Reliability Matters

Today, we're going to talk about low-volume electronic assembly. We all know who the “big players” are when it comes to solder paste printers, pick and place machines, reflow ovens and other assembly equipment. But what choices does one have if they need to produce low-volumes of electronic assemblies such as prototypes and other low volume applications?

Let’s face it, most assemblers can’t justify a multi-million-dollar production line for low volume production. One solution may be to outsource the production to a contract manufacturer but there are specific circumstances which may prevent that. In today’s episode, we’ll review some of the equipment options for low-volume SMT production and we’ll see if the barrier to entry for in-house assembly is lower than one might think. My guest today is Ed Stone.

Ed is a sales manager at Manncorp, a provider of SMT assembly equipment for the EMS industry. Manncorp was founded 55 years ago back in 1967. Just imagine how much our industry has changed over the past 55 years! I’d love to say Ed has been there from the beginning, but I think the company is a little bit older than Ed.

Ed Stone's Contact Info:
[email protected]
www.manncorp.com

Today, we’re diving into conformal coating best practices. With the explosion of IOT, the electrification of vehicles, and the miniaturization of circuit assemblies and associated components, many of which are operating in harsh environments, the need for conformal coating has never been greater.

Need to conformal coat your assemblies? Where does one start? What material should one choose? Should it be applied in-house or through a contract-coating house? What are the best practices in materials selection, application, inspection, thickness? So many questions!

To answer these and other questions, I invited a conformal coating expert to speak with me and hopefully shed some light on this subject.

My guest today is David Greenman.
David began his career in the conformal coating business working at Concoat, first distributing Humiseal products and eventually manufacturing them under license for Europe, the Middle East, India and Africa. After 25 years of distributing then manufacturing Humiseal products under license, Chase Corp, which owns Humiseal purchased Concoat where David serves as Director of Humiseal UK, Europe, and India where he is responsible for Corporate Responsibility as well as supporting HumiSeal sales and technical teams.

Earlier in David’s career he qualified as a Radio, TV/Electronics Engineer and became a member of The Society of Radio and Electronics Technicians that was eventually absorbed into The Institution of Engineering and Technology of which he is still a member.

David is a member of numerous British Standards committees for conformal coatings and resins beginning in the mid 1980’s and is now chairman. He is also on an IEC committee as the UK specialist on conformal coatings.
David has also recently been elected as Chairman of the newly formed United Electronic Coating Association.

David Greenman's Contact Info:
[email protected]
https://chasecorp.com/HumiSeal

Today, we're going to talk about contract manufacturing. Do you have a circuit assembly that needs to be built? Don’t have the equipment in-house or enough bandwidth or specialized expertise to build it? You may be best served by utilizing the services of a contract manufacturer.

Contract manufacturers come in all shapes, sizes and capabilities.

Should I seek out a Tier 1 manufacturer? How about Tier 2, 3, 4? What does tier stand for anyway?

should I have my assemblies built overseas or in-country? What about issues such as ITAR? Who will be providing the components? What if I need more than just boards assembled such as design, testing and box build?

To answer these and so many more questions I've invited my friend and colleague David Raby to be my guest.

David is the president of STI electronics, founded in 1982 by David's father the late Jim Raby. Those of you who have been around the electronics industry for some time will know Jim Raby for his work with the US Navy in establishing military standards for electronics manufacturing and the development of the NASA and Department of Defense Soldering Schools. Over the past 40 years, STI Electronics has expanded its focus from consulting and technical seminars to providing training, laboratory analysis, advanced research and development, microelectronics assembly, prototyping, and small to medium volume PCB contract assembly for the electronics industry.

David graduated from Auburn University with a bachelors degree in Aviation Management.

David Raby's Contact Info:
[email protected]
www.stiusa.com

The Concept to Creation Podcast episode featuring David Raby:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=szJ06lnmXb4&t=6s

It seems today, the entire world is experiencing supply chain challenges in nearly all product categories. In the electronic assembly industry, the focus has been within the semiconductor market, especially in North America. Why is this? How did the US allow this to occur? Was it short sightedness, greed, an over-reliance on foreign suppliers, other factors, or a combination of all these factors? What would it take to finally address this issue and are we doing anything about it?

My guest today is Matt Kelly, Chief Technologist at IPC, one of our leading industry trade organizations. IPC recently published a report on the chip shortage and, perhaps most importantly, came up with a list of 28 recommendations our industry can consider to remedy this issue. As I stated, Matt Kelly is Chief Technologist at IPC and is focused on driving next generation technology advancements and supply chain transformation across the electronics industry. He works within the association’s executive leadership team to identify and develop new strategic initiatives, meeting member and industry needs. He delivers influential thought leadership, research, and advocacy to industry and governments. He leads IPC’s Chief Technology Council to continually drive the electronics industry forward. His focus areas include Industry 4.0 – Factory of the Future digitization, modernization, adoption, and implementation; IPC expansion into new advanced packaging technologies including IC-substrates and OSAT manufacturing; and next generation electronic systems design methods.

When I first met Matt he was with IBM. Matt comes to IPC following a 15-year career at IBM Corporation, holding several senior technology and engineering leadership positions within IBM Systems Division. His technical contributions include 25 patents, 85 publications, and numerous industry awards.

Matt is a licensed Professional Engineer with a degree in Chemical Engineering from McMaster University and holds an MBA in Strategic Management from Sir Wilfrid Laurier University.

Download the referenced article from IPC: AN ANALYSIS OF THE NORTH AMERICAN SEMICONDUCTOR AND ADVANCED PACKAGING ECOSYSTEM An IPC Summary Report — Rebuilding U.S. Capabilities for the 21st Century Download Link:
https://emails.ipc.org/links/IPCadvpack-ecosystem-report-final.pdf

More information on the upcoming IPC Advanced Packaging Symposium: Building the IC-Substrate and Package Assembly Ecosystem
https://www.ipc.org/event/ipc-advanced-packaging-symposium-building-ic-substrate-and-package-assembly-ecosystem

Episode 100: A 100th Episode Special (Recorded Live)
This is the 100th episode of the Reliability Matters podcast! Hear clips from past episodes and messages from past guests on their views about reliability.

A special thanks to the 117 guests I have had the privilege to learn from. Also, thank you to my listeners and viewers of this podcast. I sincerely appreciate all of you. As we pass more than 20,000 episode downloads, I feel grateful to host a show that provides so much valuable information to our industry.

Here is a list of my guests (subject matter experts in their fields) that had been on this show:
Jen Fijalkowski - Keith Bryant - Dr. David Bernard - David Kruidhof - Robert Boguski - Phil Zarrow - Jim Hall - Dr. Ron Lasky- Dr. Kunal Shah - Marco Sanchez - Colin Harper - Jesper Lykke - Greg Papandrew - Kevin Huo - Mike Adamson - Tony Lentz - Brian O'Leary - Joel Scutchfield - Bob Doetzer - Christopher Frederickson- Miles Moreau - Paul Salerno - Stan Rak - Bev Christian - Matt Kelly - Cheryl Tulkoff - Greg Caswell - Dave Trail - Dr. Martin Anselm - Tanya Martin - Greg Vance - Dr. Raiyo Aspandiar - James Kovacevic - Trevor Galbraith - Phil Stoten - Eric Miscoll - Mike Buetow - Patrick Stimpert - Chris Denney - Tim Jensen - Mark Waterman - David Leventhal - Joan Carrol-Kennedy - Murray Percival Jr. - Todd Wittmer - Amit Dror - Melissa Hough - Norman Mier - Annaka Balch - Nadia Clement - Raaga Kannan - Tim O'Neill - Fred Dimock - Dock Brown - François Monette -Tara Dunn - Dave Hillman - Graham Naisbitt - Dr. Eric Fossum - Prakash Gango - Kalyan Nukala - Dr. Martin Anselm - Michael Ford - Dr. Sean Clancy - Dr. Bill Cardoso - David Alexander - Matthew Chalkley - Dr. Jennie Hwang - Phil Zarrow - Bob Willis - Ray Prasad - Dr. Chris Jackson - Dr. Mike Stull - Keith Bryant - Greg Papandrew - Mark Hughes - Greg Ziraldo - Dr. John Mitchell - Jim Hall - Dr. Darren Williams - Barbara Kanegsberg - Dr. Ed Kanegsberg - Judy Warner - Greg Smith - Tony Lentz - David Heller - Eric Camden - Brook Sandy - Alun Morgan - Kay Parker - Mark Levin - Jon Rodin - Robert Boguski - Elizabeth Kidd - Manuel Schöllig- Phil Kinner - Paul Mullen - Mike Logan - Yash Sutariya - Brian D'Amico - Fred Schenkelberg - MB Allen - Michelle Ogihara - Sherry Stepp - Dr. Mike Bixenman - Doug Pauls - Dr. Craig Hillman - Sal Sparacino - Dr. Terry Price - Ravi Parthasarathy - Umut Tosun - Wendy Casker - Paco Solis

Today, we're going to talk about cleanliness testing of post-reflowed circuit assemblies. In late 2018, IPC shocked the electronic assembly community by introducing an amendment to section 8 of the J-STD-001G. This amendment radically changed the way industry determines cleanliness. Now, assemblers must prove their assemblies are clean enough not to experience electro-chemical migration events which would cause the assembly to fail.

This new process of obtaining objective evidence has been met with a considerable degree of confusion. To help clear up the confusion, I invited Graham Naisbitt to be my guest. Graham is an IEC 1906 Lord Kelvin Award Winner, IEC TC91 WG2, 3 and 10 Maintenance Leader of 4 Standards.
Graham is Vice-Chair of the IPC 5-30 Cleaning and Coating Sub-Committee which oversees 15 IPC Standards Development Committees and recipient of 14 IPC Standards Awards. Graham is also a British Standards Institution EPL-501 Member.

Graham is a specialist in Surface Insulation Resistance Testing, Ionic Contamination Control, Solderability, Conformal Coating materials and application systems, Cleaning, Inspection and Test.

Graham's Webinar:
"Predicting Reliability in Electronics" with experts Graham Naisbitt
and Chris Hunt
https://iconnect007.com/index.php?cID=854

Graham's Book:
"The Printed Circuit Assembler's Guide to Process Validation"
https://iconnect007.com/my-i-connect007/books/process-validation/

Graham's Contact Info:
[email protected]

Be part of our Reliability Matters 100th episode. You can watch it here on this channel on YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fcnA_7G-GRA

Or, watch on LinkedIn using the following link:
https://www.linkedin.com/video/event/urn:li:ugcPost:6916632834543681536/

Jen Fijalkowski works for Aim Solder. Jen obtained her B.S. from the University of Rhode Island in Chemical Engineering and is a certified Lean Six Sigma Green Belt. Prior to her role as a Technical Marketing Engineer, she interned as a SMT Process Engineer, where she analyzed various reports regarding solder paste printing and co-authored "Comparison of Aperture Designs, Solder Pastes, Nanocoatings and Print/Inspection Systems", published in Circuits Assembly Magazine.

Jen also produces a video blog titled “Line Down” where she discusses common questions about solder paste best practices and how to avoid solder paste induced line-down situations.

I spoke with Jen about solder paste best practices as well as some of the latest advances in solder pastes such as low temperature, low voiding, and high reliability solder pastes.

Jen Fijalkowski may be contacted here:
[email protected]
https://aimsolder.com

Technical Article:
https://tinyurl.com/3xt2cejf

Line Down Video Series:
https://www.facebook.com/AIMSolderMaterials/videos/?ref=page_internal

In this episode I speak with four experts about best practices for purchasing X ray equipment.

There are numerous manufacturers of X ray equipment each with multiple models with varying capabilities. Which type of X ray equipment is right for your application? What are the price ranges? What are the specific capabilities? What questions should I ask when speaking with manufacturers of X ray equipment? How do I define my needs?

These and other questions will are answered by our expert panel.

Our expert panel includes:
Keith Bryant of Keith Bryant Consultancy. Keith has more than 30 years in the electronics industry and has worked for and with X ray equipment manufacturers.
Keith may be contacted here:
[email protected]

Dr. David Bernard of David Bernard Consultancy. Dr. Bernard has more than 20 years of experience in the X ray industry and has worked for and with X ray equipment manufacturers.
Dr. Bernard may be contacted here:
[email protected]

David Kruidhof is the Sales Manager for Creative Electron, a manufacturer of X ray equipment.
David may be contacted here:
[email protected]

Robert Boguski is the President of Datest, an analytical laboratory specializing in failure analysis. Robert is a user of X-ray equipment.
Robert may be contact here:
[email protected]

Episode 96: A Conversation with Industry Gurus Phil Zarrow and Jim Hall about their New Book

A couple of episodes ago, I talked to Dr. and Professor Ron Lasky about a couple of books he wrote. He also recommended a book he didn't write. That book is titled Troubleshooting Electronic Assembly: Wisdom from the BoardTalk Crypt by industry gurus Phil Zarrow and Jim Hall available on Amazon (both were prior guests on this show). Well today, we’ll have a conversation with Phil and Jim about their book.

If you’ve been in the electronic assembly industry for some time, there’s little doubt that you haven’t heard of Phil Zarrow and Jim Hall. Phil has been involved with PCB fabrication and assembly for more than 35 years. Phil is the President and Principal Consultant of ITM Consulting.

Jim Hall has been involved in the electronic assembly industry for the past 26 years. He’s a principal consultant and resident Lean Six Sigma Master Black Belt with ITM Consulting. He’s also an instructor in the Lean Six Sigma programs offered at Dartmouth College. Together with Dr. Ron Lasky, Phil and Jim designed the SMTA’s SMT Processes Certification Course.

Phil and Jim host the popular audio series “Board Talk” on Circuit-Insight, available here:
https://www.circuitinsight.com/channels/board_talk.html

Here is a link to Phil and Jim's "Lessons Learned from the Trenches of SMT Assembly and a Decade of Board Talk” technical course:
https://tinyurl.com/board-talk

Here is a link to Phil and Jim's book:
https://tinyurl.com/board-talk-book

Contact Phil and Jim:
Phil Zarrow
[email protected]

Jim Hall
[email protected]

ITM Consulting
https://itmconsulting.com

I spoke with Dr. Ron Lasky and Jim Hall, authors of the SMTA SMT Certification Courses (along with Phil Zarrow) about the content of these courses. I also spoke with two course students, Claire Hotvedt of Indium Corporation and Tom Watson of Kimball Electronics about their experience taking the courses and the value they received.

SMTA offers two certification courses:

• SMT Processes
• Lean Six Sigma Green Belt

Each SMTA Certification program is a three-day offering consisting of a 1.5-day workshop on topics in SMT Processes or Lean Six Sigma Green Belt. The program concludes on days two and three with an open and closed book examination (SMT Processes) and open book examination (Lean Six Sigma Green Belt.)

This is not an entry-level program. Basic algebra will be used in the workshop and examination. This challenging examination requires both written answers and calculations with the intent to enable the attendee to establish competitive credentials as "Certified" by the SMTA in SMT Processes or Lean Six Sigma Green Belt.

More information on the SMTA certification courses is available here:
https://smta.org/page/certification