Quest for Reliability: Artificial Reliability Over Intelligence
11-26-2019
As the industry begins to shift from standard design tools to artificial intelligence (AI), reliability might be overlooked in an effort to build “smarter.” Over the last few years, the desire to manufacture anything and everything for less has included removing humans from as many positions as possible. There are a couple of viewpoints, and I can see positives in both.
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Quest for Reliability: Reliability by the Book
11-04-2019
Having been in electronics for just shy of 20 years, I can say that the next time we work on a Class I failure analysis project, it will pretty much be the first. Class I electronics serve a different purpose in life, and if they fail, it’s normally not a big deal; instead, it’s mainly a minor inconvenience. In this month’s column, I’ll speak to specifications for Class I, II, and III products per IPC definitions as well as the IPC standards process.
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Quest for Reliability: SMTAI 2019 Thoughts
10-16-2019
Before I headed to Rosemont, I was a little skeptical if it would be worth it for me, considering the lack of task groups that had become my SMTAI/IPC APEX EXPO focus. But after three days of sessions (and a somewhat impressive third-place showing at the SMTA trivia night), I was reminded of why I went to SMTAI in the first place: to learn about the newest technology and how to address age-old problems that are ever-evolving in this era of miniaturization.
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Sealing Your Fate
08-16-2019
Coating does not always prevent failures; it is just as important to look at your cleanliness levels just as you would with an assembly that is not bound for coating. If you have a dirty assembly, you might be buying a little time, but ultimately, you've sealed your own fate.
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Quest for Reliability: The F Word
07-19-2019
The word "failure" is as nasty as it gets in our world. It goes against everything we thought we knew. All contract manufacturing facilities strive to build a reliable product, or at least they all should. The problem is too many companies hope they are building reliable products without doing the work required to ensure they are.
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Quest for Reliability: These Darn Kids/Back in My Day
04-24-2019
This month’s topic is focused on youth, both in terms of humans and technologies. I think these two topics go together since they rely on each other to a large degree. The latter has more than likely shaped or even invented by the former.
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How Smart Is Your Factory?
04-03-2019
When you plan a production facility with the mindset that connectivity and optimization will be key aspects of your operation, it will pay dividends in the form of lower production cost, better traceability, and higher reliability.
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The Cost of Quality and the Higher Cost of Failure
03-13-2019
If you are shopping a new product around to multiple contract manufacturers (CMs), and if all other things in two separate CMs are equal including price and delivery times but one offers a more comprehensive ongoing quality monitoring system, why wouldn't you go with that one? You usually pay some type of premium for the CM that has an overall quality monitoring system that goes beyond just ICT or bench level testing. Definitely, most CMs will give you some sort of assurance that the product is working as it leaves the facility, but if one has a mindset that more than basic testing is required to show reliability, you will more than likely have fewer field failures.
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The Effect of Thermal Profiles on Cleanliness and Electrical Performance
02-21-2019
The process of thermal profiling is one of the most important considerations when setting assembly parameters in reflow soldering. Knowing how to effectively profile includes choosing the proper equipment, understanding the results and being able to adjust as necessary.
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How to Achieve the Apex of Reliability
01-02-2019
Knowing the effect of residual ionic content is among the most important data points when looking at reliability because it is directly related to electrical leakage and electrochemical migration-related issues in a normal field service environment. This column discusses the test methods mostly related to cleanliness and different ways to determine if the process is clean enough for the intended end-use environment.
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