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The COVID-19 pandemic continues to disrupt the global economy. In this column, Dominique examines the impact on Taiwan. Taiwanese companies posted positive results compared to last year as manufacturing and exports increase.
First, we asked you to send in your questions for Happy Holden, Joe Fjelstad, and Eric Camden in our “Just Ask” series. Now, it’s IPC President and CEO John Mitchell’s turn! A regular PCB007 columnist, John focuses on many of the challenges affecting the global electronics industry supply chain. Over the years, he has served as an engineer, manager, and executive at a variety of companies and organizations. We hope you enjoy “Just Ask John.”
Two weeks ago, when it was my turn to pick the top 5, I made a comment about themes. I’m making a stretch here, but this week’s theme is technical education. Three out of the five most popular news items this last week reported on upcoming technical events or publications.
As a flex circuit applications engineer, when I receive an RFQ, the first thing I do is look at the customer’s data and review their manufacturing notes. Quite often, I find notes that supersede IPC specifications in manufacturing documents, as customers often believe these added notes and associated specifications will make the circuit more robust. However, these non-standard IPC manufacturing specifications/notes can wreak havoc on the manufacturing process and can actually lead to a less robust circuit.
Flexible PCBs, by their very nature, are designed to be flexible. This presents problems in securely and reliably attaching the ends of the flex circuits to a solid, stiff, main PCB or other electronic devices. A combination of hard, as well as semi-flexible stiffeners, is used for this purpose. John Talbot explains.
