Smart Factories: More Than Robots
The acceptance of smart factories is a global movement across multiple industries. Even materials and chemistries are aligning with a move toward further automation, which allows equipment manufacturers to capture and store more data, and software layers to perform more detailed analysis, prediction, and optimization.
TTM on Flex and Rigid-flex PCB Challenges
One of the biggest bareboard manufacturers in the world, TTM Technologies has seen a recent surge in flex and rigid-flex demands from their customers. In this interview, Clay Zha, Vice President of Technology Solutions of TTM’s Mobility business unit, and VP of Corporate Marketing Winnie Ng discuss the differences in manufacturing flex versus traditional PCBs, and the increasing need for rigid-flex HDI boards.
NCAB Group on Supply Chain Issues
In an interview with I-Connect007, Wayne Antal, a key account manager with NCAB Group, discusses supply chain issues, the effect he sees on PCB fabrication channels, and how his customers are adapting to the new business dynamics.
RTW IPC APEX EXPO 2019: Insulectro Sees Growth and Opportunities in Printed Electronics
Judy Warner speaks with Tim Redfern, Insulectro president, and Kevin M. Miller, VP of sales, about growth in the printed electronics market, the direction Insulectro is going, and opportunities for North American PCB suppliers. They note that the company will increase their focus and investment in the printed electronics market.
Chemical Recycling as Part of a Zero-effluent Strategy
Green manufacturing methodologies for PCBs are becoming a global shift. Green efforts have been underway in the European Union for quite some time. Likewise, in the United States, new PCB manufacturers are building zero-waste, zero-effluent facilities and gaining certification as such.
Institute of Circuit Technology Evening Seminar
The Institute of Circuit Technology hosted its first 2019 seminar at the Woodland Grange Hotel in Royal Leamington Spa in the Midlands of England on February 26. The diverse programme of four presentations was introduced by ICT Chairman Andy Cobley, a professor at Coventry University, who stood in for Bill Wilkie, who had been taken ill at short notice.
Gene Weiner on the IPC APEX EXPO 2019 Automotive Executive Forum
Dan Feinberg spoke with Gene Weiner, president and CEO of Weiner International Associates, about IPC's history of forums, his thoughts on the Executive Forum on Advancing Automotive Electronics at IPC APEX EXPO 2019, and how the IPC Hall of Famers and the industry can help improve forum success.
RTW IPC APEX EXPO 2019: Pluritec Partners: Information Systems, ECOSPRAY, & OCCLEPPO
Pluritec VP of Sales Lino Sousa discusses the history of Pluritec and its relationships with Information Systems and ECOSPRAY. He also announces the purchase of the assets and identity of OCCLEPPO, and describes the long-term plan for the integrated one-stop-shop.
Book Recommendation: GAP Selling
Get ready for the ride of your life because this book will rock your world. It is the best book on selling that I’ve read in 10 years, and I read all of them. This book debunks all of the so-called “axioms” about selling that you have heard throughout your career. The author “Keenan” (don’t ask, I didn’t) handles all of that sticky stuff that slows down—nay, just about kills—your sales effort.
NCAB Group on Supply Chain Issues
Wayne Antal, a key account manager with NCAB Group, discusses supply chain issues, the effect he sees on PCB fabrication channels, and how his customers are adapting to the new business dynamics. This is part one of a two-part conversation with Antal.
RTW IPC APEX EXPO 2019: Super PCB Discusses High-end PCB Procurement Services
Kelly Dack speaks with Jessica Zhang, program manager for Super PCB, who focuses on serving customers with a small-business-type relationship. Based in Plano, Texas, Super PCB matches customer design requirements to a myriad of supplier capabilities through time-saving, direct communication with the supplier and best pricing.
Can E-waste and Metals Recovery Efforts Lower Environmental Risks and Liability?
Gold, palladium, silver, and other precious metals (PMs) in manufacturing wastes represent high value, but how PMs are recovered can pose environmental and liability issues. Aerospace and electronics manufacturers and suppliers, in particular, produce volumes of manufacturing wastes that contain varying levels of PMs.
Book Recommendation: The Greatest Salesman in the World
If you haven’t read this classic yet, it’s high time that you did; it’s an oldie but a goodie. Obviously, from the title, you can guess that it is a bit dated (please excuse the term “salesman”). Good, I’m glad we got that out of the way.
RTW IPC APEX EXPO 2019: CBT and Technica’s Relationship, Roadmap, and Equipment
Pete Starkey speaks with David J. Clark, CBT project director, and Najib Khan, photoimaging product manager at Technica, who explain the background of their companies and their current working relationship. Further, they address their technology roadmap, and the unique features of their direct imaging equipment—particularly the registration accuracy that can be achieved.
RTW IPC APEX EXPO 2019: The Circle Is Complete
Jesse Ziomek, sales specialist for North and South America at DIS Inc., speaks with I-Connect007 Technical Editor Pete Starkey on the growth of the company in the global market, and how DIS continues to make life easier for fabricators of rigid, flex, and rigid-flex multilayers by showing them the benefits of their pinless registration systems.
RTW IPC APEX EXPO 2019: LPKF Highlights Laser Processing Tech, Glass Drilling Capabilities
Guest Editor Joe Fjelstad sits down with Stephan H. Schmidt, LPKF president, who provides an overview of the company's laser processing machine and their capabilities, and highlights the new glass drilling capabilities.
RTW IPC APEX EXPO 2019: New IPC Technical Education Program Manager
Brook Sandy-Smith discusses her new role as IPC technical education program manager, which is also a brand-new IPC position. She further explains the benefits of membership, when a member should contact her, the IPC STEM Outreach Program, and upcoming events.
AltiumLive Munich: Day 2 Keynotes
Having enjoyed the conference dinner and robot battles of the previous evening, a good night’s sleep, and a hearty breakfast, Altium’s family of over 220 electronics engineers and designers eagerly returned to the conference room. Many jostled to secure the best seats for the second day of the European AltiumLive design summit in Munich, keen to make the most of the “learn, connect, and get inspired” opportunity it offered.
CES 2019 Showstoppers, the Show Floor, and Some Neat Stuff
CES 2019 is over, and those of us who spent four to five days trying to see and hear as much as possible are in recovery mode. There were over 182,000 attendees, and 6,600 of us were media all trying to get to as much of the 2.9-million-square-feet exhibit space as possible.
Atotech at HKPCA on Announcements and Advancements
Edy Yu, managing editor for PCB007 China, caught up with Daniel Schmidt, Atotech’s director of global marketing, during the 2018 HKPCA and IPC Show in December. Edy and Daniel discussed Atotech’s new announcements at the show including their new solutions for 5G, high-speed, and high-frequency applications, and more.
Dispatches from CES 2019: The Future in the Kickoff
Press kickoff briefings at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) are no stranger to big claims and hyperboles. At the “CES 2019 Trends to Watch” presentation on Monday morning, Steve Koenig, Consumer Technology Association’s (CTA’s) VP of market research, made some pretty big claims about what we should expect to see at the show, but those claims don't seem at all to be hyperbolized.
CES Press Day: NVIDIA, Samsung, and Intel
Three major companies—NVIDIA, Samsung, and Intel—had lengthy, interesting presentations on CES press day, and each had with their own agenda.
Rainer Beerhalter Discusses His AltiumLive Munich Presentation
Rainer Beerhalter is a physicist, and according to his design bureau’s website, “founder, owner, and mastermind” of B GMBH. Rainer attended the first AltiumLive in Munich in 2017, and he’s returning to this year’s event in Munich January 15–17. I asked him to tell us about the class he’ll be teaching in Munich, and why he decided to come back for the sophomore AltiumLive show.
Chris Nuttall Discusses NCAB Group's IPO and Future Plans
Editor Nolan Johnson sat down with Chris Nuttall, COO and VP of technology at NCAB Group, to discuss software tools, predictive reports, and the company's recent IPO.
The Shape of Things to Come: Curved, Flexible, Stretchable, and Three-Dimensional Electronics
The seamless integration of electronics into flexible, curved, and even stretchable surfaces is being requested for several markets, such as automotive (dashboards, lighting, sensors), smart buildings (lighting facades, air quality, solar panels), medical (health patches, X-ray, analysis), and smart clothing (position tracking, sports).
Successful Flex Circuit Design and Processing Guidelines
With the use of sensors and technology in everything from mobile phones to refrigerators, automobiles, and wearable medical devices, circuit boards are a component in many different types of products. In today’s world of electronics, any product with an on-off switch contains a circuit board.
Meet All Flex’s New President and CEO Matt Keithly
All Flex Flexible Circuits and Heaters recently appointed Matt Keithly as their new president and CEO. In this exclusive interview, Keithly discusses his background, the direction of the company, and topics related to flexible circuits and other areas of All Flex’s business.
Strategies to Manage Your China Business Through Turbulence
While the United States may be the world’s most open market, China remains the most competitive, and is still viewed by most U.S. and EU companies as the "last great opportunity for growth.” Many companies want to gain entry to the Chinese market share for their products or services. Thus, the competition for sales of products or services is correspondingly intense. Here's how to succeed in the world's second largest economy.
Copper Pillar Plating Systems: High Speed, Low Heat
The industry is seeing ever-more stringent requirements of interconnect technologies (ICT) from die through final assembly, in particular digital and analog high frequencies, undistorted signal propagation and efficient heat propagation are concerned.
Additive Electronics: PCB Scale to IC Scale
SAP, mSAP, SLP—what kind of crazy acronyms have we adopted now, and how much do you really need to know? In terms of consumer electronics, there is a good chance that the smartphone attached to your hand at all times contains a PCB fabricated with this technology—or at the very least, the next-generation smartphone that you purchase will utilize mSAP technology.
RTW SMTAI: NCAB Discusses Its Sustainability Programs
Doug Drayer, General Manager, Central Region, at NCAB Group, details the company's three-pronged sustainability programs and ISO 26000. He also talks about the company’s recent successful listing in the Stockholm Stock Exchange, and the importance of working with the customers especially during the design process.
Smartphone Substrate-Like PCBs Will Revolutionize the IC Substrate and PCB Markets
The smartphone is one of the high value-add products that carries a very high demand for miniaturization. Customers expect larger screens, cameras with high resolution, and various other functions, in lighter and thinner phones.
The Changing Shape of the HDI Market
With more mobile device designers looking to utilize the benefits of FOWLP and other direct attach package types, a new generation of HDI PCBs is already in the market. Targeting less than 30 mm features and based on mSAP techniques, these substrate-like PCBs make use of the latest high-end manufacturing processes and materials, to enable the next evolution in advanced HDI boards.
GP Ventures’ Tom Kastner on PCB Mergers and Acquisitions
Tom Kastner, president of GP Ventures, he has his finger on the pulse of the industry's mergers and acquisitions (M&A) more than anyone. In this interview, Kastner provides insights on the right time to buy, how to evaluate your company's worth, and when it is too late.
What's FLITE About? An Old Man's Observations
FLITE—Female Leaders in Tech, Everywhere—aims to raise the visibility of females in technology, manufacturing, and engineering by celebrating their achievements and learning from their experiences. I-Connect007 Technical Editor Pete Starkey sit in on FLITE's networking event at the recent What's New in Electronics (WNIE) Live show to find out more about this enterprise, which turned out to be an inspirational eye-opener.
Building a Better Board: It Always Comes Back to Communication
For our experts meeting on the August’s theme of reliability, we reached out to Colonial Circuits and asked them to participate in a conference call with our I-Connect007 editorial team consisting of Dan Feinberg, Andy Shaughnessy, Patty Goldman, and Happy Holden. Joining the call from Colonial Circuits was Mark Osborn, president and CEO, Kevin Knapp, quality manager, and Rodney Krick, manufacturing manager.
From Trend to Game Changer: Which Technology Will Make the Cut?
At the recent EIPC Summer Conference, Hans Friedrichkeit of the PCB Network gave an engaging presentation on artificial intelligence and future technologies, which was well received by attendees. Who better than Hans to offer insight on which future megatrends might truly become game changers? Publisher Barry Matties sat down with Hans to get his take on trends such as 5G, autonomous cars and 3D printing.
Reliability Takes on a New Urgency
Consumers wanted a reliable car that wouldn’t break down on the road; a computer that wouldn’t crash; a phone network that wouldn’t drop our calls; the plane we were hurtling across the sky in to stay in the air and land safely, with the wheels down. In retrospect, those seem rather simple wants, and the industry certainly wants to deliver.
Atotech on Challenges and Opportunities in PCB Manufacturing
Abel Ruivo, Atotech Deputy Business Director of Electronics for Greater China, and Daniel Schmidt, head of Global Marketing for Electronics at Atotech Group, spoke with I-Connect007 about the various challenges of PCB manufacturing in China, as well as about the opportunities in the sector.
Solder Mask: You’ve Come a Long Way, Baby!
For the July 2018 issue of PCB007 magazine, I-Connect007's editing team met with Electra Polymers’ Shaun Tibbals and Antony Earl to discuss what’s new with solder mask, including direct imaging and inkjet printing of solder mask, and what PCB manufacturers and OEMs need to know.
Advanced Copper Plating Process for Any Layer Via Fill Applications with Thin Surface Copper
Copper-filled microvias are a key technology in HDI designs that have enabled increasing miniaturization and densification of printed circuit boards for the next generation of electronic products. Compared with standard PTHs, copper-filled vias provide greater design flexibility, improved signal performance, and can potentially help reduce layer count, thus reducing cost.
MacDermid Enthone Talks Wet Processing Trends in 2018
I-Connect007’s Patty Goldman, Barry Matties, Andy Shaughnessy, and Happy Holden were recently joined by MacDermid Enthone team members Jordan Kologe, technical marketing specialist; Ted Antonellis, applications manager for electronics specialties; and Don Cullen, marketing director for electronics solutions and MacDermid performance solutions. The discussion topic was the wet processing end of PCB manufacturing.
