PCB Chat

PCB Chat

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PCB Chat episodes

  • PCB Chat 151: Scott Bright of Cadstrom IO

    Scott Bright is co-founder and COO of Cadstrom IO, a new company that is coming up with tools for resolving some of the engineering problems that designers and engineers are encountering daily.

    Bright has more than 35 years of technology and management experience, including three years at IoT company Jiva, where he was CEO, and 13 at the engineering firm Synapse, which he co-founded and was CEO.

    Bright has designed hardware from back of the envelope sketch to high volume manufacturing for everything from commercial to the highest-reliability applications. As a career hardware developer, he understands the software problems endemic to product development.

    He discusses Cadstrom's new platform for catching errors the ERC flow misses with Andy Shaughnessy and Mike Buetow of PCEA.

    33 min
  • RM 185: How Accuracy & Force Compliance Contribute to Better Quality & Reliability, with Michael Sivigny

    In electronics manufacturing, defects don’t usually announce themselves. They happen in milliseconds, far faster than human perception, and often long before anyone realizes a process has drifted out of control. By the time failures show up in test, inspection, or worse, in the field, the root cause may be buried deep inside machine behavior that no one thought to question.


    When machines are assumed to be accurate instead of proven to be accurate, and when force is set but not verified, hidden variation creeps in. That variation can translate directly into cracked components, misalignment, latent damage, and long-term reliability risk.

    Michael Sivigny is SMT productivity & profit strategist and owner and general manager CeTaQ Americas, a company that has spent decades doing what most factories don’t, objectively measuring machine performance under real production conditions. 

    Sivigny's work has repeatedly shown that even well-maintained, recently serviced equipment can operate outside of specification, quietly generating defects at high speed.

    In this conversation, we’ll dig into how accuracy validation and force measurement expose problems traditional troubleshooting misses, why OEM calibration alone is no longer enough for today’s miniaturized electronics, and how statistically sound measurement practices improve not only yield and uptime, but long-term product reliability.

    If you believe reliability starts long before functional test, this is a conversation you won’t want to miss.

    49 min
  • PCB Chat 150: Wally Rhines on the Latest ECAD Market Data

    Wally Rhines the spokesperson for the ESD Alliance, part of Semiconductor Equipment and Materials International. He joins Mike Buetow each quarter to share details from the latest ESD Alliance report on sales of computer-aided engineering tools, semiconductor tools, PCB design software, related IP and services, and employment.

    We discuss:

    • The latest PCB/MCB design tool market data
    • The 19-quarter streak of year-over-year gains (can it continue?)
    • The massive spike in Asia sales
    • The remarkable resilience of the Americas in maintaining ECAD market share
    • The employment growth -- will everyone eventually work in ECAD?
      • 13 min
    • RM 184: Advances in Dispensing Automation and Thermal Management with PVA’s Jon Urquhart

      Jon Urquhart is director of global applications engineering at Precision Valve and Automation — one of the world’s leading developers of dispensing, coating, and industrial motion-automation systems. Since joining PVA in 1993, Urquhart has become widely recognized for his expertise in fluid material processing, precision dispensing, and the engineering-to-manufacturing handoff that so often makes or breaks product reliability.


      Urquhart holds multiple patents and has helped shape advanced processes used in industries where the stakes couldn’t be higher — from aerospace and EV battery systems to semiconductor packaging, medical devices, and high-density electronics assembly. His work spans everything from protective coatings that safeguard electronics in extreme environments, to next-generation thermal interface material (TIM) deposition, to automation strategies that reduce human error, improve consistency, and dramatically scale production.

      He joins Mike Konrad to discuss the real-world challenges of protecting critical electronics and batteries, the latest advances in TIM materials and deposition, sustainable precision-coating techniques, and the power of a strong collaboration model between vendors, manufacturers, and lab technicians.

      50 min
    • PCB Chat 149: Maggie Frachioni on the Evolution of a PCB Designer

      Margaret (Maggie) Frachioni is a semiconductor hardware engineer at General Motors, where, armed with a bachelor’s in computer engineering from Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology, she started out college as a software engineer in its automotive test lab. 

      While at GM, she started work toward her master’s at Wayne State University in Detroit. Last year, she was part of the first PCEA Certified Printed Circuit Designer course taught as part of a university curriculum.

      She speaks with Mike Buetow on her evolving role at GM, her college preparation for electronics engineering, and how the CPCD class altered her career arc from semiconductor methodology to designing and building boards.

      16 min
    • RM 182: How to Work Effectively with your CM - with Daniel Stanphill & Sean Kincaid

      Mike Konrad continues a dive into the world of contract manufacturing—a vital piece of the electronics ecosystem.


      Joining him are two industry leaders who know this space inside and out. First, we have Daniel Stanphill, SMT process engineer at Aurora Boardworks, and alongside him, Sean Kincaid, president of K & F Electronics. 

      Both companies provide contract manufacturing services to a wide range of customers, helping turn design concepts into dependable, production-ready circuit assemblies.

      In this conversation, we’ll explore what makes for a successful relationship between contract manufacturers and their customers. We’ll talk about the types of customers they look for, the challenges they face in today’s manufacturing environment, and the common mistakes that can derail a project if not addressed early on. 

      Most importantly, we’ll dig into best practices that can help customers and manufacturers work together more effectively.

      1 hr 6 min
    • RM 181: Working with Contract Manufacturers - with Raymond Novara

      The next two episodes of Reliability Matters will be all about contract manufacturing, an area that can make or break the reliability and success of a product. 


      Mike Konrad's guest on this episode is Raymond Novara, founder and owner of East End Assemblies, a US-based contract manufacturer recognized for its focus on quality, customer service, and compliance with AS9100 and IPC standards.

      During our conversation, Raymond talks about key questions that every OEM should be considering:

      • What are the best practices for selecting a contract manufacturer?
      • What common mistakes do companies make when working with a CM—especially in communication and hand-offs?
      • How can design-for-manufacturability feedback prevent problems down the road?
      • What should customers know about transitioning from prototypes to volume production?
      • And how can contract manufacturers help ensure long-term product reliability, not just passing initial tests?

        • If you’re an OEM evaluating partners, an engineer preparing to hand off a design, or someone interested in how contract manufacturers contribute to product reliability, this episode is packed with insights.

        59 min
      • RM 180: Low Temp Soldering for a High-Reliability World

        Note: This is the fourth of four episodes on the subject of soldering materials.

         

        Today, we're diving into a topic that's reshaping how we think about thermal management, energy efficiency, and long-term performance in electronics manufacturing—low temperature soldering. Joining Mike Konrad is Dr. HongWen Zhang, principal metallurgist and R&D manager of the Alloy Group at Indium Corporation.

         

        Dr. Zhang is not only a seasoned materials scientist with a Ph.D. in materials science and engineering, a master’s in materials science and engineering and in mechanical engineering and a bachelor’s in metallurgical physical chemistry he’s also coinventor of Durafuse, a family of solder alloys that are redefining what's possible at low reflow temperatures—which, reportedly, does not compromise reliability.

         

        In this episode, we’ll explore how low temperature solders are helping manufacturers lower energy consumption, protect heat-sensitive components, and still meet the rigorous mechanical and environmental demands of today’s electronics—from wearables to wafer-level packaging. We’ll also talk about the challenges of brittleness, drop shock resistance, activation and encapsulation of no clean activators, and how cutting-edge materials research is solving problems that used to be considered trade-offs.

         

        Whether you’re a reliability engineer, a process expert, or just solder-curious, this episode is packed with insights you won’t want to miss.

         

        53 min

      About PCB Chat

      From the publisher's feed

      Recorded conversations and interviews on electronics design and manufacturing with the editors of PCD&F/Circuits Assembly, brought to you by the Printed Circuit Engineering Association (PCEA)