An interview with Indium’s Kay Parker about SMT Printing and Being New in the Electronics Assembly Industry

An interview with Indium’s Kay Parker. We discuss SMT solder paste printing and Kay’s experience as a new engineer in the electronics assembly industry.

Kay Parker is a Technical Support Engineer based at Indium Corporation’s headquarters in Clinton, N.Y. In this role, she provides guidance and recommendations to customers related to process steps, equipment, techniques, and materials. She is also responsible for servicing the company’s existing accounts and retaining new business.

Kay first joined Indium Corporation as a college intern. During her internship, she worked alongside process engineers in Indium Corporation’s Metals and Compounds division. After graduating from the State University of New York Polytechnic Institute in 2018, Kay joined the company as a Technical Support Engineer.

At SUNY Poly, Kay earned a bachelor’s degree in applied mathematics with a minor in engineering science. Her past accomplishments include managing the details of a National Science Foundation grant, forming and leading an award-winning competitive student robotics club, developing industrial manufacturing process technologies, and modeling the flow of blood in the human eye using mathematical equations and computer programs. Kay can be reached at kparker@indium.com.

[Read more…]

A Conversation with Teradyne’s Reliability Experts Mark Levin and Jon Rodin

A conversation with Teradyne’s Manager of Reliability Mark Levin and Senior Software Engineering Manager Jon Bodin about reliability, DFM, and their new book “Improving Product Reliability and Software Quality: Strategies, Tools, Process and Implementation”, 2nd Edition. The book is available here: https://tinyurl.com/y2f3nhav

[Read more…]

A Conversation About Testing Circuit Assemblies with Datest Founder Robert Boguski Jr.

A conversion with Datest Founder Robert Boguski Jr. about testing circuit assemblies. The conversation covers many types of circuit testing, ethics in testing, and how to share results with customers.

[Read more…]

A Conversation About Adhesion Testing with BTG Lab’s Materials Scientist Elizabeth Kidd

On this episode, we’ll be discussing surface adhesion. What makes a surface more adherable, what makes it less adherable, and most importantly, how can one determine a surface’s adhere-ability (is that a word?) before applying a coating.

[Read more…]

A Conversation with Manuel Schöllig – There’s More to Clean than just Assemblies

A Conversation with Manuel Schöllig of Emil Otto, a German manufacturer of soldering and cleaning materials about cleaning stencils, pallets, fixtures, ovens, and assemblies. There’s more to clean than just circuit assemblies. Manual reviews many non-assembly cleaning requirements. Manuel also describes a new flux type that reportedly does not rely on heat activation to remove harmful flux activators.

[Read more…]

A Conversation with Conformal Coating Expert Phil Kinner

A conversation with Electrolube’s conformal coating expert Phil Kinner. We discuss the reasons for conformal coating and the variety of conformal coating materials available.

[Read more…]

A Conversation about Display Technologies and Reliability-Improving Production Methods

My guests today are two of the people behind Anders, a UK-based company which manufactures displays and embedded control systems. Anders manufactures display and embedded controller products for a variety of industries including medical, marine, industrial, home, and much more. My guests are Ander’s General Manager, Paul Mullen and Display and Input Technology Manager, Mike Logan. Both Paul and Mike spoke with me from their London headquarters. Anders website is https://www.andersdx.com

[Read more…]

A Conversation with Saturn Electronics’ Yash Sutariya about PCB Fabrication

Yash Sutariya is the President of Saturn Electronics Corporation, Saturn Flex Systems, and Saturn PCB Services, all PCB-centric operating entities. Today, we’ll discuss what every buyer of printed circuit boards should be concerned about and Yash will offer a few auditing tips that would be helpful when auditing or selecting a PCB supplier. Yash is the author of PCB RELIABILITY: AUDITING YOUR SUPPLY CHAIN TO INSURE IT, a paper he presented at SMTAI 2018.

[Read more…]

A Conversation with Brian D’Amico about AOI and SPI Best Practices

My conversation with Automated Optical Inspection (AOI) and Solder Paste Inspection (SPI) system supplier Brian D’Amico covers AOI and SPI best practices. Modern circuit assemblies are difficult, if not impossible, to inspect without the aid of advanced inspection systems. Brian has been in the electronic assembly equipment industry for thirty six years. His knowledge (and passion) for inspection technology is truly impressive.

[Read more…]

Lessons Learned from a Contract Manufacturer & Their Customer Who Sued Them

What happens when an electronic contract manufacturer follows their customer’s instructions to the detriment of the product? Product failures, blame, drama, and a really big lawsuit.  

Mike Konrad reviews the trials and tribulations of a contract manufacturer and their customer. Assembly residue-related failures (ECM) contributed to product failures, product recalls, and, ultimately, a multi-million-dollar lawsuit.

Misguided “best practice” techniques only made matters worse. This podcast will discuss what factors contributed to the “perfect storm” of product failures. Factors that go as far back to original product designs, printed circuit board fabrication, storage and handling, assembly, testing, and coating. While mistakes were made all along the way, product failures could have been avoided with a few simple process changes, adding mere pennies to the cost of each assembly while saving hundreds of thousands of dollars in litigation.

[Read more…]

Scoop TV Interviews Mike Konrad

Today’s episode turns the table on our usual format. Normally, I interview an industry expert. Today, I’m the subject of the interview. My friend and colleague Phil Stoten from Scoop TV interviewed me a few months ago where we discussed cleaning and cleanliness testing as method to improve reliability. This interview took place on a crowded and relatively noisy trade show floor, so pardon the background noise. Here’s that interview.

[Read more…]

An Interview with Reliability Expert Fred Schenkelberg

Fred Schenkelberg is an international authority on reliability engineering. He is the reliability expert at FMS Reliability, a reliability engineering and management consulting firm he founded in 2004. Fred left Hewlett Packard’s Reliability Team where he helped create a culture of reliability across HP to assist other organizations. His passion is working with teams to improve product reliability, customer satisfaction, and efficiencies in product development; and to reduce product risk and warranty costs. Fred has a Bachelor of Science in Physics from the United States Military Academy and a Master of Science in Statistics from Stanford University.

[Read more…]

A Conversation with KIC’s MB Allen About Thermal Management and Reliability

Most of our episodes feature guests representing specific segments of the electronic assembly industry. Today’s episode is no exception. My guest on this episode is MB Allen from KIC. KIC provides thermal profiling hardware and profiler software tools that help define, measure, monitor, and improve thermal processes for electronics manufacturing services. Today, more than ever, thermal management is vital to ensuring a proper reflow or soldering process. There is a direct link between proper reflow profiles and reliability, which makes this topic relevant for any conversation about reliability.

MB Allen is the Manager of Applications and Sales for the Americas and Europe.

Formerly a Product Manager MB coordinated the advancement of new products and features to accommodate customer needs. Her technical expertise, relationships with valued partners and customers, and many years of experience aid in the future development and improvements of her company’s product offerings.

MB has worked in the electronics industry for 31 years and been associated with KIC for 30 years with both national and international positions.

We discuss thermal management and assembly thermal profiling as a means to better reliability.

[Read more…]

An Interview with FLITE’s Michelle Ogihara and Sherry Stepp on Women in Electronics

An interview with US Ambassadors of FLITE (Female Leaders in Tech Everywhere), Michelle Ogihara and Sherry Steep on the subject of women in electronics and FLITE’s mission to build a platform based on real-life experiences to help raise the visibility of females in technology.

[Read more…]

Tips and Tricks for Successfully Cleaning Circuit Assemblies

In the last half of the 20th century, cleaning of circuit assemblies was a standard assembly practice. The abolishment of popular CFC-based cleaning solvents ushered the introduction of “no-clean” assembly processes. For much of the electronic assembly industry, cleaning became nonexistent.

Due to assembly and component miniaturization and the explosion of both IOT and automotive electronics, which places many circuit assemblies into harsh environments, the practice of removing harmful ionic contamination from circuit assemblies has once again become a mainstream practice. Today, the majority of electronic assemblies are cleaned. And, for many assemblers, cleaning is a new process.

This podcast will present modern best-practice cleaning techniques including:

– An historical look back at cleaning
– The reason for cleaning
– Reasons for cleaning no-clean flux residues
– Conventional cleaning technologies
– Estimating throughput capabilities on batch and inline cleaning systems
– Do’s and don’ts of cleaning circuit assemblies
– How to choose a cleaning chemical (if needed)
– How to determine the assemblies are clean during the cleaning process
– How to determine the assemblies are clean after the cleaning process
– New IPC Cleanliness assessment standards
– Environmental mitigation techniques
– Calculating the per-assembly cost of cleaning
– Keeping your cleaning machine in top-working order

[Read more…]