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Institute of Circuit Technology Meriden Seminar, 2018

The Institute of Circuit Technology returned to Meriden, traditionally regarded as the centre of England, for its Annual General Meeting, which was followed by a technical seminar of five presentations, introduced as ever by Technical Director Bill Wilkie.

Catching up with ACT-USA President Jack Gemmell

ACT-USA is one of the best value-added PCB distributors in the country today. Focused on providing their North American customers with boards as well as heavy copper boards they have steadily broadened their vendor base since their inception in 1994.

RTW IPC APEX EXPO: IPC—Industry Trends Moving Forward

Sharon Starr, director of market research for the IPC, discusses industry trends moving forward covering both EMS and PCB. She also mentions the upcoming studies IPC will be conducting in 2018.

Defining Customer-Supplier Relationships and Customer Satisfaction

Steve Williams, president of The Right Approach Consulting LLC, and a veteran executive in the PCB and EMS industries, speaks with the I-Connect007 team about customer-supplier relationships, and how you can ensure customer satisfaction.

Three New Mars2020 Rover Technologies: What Powers the “Body Parts” on the Mars2020 Rover?

The Mars2020 Rover Mission, designed by JPL, is the next NASA Mars Exploration Program mission that is planned to launch in 2020. Some goals of the mission include to check for past signs of life, to help prepare for manned Mars missions, and to collect soil samples and cache them on the surface for potential return to Earth by a future mission.

MakeHarvard 2018: The Super Bowl of Makeathons

The inaugural MakeHarvard event was everything one would expect from the title, and more. Sunstone Circuits’ Nolan Johnson and Dustin Jablonski served as both mentors and competition judges. Sunstone sponsored a prize for the best feats of reverse engineering and documentation. Sunstone’s reverse engineering competition was one of the most hotly contested. Judging was based on creativity, depth, technical difficulty, usability, scalability, and value to society.

Bridging Knowledge and Understanding of Thermal Management Materials

At IPC APEX EXPO recently, Pete Starkey and Ian Mayoh, Ventec International’s technical support manager, had a chance to sit down and discuss the I-Connect007 micro E-book: The Printed Circuit Designer's Guide to Thermal Management with Insulated Metal Substrates, of which Ian is a co-author.

RTW IPC APEX EXPO: Ventec's Jack Pattie on New Materials, Industry Upswing

Ventec International Group’s Jack Pattie comments on continuing growth in sales, investment in manufacturing and distribution, and new product developments in polyimides, no-flow pre-pregs and thermally conductive materials.

RTW IPC APEX EXPO: Uyemura's Chemistry for ENIG, ENEPIG, and EPIG Apps

A unique deposition chemistry that combines immersion and reduction reactions to yield a gold finish with superior properties and controllability in ENIG, ENEPIG, and EPIG applications.

The Sum of All Parts: Defining Your Customer

These are the most typical ways in which someone will ask us who our customers are. Many times, the purpose is to see whether we work in the same spaces as them or as a way of gauging whether we are “worthy” enough of having them as a customer.

A Plug-in that Connects CAD Software to 3D Printer

Nano Dimension's DragonFly 2020 Pro 3D Printer is a highly accurate and versatile inkjet deposition and curing system for printing professional multilayer circuit boards, structural electronics and antennas. In a sweeping discussion with Nano Dimension USA President Simon Fried, all my questions were answered about this innovative technology.

Still Using 1980s Formats for Design Data Handoff?

The IPC-2581 format was created in the early 2000s with the merger of two competing formats: ODB++ and GENCAM. The new format, the brainchild of the late Dieter Bergman, languished with no adoption until 2011, when a small group of companies created the IPC-2581 Consortium with the goal of getting this open, neutral and intelligent format adopted. The consortium has been growing steadily in recent years. Its membership now includes more than 100 associate members in addition to its more than 90 corporate members.

RTW IPC APEX EXPO: Polar Instruments Discusses New Engineer, SpeedStack Upgrades

During IPC APEX EXPO 2018, Polar Instruments' Lupita Maurer and Geoffrey Hazelett sat down with Editor Andy Shaughnessy to discuss upgrades to their SpeedStack tool and Lupita's new position with the company.

RTW IPC APEX EXPO: Benefits of Outsourcing CAM Operations to a Specialist Provider of Engineering Services

CEO Mehul Dave of Entelechy Global discusses the benefits of outsourcing CAM operations to a specialist provider of engineering services.

RTW IPC APEX EXPO: Annual Update for IPC Validation Services

Randy Cherry, director of validation services, provides an annual update for IPC validation services, including QML and QPL supplier listings.

RTW IPC APEX EXPO: Benefits of Outsourcing Quality Assurance Options

Niraj Patel describes the benefits of outsourcing quality assurance operations, with specific reference to the alternative business models offered by Gardien for electrical testing.

The Selection of Chemical Etching Equipment for PCB Fabrication

Congratulations! Your process development team has completed its DOEs and is convinced they are ready to scale up. The facilities crew has found space for your new operation or, even better, your manufacturing team will have a newly-built building in which to locate the project.

RTW IPC APEX EXPO: Prototron Moves Offshore

Prototron's Dave Ryder and Russ Adams discuss the company's recent decision to begin manufacturing high-volume jobs overseas. They also discuss some of the partner shops' capabilities, including flex and rigid-flex, which were driven by customer demand.

RTW IPC APEX EXPO: Candor Industries' History and Advanced Circuit Constructions

Founder and president Yogen Patel shares Candor Industries' history and describes some of the non-standard approaches to PCB production the company uses to make advanced circuit constructions.

RTW IPC APEX EXPO: Insulectro Showcases New Low-Loss Materials

Norm Berry, director of laminates and OEM marketing for Insulectro, discusses the company's new low-loss products and resin systems that benefit high-speed, high-frequency PCB designs.

Book Review: The One Percent Edge—Small Changes That Guarantee Relevance and Build Sustainable Success

Occasionally you read a book that truly makes a difference. I can tell I am reading a book like this one by how much longer it takes me to read it, but not because it’s boring or slow reading, certainly not! It’s because I stop constantly to jot down ideas in my notebook that stimulate me to come up with ideas that pertain to my own business.

Bridging the Customer-Supplier Gap

For the February issue of Design007 Magazine, we interviewed Nolan Johnson of Sunstone Circuits, and Dan Beaulieu of DB Management—our regular columnist—on the topics of knowing your customers, the challenges in dealing with customers, and providing excellent customer satisfaction.

The Time is Right in India

In an interview with Akshinthala Vijayendra of IPC India, he discusses India’s infrastructure under the direction of the new prime minister, where India currently stands versus China, and the pros and cons for any speculative companies deciding whether to expand into this country.

New Year, New Equipment—Right?

This month, we will discuss the equipment purchasing decision-making process. How many of you can recall the earliest “dippy dunk” PCB shops, so-called because that’s exactly how it was done? There were no conveyorized lines, no automatic hoists, no load/unload stations, maybe not even a lab for analyzing the plating baths.

Barry Katz Discusses SiSoft's DesignCon Papers and Plans for 2018

SiSoft President and CTO Barry Katz sat down with Editor Andy Shaughnessy to share his thoughts on the company's papers presented during DesignCon 2018, as well as SiSoft's latest products and plans for 2018.
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