A Conversation with IPC Training Expert Bob Doetzer

Today’s episode is all about training. With more young people entering the EMS industry, the need for training is higher than ever before. In this episode we’ll talk with IPC training expert Bob Doetzer about the benefits of training. Both training to IPC standards and practical training will be discussed.  

Bob Doetzer, President of Circuit Technology Training, Inc (or CTTI for short). CTTI offers training in all IPC assembly specifications as well as CTI, Weller, ESD, lean six sigma, SMT Boot Camp and custom courses tailored to their customers’ requirements. In addition to ongoing process and IPC support after training, they offer PCB assembly and process engineering support for Air Vac, Juki, Weller, YesTech, and Heller, among others.

They have 6 state of the art, dedicated training centers:
– Costa Rica
– Melbourne, Florida
– Baltimore, Maryland
– Raleigh, North Carolina
– Manassas, Virginia
– Rock Hill, South Carolina

Bob may be reached here:
Bob Doetzer
President
Circuit Technology Training Inc.
Phone: (844) 900-2884
bob@circuittechnology.com

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2021 Reliability Matters Episode Wrap-Up

Welcome to this special edition of the reliability matters podcast. unlike other episodes, this episode has no guests. At the time of this recording, we have 85 published episodes with more than 16,000 downloads. The reliability matters podcast began as an experiment. I figured we would produce about 10 episodes on various subjects and then move on to something else. Well, I was wrong. I have received countless emails from listeners thanking me for the podcasts stating how much they enjoy listening. The thank you goes more appropriately to my guests. Without them, I would simply be another talking head. And who needs more of those? While my goal was to provide educational material for the electronics industry, perhaps it is me that has learned the most. I am so fortunate to be able to speak to and learn from so many subject matter experts. I would like to take a few moments to thank my guests on this final episode of the 2021 season of reliability matters.

Bob Doetzer – IPC Training and certification
Christopher Frederickson – Solder Paste Inspection
Miles Moreau _Thermal Profiling
Paul Salerno – Solder Paste
Matt Kelly – IPC Technical Conference
Dr. Stan Rak
Dr. Bev Christian
Cheryl Tulkoff and Greg Caswell – Their new book: “DESIGN FOR EXCELLENCE IN ELECTRONICS MANUFACTURING”
Dave Trail – Industry 4.0
Tanya Martin, Greg Vance, Dr. Rayio Aspandiar, and Richard Coyle – SMTAI Technical Conference
James Kovacevic – Maintenance Reliability Training
Mike Buetow , Trevor Galbraith, and Phil Stoten – Meet the Press
Patrick Stimpert – Lean Manufacturing and the Toyota Manufacturing Principal
Chris Denney and Melissa Hough – Contract Manufacturing
Tim Jensen – Solder Pastes
Mark Waterman – Thermal Profiling
David Leventhal, Joan Carrol-Kennedy, and Murray Percival Jr. – Being a Manufacturers Rep During COVID
Amit Dror – 3D Printing of Complex Circuit Boards
Norman Mier – Rework and Repair of Circuit Assemblies
Dr. and Professor Ron Lasky – a profile of three of his college students:
Annaka Balch
Raaga Kannan
Nadia Clement
Tim O’Neill and Fred Dimoc – Solder Voiding Mitigation Strategies and Vacuum Reflow
Dock Brown – Reliability
François Monette – Connectivity, Data Management, Material and Process Control, Traceability, and Analytics
Sal Sparacino – Cleaning Chemicals
Elizabeth Kidd – Testing for Conformal Coat Adhesion
Tara Dunn – Fex Circuits and Additive Electronics
Dave Hillman – Causes and Possible Remedies for Solder Voiding
Dr. Eric Fossum – Inventor of the CMOS Image Sensor (who kicked off the 2021 season).

I am extremely grateful for all of the listeners and subscribers of the reliability matters podcast. Obviously, without you, we would just be broadcasting into a huge void. Thank you for your support, comments and episode suggestions, and dedication to this podcast. We live at the moment in very strange times. many of us have been in an extended period of lockdown unable to attend technical conferences. I hope this podcast and it’s content have helped to fill the educational void caused by this global pandemic.

I would also like to think Mike Buetow of circuits assembly magazine for syndicating this show on his PCBchat.com podcast. I would also like to thank Fred Schenkelberg at Ascendo Reliability for syndicating this show on reliability.fm.

In January of 2021, we introduced an additional platform for this podcast. In addition to our traditional audio podcasts, we launched the reliability matters YouTube channel. Now, you can listen to this podcast in your car or on the treadmill, or watch it on your laptop, phone, or tablet. Don’t miss an episode. Subscribe to the audio podcasts on apple podcast, Google podcasts, Spotify, IHeartRadio, or wherever you get your podcasts. You can also watch this podcast on the reliability matters YouTube channel. If you missed any of the episodes from the 2020 or 2021 season, they are available on your favorite podcast app or on our YouTube channel

I wish all of you the happiest of holidays and a safe, prosperous, and healthy new year. I’ll see you again in January for the premier off the 2022 season of the reliability matters podcast.

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A Conversation about Solder Paste Inspection with Christopher Frederickson

Today, we’ll be discussing Fit for Use solder paste inspection. As I’ve repeated several times on this show, it is said most reliability problems begin at the printer. Our industry utilizes a lot of materials in order to produce a circuit assembly. If the materials, specifically the solder paste is out of spec, that can effect reliability. Unfortunately, in most cases, one can not simply open a jar of solder paste and easily determine visually if the solder paste their applying to the stencil is fit for use, or if it has gone bad, or is out of spec.

My guest today will discuss what solder paste fit for use means, and how we can provide methods for determining its fit for use right on the production floor. My guest also, on a completely unrelated topic, but maybe even more interesting, has experience in wearable electronics in temporary tattoos. You subject that’s the first question I’m going to ask him about!

Contact Christopher:

Christopher Frederickson
Chief Technology Officer
Insituware LLC
Email: chris@insituware.com
Web: insituware.com

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A Conversation with Thermal Management Expert Miles Moreau

Miles Moreau is KIC’s General Manager, has been with KIC for nearly three decades. He draws his deep and rich expertise from managing multiple business units across four continents spanning operations, field service, and sales and marketing channels. His expertise is in thermal management and that’s exactly what we’re going to talk about today.

We’ve discussed how to profile a board on this show. Today, we’re going to talk about profiling an oven and a wave soldering machine, and how, when done correctly, may reduce the number of times one has to attach thermocouples to a circuit board and run it through an oven or wave soldering machine.

Miles’ Contact Information:
Miles Moreau
mmoreau@kicmail.com
https://kicthermal.com

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A Conversation with Solder Paste Expert Paul Salerno

My guest today is Paul Salerno. Paul holds an MBA with specialization in finance and marketing from Rutgers Graduate School of Business. He is the Global Portfolio Manager at MacDermid Alpha Electronic Solutions with expertise in product lifecycle management and development of strategic technology roadmaps for the global surface mount technology business. Paul works with customers in both Europe and Asia with customers in automotive, computing, communications and consumer electronic markets. 

Paul and I discuss soldering materials including “high reliability” solder paste, low and ultra-low solder pastes, and design-for-use solder paste selection processes.

Paul may be reached here:
Paul Salerno
Portfolio Manager, SMT
Assembly Solutions
Paul.Salerno@MacDermidAlpha.com

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IPC APEX Expo 2022 Technical Program

On this episode, I spoke with IPC’s Chief Technologist Matt Kelly and IPC Technical Program Co-Chairs Stan Rak (SF Rak Company) and Bev Christian (HDP User Group) about the upcoming IPC APEX Expo 2022 live technical conference.

We discuss the following topics:
• IPC’s “Factory of the Future Pavilion” 
• IPC’s 3-Hour Professional Development Courses (31 courses!)
• IPC’s Technical Program (4 technology tracks each with 29 technical presentations.
• IPC’s Poster Sessions

IPC APEX Expo 2022 takes place January 22-27 in San Diego, CA.
More information is available here:
IPC APEX Expo 2022
https://www.ipcapexexpo.org/

Professional Development Course information is available here:
https://tinyurl.com/uzwwe49b

Technical Conference info is available here:
https://tinyurl.com/2bpcxpzp

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A Conversation with Arch Systems’ Dave Trail about Industry 4.0

I spoke with Dave Trail from Arch Systems about Industry 4.0.

Dave may be reached here:
mailto:dtrail@archsys.io
808-868-8298

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SMTAI is Back LIVE!

SMTA’s Surface Mount Technology International is back as a live event! The team behind the show and conference discuss the various activities taking place at SMTAI including the exhibition floor, professional development courses, technical presentations, special events and more.

SMTAI 2021 takes place November 1-4 in Minneapolis, MN. More information and registration is available here:
https://smta.org/mpage/smtai/

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A Conversation with James Kovacevic about Maintenance Reliability Training

My guest has been quoted saying his personal mission is to make industry a profitable place; where individuals and manufacturers possess the resources, knowledge, and courage to sustainably lower their operating costs. I speak with James about his maintenance philosophies and his work teaching maintenance best practices.

James may be reached here:
James Kovacevic, MMP CMRP CAMA
jkovacevic@eruditio.com
https://eruditiollc.com

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Meet the Press

A conversation with media personalities Mike Buetow (Circuits Assembly Magazine), Trevor Galbraith (Global SMT & Packaging), Phil Stoten (Scoop TV), and Eric Miscoll (EMC Now). During our conversation we covered various topics including post pandemic production, innovations within our industry, supply chain and labor shortages, and more.

My guests may be reached here:
Mike Buetow
mbuetow@upmediagroup.com

Trevor Galbraith
tgalbraith@trafalgarmedia.com

Phil Stoten
phil@wearescoop.com

Eric Miscoll
emiscoll@emsnow.com

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Matric Group’s Patrick Stimpert on Lean Manufacturing with a “Lean-In” Philosophy

EMS provider Matric Group’s Patrick Stimpert incorporated the Toyota Production System’s Lean principles into his contract manufacturing business. Patrick states “Results are Important. How do I get my results? With the use of the Toyota Production System’s Lean principles and my simple rule “don’t waste time rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic, go fix the problem”. I believe in the “LEAN-IN” processes and gain improvements through RIPs (Rapid Improvement Projects) These projects are based on a standard of identifying problems, brainstorming solutions, attempting those solutions, and adjusting from there. “If we are going to fail, we are going to fail fast and cheap.”

Matric Group
https://www.matric.com

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A Conversation about Contract Manufacturing with Worthington Assembly’s Chris Denney

Worthington Assembly’s Chris Denney speaks about the electronic contract manufacturing business.

• How to select an appropriate contract manufacturer
• Evaluating a contract manufacturer’s capabilities
• Mistakes made when selecting a contract manufacturer
• Advantages and disadvantages of selecting a US-based contract manufacturer

Chris may be contacted here:
cdenney@worthingtonassembly.com

Worthington Assembly’s website:
https://www.worthingtonassembly.com

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