Standard of Excellence: Speed vs. Quality in Customer Service
Knocking Down the Bone Pile: Revamp Your Components with BGA Reballing
Global Sourcing Spotlight: Balancing Speed and Flexibility Without Sacrificing Control
I-Connect007 Editor’s Choice: Five Must-Reads for the Week
April 8, 2022 | Andy Shaughnessy, Design007 MagazineEstimated reading time: 2 minutes
Spring has definitely sprung, and the trade show season continues to roll right along. Managing Editor Nolan Johnson just returned from DesignCon 2022, and as he says in his review, the attendance was up from last year’s event, which had been at the McEnery Convention Center in the waning days of the pandemic. I hope we’re getting back to normal, whatever that means.
This week, we have a few articles about Industry 4.0, as well as a column on setting your priorities. We have a cool article about methods for measuring the breakdown of resins during multiple thermal laminations, and a conversation with an EMS company president who realized that he was actually running a data collection firm that happened to make circuit boards. Can you say the same about your own company?
DesignCon 2022: Back to Business as Usual
Published April 7
This week, DesignCon returned to its old stomping grounds, the Santa Clara Convention Center in Silicon Valley. It’s been over two years since the annual design engineering event was last held here, and attendees and exhibitors were glad to be back to normal, more or less. Let’s congratulate Richard Mellitz of Samtec for taking home the “Engineer of the Year” award, along with finalists Scott McMorrow, Steven Sandler, and Design007 contributor Bert Simonovich. Nolan Johnson brings us this DesignCon wrap-up.
The Future is Driven by Data
Published April 7
History is full of “A-ha” moments, when inventors and leaders had that proverbial lightbulb turn on in their brain. In this interview with Rocket EMS President Michael Kottke, he discusses his DIY implementation of Industry 4.0 systems, and how everything changed with the realization that he is now running a data collection business that just happens to build printed circuit boards. Check it out.
Smart Factory Insights: Has the Industry 4.0 Gold Rush Ended?
Published April 6
Speaking of Industry 4.0, it’s hard to believe that this concept is now five years old, well past the toddler stage in life. But as columnist Michael Ford points out, the Gold Rush surrounding Industry 4.0 may have run its course. In this column, Michael discusses the various winners and losers who have risked it all for the chance of striking gold in this new territory.
The Right Approach: The Law of Priorities
Published April 7
With so many of us wearing multiple hats each day, setting priorities becomes a task in itself. Steve Williams has a column that a lot of us will identify with as he continues counting down the 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership. As Steve says, balancing your priorities will enable you to more thoroughly enjoy your career as well as your recreational time.
Measuring Multiple Lamination Reliability for Low-loss Materials
Published April 4
John Strubbe of TUC has a great article about the effects of multiple thermal lamination cycles on resin’s physical properties. He takes dynamic mechanical analysis, stress-strain curves, Young’s modulus, yield strength, and ultimate tensile strength, and boils it all down so that the rest of us can understand it. This is good stuff.
Share on:
Testimonial
"In a year when every marketing dollar mattered, I chose to keep I-Connect007 in our 2025 plan. Their commitment to high-quality, insightful content aligns with Koh Young’s values and helps readers navigate a changing industry. "
Brent Fischthal - Koh YoungSuggested Items
I-Connect007 Editor’s Choice: Five Must-Reads for the Week
10/31/2025 | Nolan Johnson, I-Connect007Last week, the IMPACT conference took place in Taipei, bringing together advanced packaging experts from around the globe to share their knowledge. We’ll be bringing you post-conference coverage over the next few weeks, so look for that in our newsletters, and in the Advanced Electronic Packaging Digest. Other news seemed to have the U.S. at the center of the global discussions. My picks start in Phoenix, where TSMC, NVIDIA, and Amkor are all scrambling to establish new capabilities. There’s nothing like a strong demand signal to cause build-out, and AI chips are doing exactly that.
I-Connect007 Welcomes New Columnist: Leo Lambert, EPTAC
10/30/2025 | I-Connect007I-Connect007 is excited to announce a column by Leo Lambert, an industry veteran with 40 years of experience, an award winner, and technical director at EPTAC. This column, Learning With Leo, will explore the evolution and related challenges of electronics product assembly, especially as it relates to training.
Better Sustainability Policies for Electronics
10/29/2025 | Diana Radovan, Global Electronics AssociationI joined the Global Electronics Association in August 2025 as the director of sustainability policy. Since then, much has happened in terms of geopolitics and in the development and re-envisioning of sustainability policies in the industry. While the European Commission has released several legislative packages to simplify sustainability requirements (“omnibus”), these developments haven’t yet settled and are not in effect. Given the many recent and ongoing public consultations, with often conflicting input from a broad range of stakeholders, final negotiations remain rather polarized among policymakers.
SMTAI 2025 Review: Reflecting on a Pragmatic and Forward-looking Industry
10/27/2025 | Marcy LaRont, I-Connect007Leaving the show floor on the final afternoon of SMTA International last week in Rosemont, Illinois, it was clear that the show remains a grounded, technically driven event that delivers a solid program, good networking, and an easy space to commune with industry colleagues and meet with customers.
Come Together: Tom Marktscheffel Used Data to Build CFX and a Global Factory Standard
10/27/2025 | Sandy Gentry, Community MagazineWhen Tom Marktscheffel, director of product management software solutions at ASMPT, looks back on his nearly three decades in electronics manufacturing, one word stands out: data. “Data is the new gold,” he says. Without it, automation, artificial intelligence, and the factory of the future are impossible. With it, the industry can move from manual, error-prone processes to smart, connected systems that make real-time decisions.