of AI evangelists or software developers, we’re taking a different path. Mike Konrad's panelists are Eva Hymes, Hayden Lee, Dr. Ron Lasky, Dr. John Evans, and Dr. Pradeep Lall. 

None of today’s panelists claims to be AI experts. Instead, they are engineers and professors who sit at the intersection of education, engineering, and real-world manufacturing challenges. Their perspective is grounded in physics, data, reliability science, and decades of experience teaching the next generation of engineers—many of whom will be working alongside AI-driven tools whether they choose to or not.

Because all of the panelists come from academia, this conversation intentionally steps back from hype and buzzwords. We’ll focus on how AI is actually being used, where it shows promise, where it introduces risk, and where critical gaps still exist—especially in high-reliability electronics manufacturing. We’ll also touch on broader societal questions, including how AI is shaping engineering education and professional intuition.

PCB Chat 154: Wally Rhines on the Latest ECAD Market Data

Wally Rhines is the spokesperson for the ESD Alliance, part of Semiconductor Equipment and Materials International. He joined Andy Shaughnessy to share details from the latest ESD Alliance report on sales of computer-aided engineering tools, semiconductor tools, PCB design software, related IP and services, and employment.

In this interview, Wally discusses the results for the fourth quarter of 2025, which marks the 20th consecutive quarter of year-on-year growth. What are the drivers behind this winning streak, and what "soft spots" should be on our radar screens?

PCB Chat 153: Karen Burnham on Taking the Pain out of EMC

Karen Burnham feels your pain - the pain of EMC, that is. Karen is an EMC engineer, instructor, and founder of EMC United, a consulting company that aims to make EMC less painful for the rest of the PCB design engineering community. Karen joins Andy Shaughnessy to discuss some of the most common EMC challenges facing our industry today, a variety of solutions for these challenges, and design practices that can help you avoid EMC problems the first place. Karen also explains why EMC needs to become part of every high-speed PCB design cycle, and not an afterthought that's only addressed when a board fails FCC.

Karen will be speaking at PCB East 2026, and she offers a preview of what attendees can expect to learn in her class, "EMC 101 - Fundamentals," which takes place April 30 at the DCU Convention Center in Worcester, MA. 

PCB Chat 152: Mike Buetow on the Cadence Acquisition of EMA

What does Cadence's acquisition of EMA Design Automation mean for the respective companies, and the market? Mike Buetow considers the issues related to the EDA giant's acquisition of its largest VAR.

PCB Chat 151: Scott Bright of Cadstrom IO

Scott Bright is co-founder and COO of Cadstrom IO, a new company that is coming up with tools for resolving some of the engineering problems that designers and engineers are encountering daily.

Bright has more than 35 years of technology and management experience, including three years at IoT company Jiva, where he was CEO, and 13 at the engineering firm Synapse, which he co-founded and was CEO.

Bright has designed hardware from back of the envelope sketch to high volume manufacturing for everything from commercial to the highest-reliability applications. As a career hardware developer, he understands the software problems endemic to product development.

He discusses Cadstrom's new platform for catching errors the ERC flow misses with Andy Shaughnessy and Mike Buetow of PCEA.

RM 185: How Accuracy & Force Compliance Contribute to Better Quality & Reliability, with Michael Sivigny

In electronics manufacturing, defects don’t usually announce themselves. They happen in milliseconds, far faster than human perception, and often long before anyone realizes a process has drifted out of control. By the time failures show up in test, inspection, or worse, in the field, the root cause may be buried deep inside machine behavior that no one thought to question.

When machines are assumed to be accurate instead of proven to be accurate, and when force is set but not verified, hidden variation creeps in. That variation can translate directly into cracked components, misalignment, latent damage, and long-term reliability risk.

Michael Sivigny is SMT productivity & profit strategist and owner and general manager CeTaQ Americas, a company that has spent decades doing what most factories don’t, objectively measuring machine performance under real production conditions. 

Sivigny's work has repeatedly shown that even well-maintained, recently serviced equipment can operate outside of specification, quietly generating defects at high speed.

In this conversation, we’ll dig into how accuracy validation and force measurement expose problems traditional troubleshooting misses, why OEM calibration alone is no longer enough for today’s miniaturized electronics, and how statistically sound measurement practices improve not only yield and uptime, but long-term product reliability.

If you believe reliability starts long before functional test, this is a conversation you won’t want to miss.

PCB Chat 150: Wally Rhines on the Latest ECAD Market Data

Wally Rhines the spokesperson for the ESD Alliance, part of Semiconductor Equipment and Materials International. He joins Mike Buetow each quarter to share details from the latest ESD Alliance report on sales of computer-aided engineering tools, semiconductor tools, PCB design software, related IP and services, and employment.

We discuss:

• The latest PCB/MCB design tool market data
• The 19-quarter streak of year-over-year gains (can it continue?)
• The massive spike in Asia sales
• The remarkable resilience of the Americas in maintaining ECAD market share
• The employment growth -- will everyone eventually work in ECAD?

RM 184: Advances in Dispensing Automation and Thermal Management with PVA’s Jon Urquhart

Jon Urquhart is director of global applications engineering at Precision Valve and Automation — one of the world’s leading developers of dispensing, coating, and industrial motion-automation systems. Since joining PVA in 1993, Urquhart has become widely recognized for his expertise in fluid material processing, precision dispensing, and the engineering-to-manufacturing handoff that so often makes or breaks product reliability.

Urquhart holds multiple patents and has helped shape advanced processes used in industries where the stakes couldn’t be higher — from aerospace and EV battery systems to semiconductor packaging, medical devices, and high-density electronics assembly. His work spans everything from protective coatings that safeguard electronics in extreme environments, to next-generation thermal interface material (TIM) deposition, to automation strategies that reduce human error, improve consistency, and dramatically scale production.

He joins Mike Konrad to discuss the real-world challenges of protecting critical electronics and batteries, the latest advances in TIM materials and deposition, sustainable precision-coating techniques, and the power of a strong collaboration model between vendors, manufacturers, and lab technicians.