Episodes

Friday Jun 25, 2021
RM 70: Nano Dimension Cofounder Amit Dror
Friday Jun 25, 2021
Friday Jun 25, 2021
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 paper. When the printing process has been completed, out shoots a sheet of paper with text or images deposited on the paper’s surface. Now, imagine a different type of printer. Instead of four-color ink cartridges there are two basic inks, one a dielectric ink and the other a silver-based conductive ink. The print heads travel back and forth and, when the printing process is finished, out pops a multilayer circuit board complete with vias, through-holes, ground planes, and conductive traces, and markings, ready for component placement and reflow. Need another board, just press print. This technology gives new meaning to "printed circuit board."
This podcast is brought to you by Turnkey PRO from Sierra Circuits. What if you could source your components, upload your specs and receive an instant quote in less than 15 minutes? What if your designs could be fabricated, assembled and delivered to your door in five days with a guarantee of zero defects? Then try Turnkey PRO by Sierra Circuits for your next design, and use promo code PCBCHAT to receive $200 off your next order.

Wednesday Jun 23, 2021
PCB Chat 79: Bruce Mahler on the Ohmega-Ticer Merger
Wednesday Jun 23, 2021
Wednesday Jun 23, 2021
Merger and acquisition activity took a bit of a breather last summer as Covid protocols kicked in, but has really heated up since calendar flipped to 2021. Our guest is Bruce Mahler is Vice president and general manager at Ohmega and Ticer Technologies. Both are recent additions to Quantic Electronics, a newly formed umbrella company focusing on electronics components and materials. We break down what that means for printed circuit board engineers today on this episode of PCB Chat.
This podcast is brought to you by Turnkey PRO from Sierra Circuits. What if you could source your components, upload your specs and receive an instant quote in less than 15 minutes? What if your designs could be fabricated, assembled and delivered to your door in five days with a guarantee of zero defects? Then try Turnkey PRO by Sierra Circuits for your next design, and use promo code PCBCHAT to receive $200 off your next order.

Wednesday Jun 16, 2021
Concept to Creation 5: Datest's Robert Boguski and Regina Lathrop
Wednesday Jun 16, 2021
Wednesday Jun 16, 2021
Welcome to episode number 5 of the Concept to Creation Podcast. I’m so glad you’re here. Today, my guests are Robert Boguski and Regina Lathrop. They are the husband-wife team behind Datest, a Fremont California based company which provides advanced, integrated PCBA testing and inspection services, serving the CM and EMS industries as well as the OEM community since 1984. Robert and Regina purchased Datest in 2005 with business partners then bought out those partners in 2009. I think in many ways, purchasing a company is perhaps even more challenging than starting one from scratch. Rob and Regina describe their early venture as a rehabilitation project.
This podcast is brought to you by Turnkey PRO from Sierra Circuits. What if you could source your components, upload your specs and receive an instant quote in less than 15 minutes? What if your designs could be fabricated, assembled and delivered to your door in five days with a guarantee of zero defects? Then try Turnkey PRO by Sierra Circuits for your next design, and use promo code PCBCHAT to receive $200 off your next order.

Friday Jun 11, 2021
PCB Chat 78: Peter Bigelow on 50 Years in PCB Fabrication
Friday Jun 11, 2021
Friday Jun 11, 2021
IMI Inc., a printed circuit board fabricator in Haverhill, MA, celebrated its 50th anniversary in May. CEO and president Peter Bigelow joins Mike Buetow to discuss the company's golden anniversary, its focus on niche PTFE boards, and how manufacturing in the US might attract new talent for future prosperity.
This podcast is brought to you by Turnkey PRO from Sierra Circuits. What if you could source your components, upload your specs and receive an instant quote in less than 15 minutes? What if your designs could be fabricated, assembled and delivered to your door in five days with a guarantee of zero defects? Then try Turnkey PRO by Sierra Circuits for your next design, and use promo code PCBCHAT to receive $200 off your next order.

Wednesday Jun 09, 2021
RM 69: Part 2 Mike Konrad, Chris Denney and Melissa Hough on the Pick-Place Podcast
Wednesday Jun 09, 2021
Wednesday Jun 09, 2021
Mike Konrad a guest on the Pick-Place Podcast with Chris Denney (Worthington Assembly) and Melissa Hough (CircuitHub). This is the second of a two-part interview.
This episode gets us into the nitty gritty details of how to implement a proper circuit board cleaning process.
In the first part of this conversation (RM 68) we delve into the history of board cleaning, the electronics the industry's transition to primarily using no-clean flux, and why more and more companies are reintroducing board cleaning back into their assembly process.
This podcast is brought to you by Turnkey PRO from Sierra Circuits. What if you could source your components, upload your specs and receive an instant quote in less than 15 minutes? What if your designs could be fabricated, assembled and delivered to your door in five days with a guarantee of zero defects? Then try Turnkey PRO by Sierra Circuits for your next design, and use promo code PCBCHAT to receive $200 off your next order.

Friday Jun 04, 2021
Concept to Creation 4: Kyzen's Dr. Mike Bixenman and Tom Forsythe
Friday Jun 04, 2021
Friday Jun 04, 2021
Dr. Mike Bixenman and Tom Forsythe talk about the founding of Kyzen Corporation, a multinational chemical manufacturer for the electronics cleaning and metal cleaning industry. They discuss the early days and challenges they faced along the way. They even disclose the "secret" meaning of an early ad campaign featuring the cryptic message "2LG2Q"!
This podcast is brought to you by Turnkey PRO from Sierra Circuits. What if you could source your components, upload your specs and receive an instant quote in less than 15 minutes? What if your designs could be fabricated, assembled and delivered to your door in five days with a guarantee of zero defects? Then try Turnkey PRO by Sierra Circuits for your next design, and use promo code PCBCHAT to receive $200 off your next order.

Tuesday Jun 01, 2021
PCB Chat 77: The Top 50 Electronics Manufacturing Services Companies
Tuesday Jun 01, 2021
Tuesday Jun 01, 2021
Each year CIRCUITS ASSEMBLY publishes its rankings of the 50 largest EMS/ODM companies. Editor in chief Mike Buetow offers a recap of the Year of Covid, and provides insights on a few under-the-radar trends that could have seismic effects down the road.
This podcast is brought to you by Turnkey PRO from Sierra Circuits. What if you could source your components, upload your specs and receive an instant quote in less than 15 minutes? What if your designs could be fabricated, assembled and delivered to your door in five days with a guarantee of zero defects? Then try Turnkey PRO by Sierra Circuits for your next design, and use promo code PCBCHAT to receive $200 off your next order.

Thursday May 27, 2021
RM 68: Chris Denney and Melissa Hough
Thursday May 27, 2021
Thursday May 27, 2021
Mike Konrad joins Chris Denney (Worthington Assembly) and Melissa Hough (CircuitHub) on the Pick-Place Podcast . This is the first of a two-part interview.
In this episode we are joined by Mike Konrad to chat about board cleaning best practices. Mike founded Aqueous Technologies in 1992 in response to the Montreal Protocol and the resulting international treaty banning most popular cleaning/defluxing solvents. Their board cleaning equipment assists manufacturers with increasing product reliability while saving both water and energy, reducing the industry's environmental impact.
In addition to being the President of Aqueous Technologies, he is also a fellow podcaster and runs the Reliability Matters Podcast, which discusses reliability of circuit assemblies, reliability "best practices" and success stories.
In the first part of this conversation we delve into the history of board cleaning, the electronics the industry's transition to primarily using no-clean flux, and why more and more companies are reintroducing board cleaning back into their assembly process.
If you want to listen to us get into the nitty-gritty details of how to implement a proper circuit board cleaning process, make sure to listen to the second half of this episode.
Chris Denney may be reached at cdenney@worthingtonassembly.com
Melissa Hough may be reached at melissa@circuithub.com

Thursday May 27, 2021
C2C 3: Mike Scimeca of FCT Assembly on Entrepreneurship
Thursday May 27, 2021
Thursday May 27, 2021
Episode # 3 of the Concept to Creation Podcast is now available. My guest is Mike Scimeca of FCT Assembly. Mike founded his first business in 1991. Today, he owns nine businesses units. Mike shares his successes, failures, challenges, and advice for budding entrepreneurs.
Mike may be reached at:

Monday May 17, 2021
RM 67: Rework/Repair Expert Norman Mier of Best Inc.
Monday May 17, 2021
Monday May 17, 2021
Norman Mier is a retired veteran of the US Marine Corps with over 20 years of experience in the electronics rework and repair industry. He received his training through the Navy's Micro Miniature (2M) Electronic Repair Program. He has progressed through every level of rework and repair recognized in the industry. Norman has also earned the highest certifications awarded by IPC in electronics training, being certified as a Master Instructor in IPC A-610, IPC J-STD-001D, IPC/WHMA-A-620 and IPC 7711/7721.
He has worked through BEST for several electronics industry leaders and created tailored courses for their equipment. This also includes providing training to technicians and engineers in surface mount and advanced surface mount technology. The knowledge Norm has brought to these companies has been invaluable to their process improvement efforts. His skill has also been a major factor in keeping BEST training at the forefront in the electronics-training field.
Norman may be contacted at nmier@solder.net.
Video version: https://youtu.be/VpFBJtiRl1U