PCB Chat

RM 101: The Future of US Manufacturing with IPC’s Matt Kelly

It seems today, the entire world is experiencing supply chain challenges in nearly all product categories. In the electronics assembly industry, the focus has been within the semiconductor market, especially in North America. Why is this? How did the US allow this to occur? Was it shortsightedness, greed, an overreliance on foreign suppliers, other factors, or a combination of all these factors? What would it take to finally address this issue and are we doing anything about it?

 

My guest today is Matt Kelly, chief technologist at IPC. IPC recently published a report on the chip shortage and, perhaps most importantly, came up with a list of 28 recommendations our industry can consider to remedy this issue. Matt is focused on driving next-generation technology advancements and supply chain transformation across the electronics industry. He works within the association’s executive leadership team to identify and develop new strategic initiatives, meeting member and industry needs. He delivers influential thought leadership, research, and advocacy to industry and governments. He leads IPC’s Chief Technology Council to continually drive the electronics industry forward. His focus areas include Industry 4.0 – Factory of the Future digitization, modernization, adoption, and implementation; IPC expansion into new advanced packaging technologies including IC-substrates and OSAT manufacturing; and next generation electronic systems design methods.

When I first met Matt he was with IBM. Matt comes to IPC following a 15-year career at IBM, holding several senior technology and engineering leadership positions within IBM Systems Division. His technical contributions include 25 patents, 85 publications, and numerous industry awards.

Matt is a licensed Professional Engineer with a degree in chemical engineering from McMaster University and holds an MBA in strategic management from Sir Wilfrid Laurier University.

 

RM 100: A 100th Episode Special (Recorded Live)

This is the 100th episode of the Reliability Matters podcast! Hear clips from past episodes and messages from past guests on their views about reliability.

Mike Konrad gives a special thanks to the 117 guests he has had the privilege to learn from. Also, thank you to listeners and viewers of this podcast.

Here is a list of guests (subject matter experts in their fields) that had been on RM:

Jen Fijalkowski - Keith Bryant - Dr. David Bernard - David Kruidhof - Robert Boguski - Phil Zarrow - Jim Hall - Dr. Ron Lasky- Dr. Kunal Shah - Marco Sanchez - Colin Harper - Jesper Lykke - Greg Papandrew - Kevin Huo - Mike Adamson - Tony Lentz - Brian O'Leary - Joel Scutchfield - Bob Doetzer - Christopher Frederickson- Miles Moreau - Paul Salerno - Stan Rak - Bev Christian - Matt Kelly - Cheryl Tulkoff - Greg Caswell - Dave Trail - Dr. Martin Anselm - Tanya Martin - Greg Vance - Dr. Raiyo Aspandiar - James Kovacevic - Trevor Galbraith - Phil Stoten - Eric Miscoll - Mike Buetow - Patrick Stimpert - Chris Denney - Tim Jensen - Mark Waterman - David Leventhal - Joan Carrol-Kennedy  - Murray Percival Jr. - Todd Wittmer - Amit Dror - Melissa Hough - Norman Mier - Annaka Balch - Nadia Clement - Raaga Kannan - Tim O'Neill - Fred Dimock - Dock Brown - François Monette -Tara Dunn - Dave Hillman - Graham Naisbitt - Dr. Eric Fossum - Prakash Gango - Kalyan Nukala - Dr. Martin Anselm - Michael Ford - Dr. Sean Clancy - Dr. Bill Cardoso - David Alexander - Matthew Chalkley - Dr. Jennie Hwang  - Phil Zarrow - Bob Willis - Ray Prasad - Dr. Chris Jackson - Dr. Mike Stull - Keith Bryant - Greg Papandrew - Mark Hughes - Greg Ziraldo - Dr. John Mitchell - Jim Hall - Dr. Darren Williams - Barbara Kanegsberg - Dr. Ed Kanegsberg - Judy Warner - Greg Smith - Tony Lentz - David Heller - Eric Camden - Brook Sandy - Alun Morgan - Kay Parker - Mark Levin - Jon Rodin - Robert Boguski - Elizabeth Kidd - Manuel Schöllig- Phil Kinner - Paul Mullen - Mike Logan - Yash Sutariya - Brian D'Amico - Fred Schenkelberg - MB Allen - Michelle Ogihara - Sherry Stepp - Dr. Mike Bixenman - Doug Pauls - Dr. Craig Hillman - Sal Sparacino - Dr. Terry Price - Ravi Parthasarathy  - Umut Tosun - Wendy Casker - Paco Solis

PCB Chat 102: Dr. Matthew Dyson on the Factory of the Future

Reshoring has been a buzzword for a few years now. But when supply chains are undergoing dramatic disruption and inflation is raging worldwide, what is the reality?

To answer those questions and more, we are turning to Dr. Matthew Dyson, senior technology analyst at ID Tech Ex. Dr. Dyson just coauthored a white paper titled "Factory of the Future." He discusses what that looks like, explaining the key trends in industrial manufacturing -- sensors, additive manufacturing, automation and flexibility -- and the timeline for adoption with PCEA president Mike Buetow.

PCB Chat 101: Brian Morrison on Smart Manufacturing

Is there a broad consensus on what "smart manufacturing" is, and more specifically, its application in electronics assembly?

Brian Morrison, vice president of engineering for Vexos, a mid-tier multinational EMS with manufacturing facilities in the US, Canada, China and Vietnam and more than 900 employees worldwide, gives his take on smart manufacturing and its relationship to AI and Lean to PCEA chief content officer Chelsey Drysdale.

RM 99: Graham Naisbitt on IPC Cleanliness Standard Compliance

In late 2018, IPC shocked the electronics assembly community by introducing an amendment to section 8 of the J-STD-001G. This amendment radically changed the way industry determines cleanliness. Now, assemblers must prove their assemblies are clean enough not to experience electrochemical migration events which would cause the assembly to fail.

This new process of obtaining objective evidence has been met with a considerable degree of confusion. To help clear up the confusion, Mike Konrad speaks with Graham Naisbitt, vice chair of the IPC 5-30 Cleaning and Coating Subcommittee that oversees 15 IPC Standards Development Committees and recipient of 14 IPC Standards Awards.

Naisbitt is an IEC 1906 Lord Kelvin Award Winner, IEC TC91 WG2, 3 and 10 Maintenance Leader of 4 Standards, and a British Standards Institution EPL-501 Member.

He is a specialist in surface insulation resistance testing, ionic contamination control, solderability, conformal coating materials and application systems, cleaning, inspection and test.

PCB Chat 100: John Burkhert Jr. on Engineering Soft Skills

John Burkhert Jr., senior PCB layout engineer and author of Designer’s Notebook, the monthly column on PCB design engineering, talks about the so-called soft side of engineering: people skills.

He recently posted a 1250-word piece titled There May Come a Time When PCB Design Requires People Management Skills. It struck a chord with more than a few designers and engineers, who shared similar anecdotes. He shares the story and some lessons learned over his three decades in electronics design.

 

This special 100th episode of PCB Chat is sponsored by PCB West, the leading conference and exhibition for printed circuit and design engineering. Coming Oct. 4-7 to the Santa Clara CA Convention Center. Learn more at pcbwest.com.

RM 98: Jen Fijalkowski on Advances in Solder Pastes

Jen Fijalkowski works for Aim Solder. Jen obtained her B.S. from the University of Rhode Island in chemical engineering and is a certified Lean Six Sigma Green Belt. Prior to her role as a technical marketing engineer, she interned as a SMT Process Engineer, where she analyzed various reports regarding solder paste printing and coauthored "Comparison of Aperture Designs, Solder Pastes, Nanocoatings and Print/Inspection Systems," published in PCD&F/Circuits Assembly. Jen also produces a video blog titled “Line Down” where she discusses common questions about solder paste best practices and how to avoid solder paste induced line-down situations.

 

Mike Konrad spoke with Jen about solder paste best practices as well as some of the latest advances in solder pastes such as low temperature, low voiding, and high reliability solder pastes.

 

PCB Chat 99: RIT PCB Design Curriculum

The Rochester Institute of Technology in January launched its first course on printed circuit board design.

Instruction was performed by Dr. Kirsch Mackey, an electrical engineer and head of hardware training at HaSofu.

On this episode of PCB Chat, we speak with Dr. Mackey and Dr. James Lee, acting chair of the Electrical and Computer Engineering Technology department at RIT, about the new course, what was taught, the students’ response, and the next steps for the program.

 

RM 97: Best Practices for Purchasing X-Ray Equipment

Mike Konrad speaks with four experts, not about brands or models of x-ray equipment, rather about best practices for purchasing x-ray equipment.

There are numerous manufacturers of x-ray equipment, each with multiple models with varying capabilities. Which type of x-ray equipment is right for your application (2D, 2.5D, 3D, etc)? What are the price ranges? What are the capabilities? What questions should I ask when speaking with manufacturers of x-ray equipment? How do I define my needs? How do I avoid buying too little or too much?

These and other questions are answered by our expert panel.

Our expert panel includes:

• Keith Bryant of Keith Bryant Consultancy. Keith has more than 30 years in the electronics industry and has worked for and with x-ray equipment manufacturers. 
  keith@smta.org
• Dr. David Bernard of David Bernard Consultancy. David has more than 20 years of experience in the x-ray industry and has worked for and with x-ray equipment manufacturers. 
  dbc@bernard.abel.co.uk
• David Kruidhof, sales manager for Creative Electron, a manufacturer of x-ray equipment. dkruidhof@creativeelectron.com
• Robert Boguski, president of Datest, an analytical laboratory specializing in failure analysis. Rob is a user of x-ray equipment. rboguski@datest.com

RM 96: Phil Zarrow and Jim Hall on Their New Book

A couple episodes ago, Reliability Matters host Mike Konrad spoke with Dr. Ron Lasky about a couple of books he wrote. He also recommended one he didn't write: "Troubleshooting Electronic Assembly: Wisdom from the BoardTalk Crypt" by industry gurus Phil Zarrow and Jim Hall, available on Amazon (both were prior guests on this show). This episode, we’ll have a conversation with Zarrow and Hall about their book.

If you’ve been in the electronic assembly industry for some time, there’s little doubt that you have heard of Phil Zarrow and Jim Hall. Zarrow has been involved with PCB fabrication and assembly for more than 35 years. He is president and principal consultant of ITM Consulting.

Hall has been involved in the electronic assembly industry for the past 26 years. He’s a principal consultant and resident Lean Six Sigma Master Black Belt with ITM Consulting. He’s also an instructor in the Lean Six Sigma programs offered at Dartmouth College. Together with Dr. Lasky, Zarrow and Hall designed the SMTA SMT Processes Certification Course.