PCB Chat

Mike Konrad and Mike Buetow discuss the state of the industry amid the Covid-19 crisis. Mike provides a SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats) analysis of our industry and provides his view from Productronica and IPC Apex.

It was a banner quarter -- and year -- for printed circuit board design software. ESD Alliance spokesman Wally Rhines joins Mike Buetow for his quarterly update on fourth quarter EDA market statistics, and gives his thoughts on whether Covid-19 will move the needle toward cloud-based PCB applications.

John Mitchell talks about the state of the industry, COVID-19 (coronavirus), and the future of the electronic assembly industry with Mike Konrad.

We bring back two previous guests, SMT consultants Phil Zarrow and Jim Hall of ITM Consulting. Phil and Jim host Board Talk, a popular broadcast where they field assembly-related questions and provide answers in a style only they can deliver.

We’ll discuss how they go about “fixing” their customer’s problems and their new upcoming book, “Trouble Shooting Electronic Assemblies, Conversations from the Board-Talk Crypt.”

Syrma Technology is one of India’s largest domestically based EMS companies. Its chief executive, Sreeram Srinivasan, was educated in both India and the United States, returning to India after research stints in Los Alamos and Oak Ridge National Labs. There, he has held a variety of management jobs in the automotive and industrial sectors. He became CEO of Syrma in 2015. He speaks with PCB Chat host Mike Buetow about his company's place in the EMS sector, its growth plans, and his experiences doing business in the Indian electronics market.

This week’s guest on PCB Chat is Sue Mucha, president of Powell-Mucha Consulting, an EMS business consulting firm. In the wake of the Covid-19 (coronavirus), she outlines strategies for communicating possible or actual supply chain and factory disruptions to suppliers, employees and customers.

Also see Sue's recent column on this topic at circuitsassembly.com.

Dr. Darren Williams, professor at Sam Houston University, discusses cleaning processes and materials and the upcoming Product Quality Cleaning workshop with host Mike Konrad.

Barbara and Ed Kanegsberg about all things cleaning. Barbara and Ed are the authors of Handbook for Critical Cleaning (available here). They discuss their upcoming Product Quality Cleaning Workshop, in cooperation with Sam Houston State University in Huntsville, TX, and Dr. Darren Williams on May 13-14. For more information, click here.

Chris Nash is product manager for Indium’s PCB assembly solder paste, where works with the R&D team and provides technical advice in the selection, use, and application of solder paste and flux to electronics assembly customers throughout the world. He is also a certified Six Sigma Green Belt from Dartmouth College’s Thayer School of Engineering and a Certified SMT Process Engineer. He talks about solder paste insufficients caused by printing with PCB Chat host Mike Buetow.

In this episode, George Milad, national accounts manager of technology at Uyemura and co-chair of the IPC Plating Processes Subcommittee, explains nickel corrosion, how it occurs and new methods of mitigation, and how the IPC-4552 ENIG specification is being revised to reflect new corrosion analysis requirements. Hosted by Mike Buetow.