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EPTE Newsletter: Flood Catastrophe in Japan

EPTE Newsletter By: Dominique Numakura
The rainy season in Japan usually ends in early July; however, severe and abnormal weather plagued Japan during the entire month this year. First, a strong typhoon passing from south to north soaked the western island, Kyushu. The typhoon kicked off the seasonal rain front in the western half of Japan, which resulted in historical rainfall. Some areas received more than 1,000 millimeters of rain in less than four days—a record amount of rainfall for many towns.

The Bare (Board) Truth: Refining Output Data Packages for Fabricators

The Bare (Board) Truth By: Mark Thompson
One of the biggest issues PCB fabricators face is the completeness (or incompleteness) of the data output package we receive from customers on a new PCB. In this column, I am going to present what is needed, from a fabricator’s perspective, for a good output package and why.

Flexible Thinking Redux

Flexible Thinking By: Joe Fjelstad
Flexible circuits are known by a few different names depending on one’s global location and language: flexible printed circuits, FPCs, flex circuits, flexi circuits, flexibles, bendables and a few others that are application-specific such as flexible heater circuits and controlled impedance cable constructions. While flex circuits are an original and foundational interconnection technology for electrical and electronic products (one of the first patents for electrical interconnections, issued at the turn of the last century, was arguably a flexible circuit), over the years there have been several forays into technological extensions of the basic idea.

Conversations with...Integrated Micro-Electronics Inc.

From the Archives By: Various Authors
I-Connect007 editor Richard Ayes recently interviewed Rafael Nestor Mantaring, vice president for design and development at Philippines-based EMS firm Integrated Micro-Electronics Inc. (IMI), who discusses the benefits and impact of printed electronics for the electronics manufacturing industry and the current challenges the technology faces.

All About Flex: Terms and Conditions

All About Flex By: Dave Becker
An issue that is frequently addressed by many of us in the printed circuit industry, and by others in the world of contract fabrication and assembly, is dealing with the “Terms and Conditions” in a purchase agreement or contract.

Raising the Capability Ceiling: SMTA Upper Midwest Chapter Expo

Flex Talk By: Tara Dunn
An energetic and engaged crowd filled the recent SMTA Upper Midwest Expo & Tech Forum. The event, held in June 14 in Minneapolis, Minnesota, hosted 57 exhibiting companies and had over 100 pre-registered attendees. The underlying theme for the technical presentations was "Raising the Capability Ceiling!" Here's a wrap-up of the event.

Laser Pointers: Stepping Up to Laser Processing for Flex, Part 6 — Proper Care and Feeding of Your Equipment

Laser Pointers By: Mike Jennings and Patrick Riechel
Supplementing your production capabilities with flexible circuit laser processing can pay big dividends. It not only enables you to broaden the set of services you can offer your customers, but it also extends your reach into additional markets you might not otherwise be equipped to serve.

Designers Notebook: Strategies for High-Density PCBs

Designers Notebook By: Vern Solberg
As hand-held and portable electronic products and their circuit boards continue to shrink in size, the designer is faced with solving the physical differences between traditional printed board fabrication and what’s commonly referred to as HDI processing. The primary driver for HDI is the increased complexity of the more advanced semiconductor package technology. These differences can be greater than one order of magnitude in interconnection density.

Standard of Excellence: Preparing for the Future with the Right Supplier

Standard of Excellence By: Team ASC
Is your PCB supplier ready to take you into the future? Sure, they are doing a good job today, but what about tomorrow? What will happen when new designs require boards to be made with thermal or RF materials, or have lines widths down to two mils?

Millennials in Manufacturing: Hiring, Training and Retaining Millennials

Millennials in Manufacturing By: Davina McDonnell
Shelly Phelps is the human resource manager at Saline Lectronics, where she manages recruitment strategies, disciplinary actions, and employee relations. In this interview, she discusses the greatest challenges when dealing with millennials, and how she thinks management and training should evolve for a more effective onboarding of this new generation of manufacturing workforce.

Let’s Talk Testing: Professor Plum in the Library with the Candlestick…Right?

Let's Talk Testing By: Keith Sellers
Who knew that a phrase from a decades-old popular board game could have some relevance in today’s ever-changing world? In the game of Clue, simply put, evidence is collected and then used to solve a mystery. In my world, testing is performed to gather data/results (evidence) and then this information is used to determine the root cause of some issue that is under investigation (solving the mystery).

One World, One Industry: Automotive Electronics—Past / Present / Future

One World, One Industry By: John Mitchell
As electronics play an increasingly important role in automotive manufacturing, tremendous change and great progress have been made worldwide. We are at the crossroads of incredible technological advancements, and it’s been exhilarating to watch. I am eager to see what happens next.

Developments in Wet Processing: Beyond Spraying and Dipping

Ladle on Manufacturing By: Marc Ladle
Spraying and dipping! Wet processing is based on two simple principles: Spray the work piece or immerse it in a bath. Most of the things you do in a complex machine you could also do with a series of buckets, but the results are likely to be much less reliable or efficient.

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