Episodes

Wednesday May 20, 2020
PCB Chat Episode 57: Ted Conrad of Fireboard Labs Discusses the Make/Buy Decision
Wednesday May 20, 2020
Wednesday May 20, 2020
Fireboard Labs is the creator of a cloud-based smart thermometer for kitchens and the grill. A startup -- Fireboard was founded in 2015 -- the company quickly made the decision to build its circuit boards in-house. Ted Conrad, the founder of Fireboard Labs, discusses that decision and lessons learned, plus a breakdown of their signature products, with PCB Chat host Mike Buetow.

Wednesday May 13, 2020
Wednesday May 13, 2020
Teresa Huber is president and CEO of Intervala, an EMS company based in Pittsburgh. She has a bachelor’s in electrical engineering technology from the University of Pittsburgh, and an MBA in industrial administration from Carnegie Mellon. Prior to helping launch Intervala, she was chief executive for TMG Electronics, vice president of operations for the commercial electronics division of LaBarge/Ducommun, chief operating officer of Pinnacle Electronics, and spent 10 years with Sony Electronics in engineering, manufacturing and supply chain, including vice president of operations for Sony’s Pittsburgh Television Group.
She explains Intervala's strategy and reasons for acquiring Princeton Technology Corp., its expanding target end-markets, and the M&A environment for EMS companies today.

Wednesday May 13, 2020
Wednesday May 13, 2020
Do you purchase boards overseas or domestically? What questions should you ask your board vendor? PCD&F/CIRCUITS ASSEMBLY columnist Greg Papandrew answers these and other board-buying questions. Papandrew is cofounder of Better Board Buying and the author of PCB Basics for Buyers.

Monday May 11, 2020
Monday May 11, 2020

Tuesday May 05, 2020
Tuesday May 05, 2020
Luminovo is a Munich-based startup working on applying machine learning to electronics development and production processes. Cofounders Sebastian Schaal and Timon Ruban have worked with major automotive companies like Audi, Volkswagen and Daimler on shop floor parts kitting, quality control and inventory tracking, and with Infineon on machine learning for semiconductor manufacturing. They are now focusing on accelerating electronics manufacturing from printed circuit board design through assembly.

Thursday Apr 30, 2020
PCB Chat Episode 54: Dave Trail Jr. on MES and AR in Electronics Assembly
Thursday Apr 30, 2020
Thursday Apr 30, 2020
Dave Trail, vice president of sales for the SMT & Electronics Business Unit of Critical Manufacturing, has over 25 years of experience in electronics manufacturing equipment, processes, and manufacturing executions systems software. Throughout his career, he has been a pioneer and proponent of the evolution of manufacturing from Industry 3.0 to Industry 4.0, Big Data Analytics, and the Industrial Internet of Things, and he has helped to bring those tools to some of the world’s largest multinationals. Dave talks about the use of MES and augmented reality (AR) in electronics assembly with PCB Chat host Mike Buetow.

Tuesday Apr 14, 2020
Tuesday Apr 14, 2020
During this interview, Mike Konrad and guests Mark Hughes and Greg Ziraldo of Advanced Assembly discuss two papers:
Introduction to Reliability in Electronics: Tools and Metrics for Anticipating Device Failure
by Mark Hughes
https://tinyurl.com/rxmntru
Cosmic Mishaps: How Cosmic Rays Can Disrupt Your Design
Part 1: https://tinyurl.com/smccuf7
Part 2: https://tinyurl.com/ro4e5nt
Part 3: ... See More

Tuesday Mar 31, 2020
Tuesday Mar 31, 2020
Mike Konrad and Mike Buetow discuss the state of the industry amid the Covid-19 crisis. Mike provides a SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats) analysis of our industry and provides his view from Productronica and IPC Apex.

Wednesday Mar 25, 2020
PCB Chat Episode 53: Wally Rhines on the Q4 EDA Market
Wednesday Mar 25, 2020
Wednesday Mar 25, 2020
It was a banner quarter -- and year -- for printed circuit board design software. ESD Alliance spokesman Wally Rhines joins Mike Buetow for his quarterly update on fourth quarter EDA market statistics, and gives his thoughts on whether Covid-19 will move the needle toward cloud-based PCB applications.

Tuesday Mar 24, 2020
Tuesday Mar 24, 2020
John Mitchell talks about the state of the industry, COVID-19 (coronavirus), and the future of the electronic assembly industry with Mike Konrad.

