PCB Chat

Mike Konrad a guest on the Pick-Place Podcast with Chris Denney (Worthington Assembly) and Melissa Hough (CircuitHub). This is the second of a two-part interview.

This episode gets us into the nitty gritty details of how to implement a proper circuit board cleaning process.

This podcast is brought to you by Turnkey PRO from Sierra Circuits. What if you could source your components, upload your specs and receive an instant quote in less than 15 minutes? What if your designs could be fabricated, assembled and delivered to your door in five days with a guarantee of zero defects? Then try Turnkey PRO by Sierra Circuits for your next design, and use promo code PCBCHAT to receive $200 off your next order.

Dr. Mike Bixenman and Tom Forsythe talk about the founding of Kyzen Corporation, a multinational chemical manufacturer for the electronics cleaning and metal cleaning industry. They discuss the early days and challenges they faced along the way. They even disclose the "secret" meaning of an early ad campaign featuring the  cryptic message "2LG2Q"!

This podcast is brought to you by Turnkey PRO from Sierra Circuits. What if you could source your components, upload your specs and receive an instant quote in less than 15 minutes? What if your designs could be fabricated, assembled and delivered to your door in five days with a guarantee of zero defects? Then try Turnkey PRO by Sierra Circuits for your next design, and use promo code PCBCHAT to receive $200 off your next order.

Each year CIRCUITS ASSEMBLY publishes its rankings of the 50 largest EMS/ODM companies. Editor in chief Mike Buetow offers a recap of the Year of Covid, and provides insights on a few under-the-radar trends that could have seismic effects down the road.

This podcast is brought to you by Turnkey PRO from Sierra Circuits. What if you could source your components, upload your specs and receive an instant quote in less than 15 minutes? What if your designs could be fabricated, assembled and delivered to your door in five days with a guarantee of zero defects? Then try Turnkey PRO by Sierra Circuits for your next design, and use promo code PCBCHAT to receive $200 off your next order.

Mike Konrad joins Chris Denney (Worthington Assembly) and Melissa Hough (CircuitHub) on the Pick-Place Podcast . This is the first of a two-part interview.

In this episode we are joined by Mike Konrad to chat about board cleaning best practices. Mike founded  Aqueous Technologies in 1992 in response to the Montreal Protocol and the resulting international treaty banning most popular cleaning/defluxing solvents. Their board cleaning equipment assists manufacturers with increasing product reliability while saving both water and energy, reducing the industry's environmental impact.

In addition to being the President of Aqueous Technologies, he is also a fellow podcaster and runs the Reliability Matters Podcast, which discusses reliability of circuit assemblies, reliability "best practices" and success stories.

In the first part of this conversation we delve into the history of board cleaning, the electronics the industry's transition to primarily using no-clean flux, and why more and more companies are reintroducing board cleaning back into their assembly process.

If you want to listen to us get into the nitty-gritty details of how to implement a proper circuit board cleaning process, make sure to listen to the second half of this episode.

Chris Denney may be reached at [email protected]

Melissa Hough may be reached at [email protected]

Episode # 3 of the Concept to Creation Podcast is now available. My guest is Mike Scimeca of FCT Assembly. Mike founded his first business in 1991. Today, he owns nine businesses units. Mike shares his successes, failures, challenges, and advice for budding entrepreneurs.

Mike may be reached at:

[email protected]

Norman Mier is a retired veteran of the US Marine Corps with over 20 years of experience in the electronics rework and repair industry. He received his training through the Navy's Micro Miniature (2M) Electronic Repair Program. He has progressed through every level of rework and repair recognized in the industry. Norman has also earned the highest certifications awarded by IPC in electronics training, being certified as a Master Instructor in IPC A-610, IPC J-STD-001D, IPC/WHMA-A-620 and IPC 7711/7721.

He has worked through BEST for several electronics industry leaders and created tailored courses for their equipment. This also includes providing training to technicians and engineers in surface mount and advanced surface mount technology. The knowledge Norm has brought to these companies has been invaluable to their process improvement efforts. His skill has also been a major factor in keeping BEST training at the forefront in the electronics-training field.

Norman may be contacted at [email protected].

Video version: https://youtu.be/VpFBJtiRl1U

Concept to Creation Episode 2 

Allison and Chad Budvarson are a husband and wife team that founded and operates Out of the Box Manufacturing, a Renton Washington-based contract manufacturer. They share how they founded their company, their challenges, successes, and what motivates them. They also provide sage advice for navigating both business and home life.

Allison Budvarson: [email protected]

Chad Budvarson: [email protected]

David Bernard, Ph.D., describes a coming presentation on x-ray inspection, including understanding how the system works, how magnification works, detectors and sensitivity, handling various solder types (hint: it's the material density that matter), and why users should "stop wasting time with things their x-ray cannot do."

Dr. Ron Lasky (Professor at Dartmouth College) and three of his students -- Annaka Balch, Nadia Clement, and Raaga Kannan -- talk about the papers they wrote and presented at SMTA's Pan Pacific Microelectronics Symposium in Hawaii in 2020, as well as a new paper to be presented at the same conference in 2022.

Welcome to Mike Konrad's new podcast is called “Concept to Creation - The Entrepreneurs of the Electronic Assembly Industry.” 

On this podcast, Mike will interview industry founders to talk about the following topics: 

• Concept 

The first episode features Dr. Bill Cardoso of Creative Electron. Bill earned his AA degree at the age of 13. He went on to earn his BS, MS, and Ph.D. in electrical and computer engineering as well as an MBA in economics, strategic management and entrepreneurship. In 2008, he founded Creative Electron, a manufacturer of x-ray equipment. Bill discusses his journey of concept to creation including his success, failures, and challenges along the way.

Future episodes will air on the first and second Tuesday of each month.

The second episode (airing on May 4) features an interview with the husband and wife team behind Out of the Box Manufacturing, a contract assembler in Renton, WA. They discuss, among other things the challenges of starting a new business one month after they were married in 2008 as well as their strategies for successful growth.

The third episode (airing on May 18) features a conversation with FTC Assemblies (soldering materials manufacturer) founder Mike Scimeca.

The fourth episode features an interview with Kyzen’s Dr. Mike Bixenman and Tom Forsythe.