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I-Connect007 Editor’s Choice: Five Must-Reads for the Week

The kids and grandkids are back in school, and fall is on the way. During this busy week, we published a variety of articles, covering everything from trade shows to mergers. It’s hard to argue with IPC’s plans to require proof of vaccine or a negative COVID test to enter IPC APEX EXPO; you can expect other trade shows to follow suit in the future. We’d hate for a show to become a super-spreader event.

From DesignCon: Insulectro Educating Designers About New Materials

I recently met with Insulectro VP of Technology Chris Hunrath at DesignCon 2021. We discussed a variety of new laminates that Insulectro is distributing, as well as some newer processes and the need to educate designers on the ins and outs of cutting-edge laminates.

Flex DFM: When All Things Must Be Considered

One of the best ways to avoid flex failures is by communicating with your flex fabricator early and often. Here are a couple key reasons why involving your flex and rigid-flex supplier early in the design of your product will help you save time and money—and produce a more reliable flex circuit.

I-Connect007 Editor’s Choice: Five Must-Reads for the Week

The past couple weeks have delivered quite a bit of PCB manufacturing industry news, to be sure. If you haven’t already seen this news piece from USPAE, “Electronics Industry Summit With US DoD Spawns More Dialogue, Collaboration,” I’d like to bring it to your attention one more time.

From DesignCon: Isola Navigating a Challenging Supply Stream

Nolan Johnson and Andy Shaughnessy visited with Jim Hartzell of Isola to learn about how the company has thrived in the past 18 months, despite some real supply chain backlogs. Jim also talks about new products, and what’s on the horizon for Isola.

DFM from the Fabricator’s Point of View

What do you think of when you hear the term DFM? The I-Connect007 Editorial Team posed this question to a trio of design and fabrication experts: DownStream Technologies co-founders Joe Clark and Rick Almeida, and Max Clark, business unit manager for Valor at Siemens EDA. We think you’ll enjoy this wide-ranging conversation.

From DesignCon: Technica’s 35 Years of Progress

During DesignCon 2021, Nolan Johnson caught up with Frank Medina of Technica, who looks back on the company’s 35-year history and how it has successfully weathered the bumps in the electronics market.

I-Connect007 Editor's Choice: Five Must-Reads for the Week

This week, we’ve covered a variety of topics in our newsletters and websites. In my Top Five picks, we have quite a mixed bag of industry news and articles. In market reports, there’s good news from the North American PCB side of things, but bad news from the EMS segment, driven by long lead times and material shortages. We also have an article that gets down to the root cause, or causes, of the six-month lead time and price increases.

Reasons and Solutions to PCB Lead Times and Price Increases

If there is anyone left in the electronics community who has not been impacted by the chaos in PCB pricing and lead times, they must live in an alternate universe. Seldom does a day pass without someone requesting a conference call to discuss the price increase. Everyone asks the same question: “What is the root cause?” I have concluded there is no single root cause.

We Must Talk to Each Other

“What we have here is a failure to communicate.” Sometimes when I hear that line from "Cool Hand Luke," I can’t help but think that old Strother Martin was in our business. That is to say that printed circuit board designers and board builders have always battled with a failure to communicate.

Electronics Industry Summit With U.S. DoD Spawns More Dialogue, Collaboration

The U.S. Government, the electronics industry, and academia must continue to step up their joint efforts to address risks and gaps in the defense electronics supply chain.

Designing With the End in Mind—How the Meaning of DFM Will Transform in the Future

Designers of today’s complex printed circuit boards occasionally encounter setbacks due to their lack of early planning. Such consequences for apathy in preparation and awareness will continue to escalate along the growth curve of complexity that the industry continues to experience. In this article, Altium's Vince Mazur explains how designers can be served by a design for manufacturing (DFM) mindset to help assure first-pass success.

I-Connect007 Editor’s Picks: Five Must-Reads for the Week

I’m at DesignCon as I start pen this week’s must-reads. It’s good to be back in the convention centers, I have to say. In my last installment, I expressed the anticipation; I can now confirm that taking the pulse of our industry is so much easier when one is nearer the heartbeat.

I-Connect007 Editor’s Choice: Five Must-Reads for the Week

Well, we’re officially in the trade show season. Delta variant or not, Editor Nolan Johnson and I are going to DesignCon next week. I’m flying on Delta, which I think is a harbinger of good luck. I did get flight insurance, though. I’m definitely ready to fly somewhere.

The Demand for Copper

Nolan Johnson spoke with Michael Coll and Chris Stevens of Nippon Denkai, home of the last-standing ED foil manufacturer in North America, about the demands and projections they’re seeing in the copper market currently.

DFM For Your PCBs

Nolan Johnson speaks to Greg Link of WUS Printed Circuit Co. to gain a better understanding of where DFM fits in from a fabricator’s perspective.

Riding the Wave of Copper Inflation Pricing

In this interview with Ventec’s Mark Goodwin, he discusses the rising inflation hitting the electronics industry at the same moment as shortages of copper and other raw materials. He believes that, while the PCB industry has endured cycles like this before, this one feels different.

I-Connect007 Editor’s Choice: Five Must-Reads for the Week

This week’s must-reads include: a recently-run interview with Travis Kelly from Isola; IPC Chief Economist Shawn DuBravac discussing economic trends that will touch the industry; new high-speed materials; technique for copper pour from Design007’s recent “Just Ask…” series; and maintaining continuous manufacturing knowledge throughout your enterprise.

Isola Responding to the Market

This interview with Isola’s Travis Kelly provides an overview of many important topics that the industry is facing, including how the global supply chain is being strained by materials, and what companies are trying to do to best manage the items within their control.

DFM 101: PCB Controlled Impedance

One of the biggest challenges facing PCB designers is not understanding the cost drivers in the PCB manufacturing process. This article is the latest in a series that will discuss these cost drivers (from the PCB manufacturer’s perspective) and the design decisions that will impact product reliability.

Catching Up With AMI’s Jim Barry

I met Jim Barry 25 years ago when we worked on a project at Eltek Ltd. Since then, I have followed his career with a great deal of interest, believing that he is one of the best technical sales professionals in our industry. When Jim recently accepted the position as vice president of business development at AMI right here in Maine, I knew it was time to catch up. Jim discusses the company's plans, including its move deeper into the milaero market.

Economic Drivers Take Us ‘Up, Up, and Away!’

Prices are up, up, and… up! Copper, for example, is at an all-time high—up 94% over the last year and up 69% compared to two years ago. But copper isn’t alone. We are seeing higher prices across the board. The IMF’s Non-Fuel Price Index, which includes precious metal, food, and industrial inputs, is up 43.6% over the last year and 44.7% over the last two years. Include fuel prices, and prices are up 70% over the last year. And that’s if you can even get the product you want in the first place, as shortages and longer lead-times abound. Shawn DuBravac explains.

I-Connect007 Editor’s Choice: Five Must-Reads for the Week

In the past week, we published quite a bit of news—some good, some not so good. The supply chain is likely to be a challenge for the next year or so. But in this industry, technologists always seem to find a workaround.

I-Connect007 Editor’s Choice: Five Must-Reads for the Week

In this week’s top five: a high profile surprise merger between Autodesk and Altium, which had been in the works, resolved this week; financial news from fabs and assemblers around the globe is reporting strong bookings and sales as the industry bounces back from pandemic-related shutdowns; component demands continue to exert pull pressures on the semiconductor suppliers, keeping the market (overly?) competitive pricewise. The tiles are indeed being stirred. Which pieces will you be dealt?

EIPC Technical Snapshot: Thinking Differently in a Post-Pandemic World

President Alun Morgan introduced the 10th in the enormously popular series of EIPC’s monthly Technical Snapshots. He said that although previous webinars had been directed at specific technical issues, the focus of the present session had been expanded to include a good measure of business content to provide better understanding of how it had developed during the pandemic, and also some pointers to how it would look and feel as we began to emerge from such unusual times
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