PCB Chat

RM 122: The Integration of AI into Inspection Systems

When it comes to circuit assemblies, defects result in one of two situations. The preferred result of a defect is to capture it on your factory floor and repair it before it ships to the customer. The second scenario is referred to as an escape. That’s when the board ships to the customer and fails in the field. This is a scenario, all assemblers dread and strive to prevent. One way to prevent escapes is through the use of automated inspection or AOI systems.

Mike Konrad's guests are Arif Virani, chief operating officer and cofounder of Darwin AI, and Bart Piwowar, CTO of Darwin AI, a manufacturer of innovative inspection systems.

Virani is a technology leader with over 20 years of experience in the industry. He spearheads the company’s mission to transform manufacturing with a new standard for quality inspection using AI. DarwinAI’s solutions have been implemented at top electronics manufacturers to increase quality and efficiency while reducing waste. DarwinAI was selected by CBInsights for its AI 100 annual list of the 100 most promising private AI companies in the world in both 2020 and 2021.

Before founding DarwinAI, Virani had a successful career in management consulting at McKinsey & Co., where he advised Fortune 500 enterprises on technology investments and transformation. He led several technology-enabled programs, including building and commercializing data and analytics capabilities. Virani started his career working as a software developer at various technology companies. In addition to his work at DarwinAI, Virani is an Advisory Board Member of NGEN Canada’s AI for Manufacturing Initiative. He has a master’s in business administration from the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School and a bachelor’s in applied science (computer engineering) from the University of Waterloo.

Piwowar is an experienced product leader, leading high-performing product teams driven by data to deliver solutions that solve customer's problems. He has spent many years leading data science teams, applying Innovation methodologies, and working with emerging technologies to bring solutions in many disciplines. He graduated from University of Waterloo with a degree in physics and computing and followed with an MBA from Wilfrid Laurier University.

Piwowar's career interests range from AI product development, decision science and entrepreneurship. 

PCB Chat 116: John Watson on PCB Designer Training

It goes without saying finding talent is a big deal in electronics design and manufacturing.

John Watson is customer success manager at Altium, with more than 20 years' experience as a senior PCB designer. Watson also teaches classes on printed circuit design at Palomar Community College in San Marcos, CA.

We discuss the Printed Circuit Board Design and Advanced Printed Circuit Board Design curricula, other related courses offered at Palomar, and why he emphasizes hand routing over autorouting.

Palomar's website is palomar.edu.

Watson may be reached at jwatson@palomar.edu or 619-886-8860.

Watson will also participate on the Next-Generation Engineers panel at PCB West this year. The conference takes place Sept. 19-22, at the Santa Clara CA Convention Center. The panel takes place on Sept. 20, same day as the exhibition, and is free to attend; register at pcbwest.com.

 

RM 120: Making Reliability Training Entertaining and Effective

Can reliability training be both entertaining and effective? The Manufacturing Game's Michelle Ledet Henley has a different approach to traditional training methods.

Henley has worked with The Manufacturing Game since 1998 as a developer of new simulations and training material. She has traveled worldwide in her capacity as a facilitator and trainer for The Manufacturing Game and other simulations developed by Ledet Enterprises. Henley has been instrumental in developing simulations with a focus on reliability, project management and distribution.

She began her career with KPMG Peat Marwick in San Francisco, and then worked for a real estate management and development firm in the Washington, DC area. Before joining The Manufacturing Game, Henley formed her own company, Innovative Interfaces, which provides computer programming services around the United States.

Henley has a bachelor's of business administration degree from the University of Texas - Austin in accounting and information services.

RM 119: Quantum Mechanics Explained

Mike Konrad's guest is Dr. James Whitfield. Dr. Whitfield is an associate professor of physics at Dartmouth. He earned a bachelor's of science and chemistry and mathematics from Morehouse University and a Ph.D. in chemical physics from Harvard University. He was a postdoctoral fellow at Columbia University in New York, Vienna Center for Quantum Science and Technology in Vienna and Gant University and Belgium, and he is currently an Amazon visiting academic.

PCB Chat 115: Wally Rhines on the Latest ECAD Market Data

Wally Rhines, the former chairman of Mentor Graphics and now spokesperson for the ESD Alliance, updates us on the latest PCB design software and semiconductor market trends (spoiler alert: sales were up again), and addresses why ECAD companies are hiring even in the face of layoffs among Big Tech.

He is joined by Merlyn Brunken, director of marketing strategic planning at Siemens Digital Industries Software to provide the quarterly report, which showed gains across a number of sectors and geographies.

 

PCB Chat 114: Matthias Wagner and Kerry Chayka of Flux

Flux says every step of the electronic design process is slow, expensive, and error-prone. The startup company’s engineers think they have a solution: a browser-based PCB design platform and programmable simulator. 

Matthias Wagner, CEO and cofounder, and Kerry Chayka, product expert, both veterans of PCB design with companies like Facebook and Apple, discuss the problems that led them to develop an all-encompassing tool that includes a programmable SPICE simulator for testing circuits with real parts and environments. 

RM 118: Making ’Big Data’ Useful with Intraratio’s Ryan Gamble

The subjects of Industry 4.0 and Big Data have been widely discussed on this podcast. What is Industry 4.0? What data is our industry collecting? And, perhaps more importantly, how can we sift through all of that data to make it useful and actionable?

To help answer these and other data-related questions, Mike Konrad interviews Ryan Gamble, CEO and Founder of Intraratio. Intraratio is a company that provides on-premise and cloud hybrid software with platforms to track, manage, control, and automate the manufacture of advanced electronics. Intraratio serves the semiconductor, SMT, space/military, medical device and EV markets. Ryan earned a dual electrical and computer engineering degree and spent many years in the semiconductor industry. He’s responsible for improving product manufacturing and testing of commercial and space/military product lines including multi-core DSP, RF and silicon photonics devices. During this period he developed software systems to automate and manage quality and reliability of complex electronics, extending this to hyperscale web-based platforms that interconnect factories globally.

His passion is working with all levels, to identify and recommend solutions to business problems, based on a deep technical understanding of operational processes and product complexities.

 

RM 117: When Residues Cause Circuit Assemblies to Fail

Eric Camden (lead investigator with Foresite) and Mike Konrad discuss electrochemical migration (ECM) and other failure modes caused by residues on circuit assemblies.

RM 116: Supply Chain Musings with Mark Godwin of Ventec

On this episode, Mike Konrad speaks with Mark Goodwin, COO of Ventec Europe, a supplier of copper-clad laminates and prepreg bonding materials for the circuit board fabrication industry, about supply chain challenges.

PCB Chat 113: David Schild of the Printed Circuit Board Association of America

The Printed Circuit Board Association of America, or PCBAA, was founded in 2021 to advance US domestic production of PCBs and base materials. The organization is made up of corporate members of all sizes, and includes fabricators, assemblers and suppliers.

My guest today is David Schild, executive director of the PCBAA. We discuss government investment in printed circuit board manufacturing in the US, the just announced allocation for PCBs as part of the Defense Production Act, and how innovation can't stop at design.

 

This episode of PCB Chat is sponsored by PCB East, the Electronics Industry’s East Coast Conference and Trade Show. Coming to the Boston suburbs May 9-12, and registration is now open at pcbeast.com.