Got Questions? Standards Have the Answers

Estimated reading time: 2 minutes

The I-Connect007 Editorial Team recently spoke with Gerry Partida, vice president of technology at Summit Interconnect, and co-chair of the IPC-6012 committee. Gerry has been involved with standards development for years, and he believes that adhering to IPC’s standards and specifications has been a big part of Summit’s success.

In this interview, Gerry explains how Summit utilizes standards, manufacturing data, and information to reduce re-spins and scrap while increasing yield and profitability. He also discusses the repercussions that can occur when designers don’t follow IPC standards. As Gerry points out, everything you need to know is in the standards, so why not follow them?

Nolan Johnson: Gerry, we’ve spoken before about Summit’s use of manufacturing data, including microvia modeling. Tell us about how this all works with DFM rules and IPC standards.

Gerry Partida: Yes, we try to use data and information to make good decisions. We’ve been talking over the last couple of years about modeling microvia reliability. But we also use our ERP systems to collect data, and then look at that data for our yields. If there’s a defect, we can track it to see what has caused it. Then if we buy new equipment to solve and bring that defect rate down, we can track it to see whether our investment is going through to work it out. COO Sean Patterson believes that we are a technology company that owns board shops, so we want to use technology and the tools available to manage and do things in an intelligent manner.

Traditionally, the board industry would just do another re-spin and not analyze what is working and what is not, what the yields are, etc. At times I'll get a very challenging design from a customer who didn't follow IPC rules, and we’ll say, “No, this is not to the reliability that you require.” They’ll reply, “We've been getting these boards built for years,” and I’m thinking, “I understand what you're saying. You've been receiving good boards, but you do not know what is happening to make the quantity of your good boards.” Their fabricator may have had to throw away 50% or 75% of the boards that they produced to get that 100% deliverable.

To read this entire conversation, which appeared in the October 2023 issue of Design007 Magazine, click here.