A Conversation about Production Automation

It’s been said, on this show, that one key factor to international competitiveness is automation. While labor rates vary widely across the world, automation helps to level the field.

My guest today is Michael McHale, CEO of Production Systems Automation, otherwise known as PSA. Michael graduated from Drexel University with a BS degree in mechanical engineering.

Just to put our upcoming conversation into context, it’s helpful to know that PSA is a privately owned engineering and custom manufacturing firm founded in 1985, with three locations in Pennsylvania. They are experienced as a turnkey systems integrator, providing solutions for capital projects including, but not limited to; flexible robotic solutions, custom automated machinery, drives and controls & custom PLC projects. They also offer a line of standard products developed for industry specific customers.

They are a robotic systems integrator at heart, representing leading global robotic OEM’s. I say all this not to endorse or promote a particular company but rather put my guest’s comments into context. I am pleased to welcome Michael McHale to our show.

Michael’s Contact Info:
Michael McHale
mmchale@psasystems.com
https://www.psasystems.com/

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Conformal Coating Material Selection Best Practices

Today, we’re diving into conformal coating best practices. With the explosion of IOT, the electrification of vehicles, and the miniaturization of circuit assemblies and associated components, many of which are operating in harsh environments, the need for conformal coating has never been greater.

Coating your assemblies? Where does one start? What material should one choose? Should it be applied in-house or through a contract-coating house? What are the best practices in materials selection, application, inspection, and thickness? So many questions!

To answer these and other questions, I invited a conformal coating expert to speak with me and hopefully shed some light on this subject.

My guest today is David Greenman.

David began his career in the conformal coating business working at Concoat, first distributing Humiseal products and eventually manufacturing them under license for Europe, the Middle East, India and Africa. After 25 years of distributing, then manufacturing Humiseal products under license, Chase Corp, which owns Humiseal purchased Concoat where David serves as Director of Humiseal UK, Europe, and India where he is responsible for Corporate Responsibility as well as supporting HumiSeal sales and technical teams.

Earlier in David’s career, he qualified as a Radio, TV/Electronics Engineer and became a member of The Society of Radio and Electronics Technicians that was eventually absorbed into The Institution of Engineering and Technology, of which he is still a member.

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A Sneak Peak at the SMTAI Technical Conference with the Technical Committee

Surface Mount Technology International 2022 is quickly approaching. My guests today are SMTA President Dr. Martin Anselm, a Professor at Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) and Technical Committee members Julie Silk of Keysight Technologies and Raiyo Aspandiar of Intel. Together, my guests review the technical conference tracks as well as special events taking place at the Expo.

Surface Mount Technology International
Conference: October 31st- November 3rd 
Exposition: November 2nd-3rd 
Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA
*Co-located with MD&M Minneapolis
For more detailed information on SMTAI, visit:
https://smta.org/mpage/smtai/

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A Conversation about ESD Flooring with Thomas Ricciardelli

Modern electronics assembly has seen so many changes over the years. In today’s era of IOT, the electrification of vehicles, the explosion in the use of bottom terminated components, the increasing implementation of electronics into harsh environments have all contributed to the increasing complexity and difficulty of building electronics. While so much has changed, there are some things that have remained the same. 

One such thing is the need for ESD control. There always was and continues to be the challenge of protecting components from the dangers of static electricity. My guest today is Thomas Ricciardelli, Founder and CEO of SelecTech, a manufacturer of ESD flooring for the electronics assembly industry.

Tom is also the Chairman of the Flooring Committee of the EOS/ESD Association. Tom earned a Masters in Chemical Engineering from MIT and an MBA from the MIT Slone School of Management and today, he’s my guest on the podcast.

Contact Info:
Thomas Ricciardelli
Founder and CEO
SelecTech
tricca@selectech.com
www.selectech.com

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SMT Assembly Equipment for Low Volume Applications

Today, we’re going to talk about low-volume electronic assembly. We all know who the “big players” are when it comes to solder paste printers, pick and place machines, reflow ovens and other assembly equipment. But what choices does one have if they need to produce low-volumes of electronic assemblies such as prototypes and other low volume applications? 

Let’s face it, most assemblers can’t justify a multi-million-dollar production line for low volume production. One solution may be to outsource the production to a contract manufacturer but there are specific circumstances which may prevent that. In today’s episode, we’ll review some of the equipment options for low-volume SMT production and we’ll see if the barrier to entry for in-house assembly is lower than one might think. My guest today is Ed Stone.

Ed is a sales manager at Manncorp, a provider of SMT assembly equipment for the EMS industry. Manncorp was founded 55 years ago back in 1967. Just imagine how much our industry has changed over the past 55 years! I’d love to say Ed has been there from the beginning, but I think the company is a little bit older than Ed.

Ed Stone’s Contact Info:
estone@manncorp.com
www.manncorp.com

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Contract Manufacturer Selection Process Best Practices

Today, we’re going to talk about contract manufacturing. Do you have a circuit assembly that needs to be built? Don’t have the equipment in-house or enough bandwidth or specialized expertise to build it? You may be best served by utilizing the services of a contract manufacturer.

Contract manufacturers come in all shapes, sizes and capabilities.

Should I seek out a Tier 1 manufacturer? How about Tier 2, 3, 4? What does tier stand for anyway?

should I have my assemblies built overseas or in-country? What about issues such as ITAR? Who will be providing the components? What if I need more than just boards assembled such as design, testing and box build?

To answer these and so many more questions I’ve invited my friend and colleague David Raby to be my guest.

David is the president of STI electronics, founded in 1982 by David’s father the late Jim Raby. Those of you who have been around the electronics industry for some time will know Jim Raby for his work with the US Navy in establishing military standards for electronics manufacturing and the development of the NASA and Department of Defense Soldering Schools. Over the past 40 years, STI Electronics has expanded its focus from consulting and technical seminars to providing training, laboratory analysis, advanced research and development, microelectronics assembly, prototyping, and small to medium volume PCB contract assembly for the electronics industry.

David graduated from Auburn University with a bachelors degree in Aviation Management.

David Raby’s Contact Info:
draby@stiusa.com
www.stiusa.com

The Concept to Creation Podcast episode featuring David Raby:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=szJ06lnmXb4&t=6s

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Forging the Future of US Manufacturing with IPC’s Matt Kelly

It seems today, the entire world is experiencing supply chain challenges in nearly all product categories. In the electronic assembly industry, the focus has been within the semiconductor market, especially in North America. Why is this? How did the US allow this to occur? Was it short sightedness, greed, an over-reliance on foreign suppliers, other factors, or a combination of all these factors? What would it take to finally address this issue and are we doing anything about it? 

My guest today is Matt Kelly, Chief Technologist at IPC, one of our leading industry trade organizations. IPC recently published a report on the chip shortage and, perhaps most importantly, came up with a list of 28 recommendations our industry can consider to remedy this issue. As I stated, Matt Kelly is Chief Technologist at IPC and is focused on driving next generation technology advancements and supply chain transformation across the electronics industry. He works within the association’s executive leadership team to identify and develop new strategic initiatives, meeting member and industry needs. He delivers influential thought leadership, research, and advocacy to industry and governments. He leads IPC’s Chief Technology Council to continually drive the electronics industry forward. His focus areas include Industry 4.0 – Factory of the Future digitization, modernization, adoption, and implementation; IPC expansion into new advanced packaging technologies including IC-substrates and OSAT manufacturing; and next generation electronic systems design methods.

When I first met Matt he was with IBM. Matt comes to IPC following a 15-year career at IBM Corporation, holding several senior technology and engineering leadership positions within IBM Systems Division. His technical contributions include 25 patents, 85 publications, and numerous industry awards.

Matt is a licensed Professional Engineer with a degree in Chemical Engineering from McMaster University and holds an MBA in Strategic Management from Sir Wilfrid Laurier University.

Download the referenced article from IPC: AN ANALYSIS OF THE NORTH AMERICAN SEMICONDUCTOR AND ADVANCED PACKAGING ECOSYSTEM An IPC Summary Report — Rebuilding U.S. Capabilities for the 21st Century Download Link:
https://emails.ipc.org/links/IPCadvpack-ecosystem-report-final.pdf

More information on the upcoming IPC Advanced Packaging Symposium: Building the IC-Substrate and Package Assembly Ecosystem
https://www.ipc.org/event/ipc-advanced-packaging-symposium-building-ic-substrate-and-package-assembly-ecosystem

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A 100th Episode Special (Recorded Live)

This is the 100th episode of the Reliability Matters podcast! Hear clips from past episodes and messages from past guests on their views about reliability.

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A Conversation about the IPC Cleanliness Standard & How to Comply with Graham Naisbitt

Today, we’re going to talk about cleanliness testing of post-reflowed circuit assemblies. In late 2018, IPC shocked the electronic assembly community by introducing an amendment to section 8 of the J-STD-001G. This amendment radically changed the way industry determines cleanliness. Now, assemblers must prove their assemblies are clean enough not to experience electro-chemical migration events which would cause the assembly to fail. 

This new process of obtaining objective evidence has been met with a considerable degree of confusion. To help clear up the confusion, I invited Graham Naisbitt to be my guest. Graham is an IEC 1906 Lord Kelvin Award Winner, IEC TC91 WG2, 3 and 10 Maintenance Leader of 4 Standards.
Graham is Vice-Chair of the IPC 5-30 Cleaning and Coating Sub-Committee which oversees 15 IPC Standards Development Committees and recipient of 14 IPC Standards Awards. Graham is also a British Standards Institution EPL-501 Member.

Graham is a specialist in Surface Insulation Resistance Testing, Ionic Contamination Control, Solderability, Conformal Coating materials and application systems, Cleaning, Inspection and Test.

Graham’s Webinar:
“Predicting Reliability in Electronics” with experts Graham Naisbitt
and Chris Hunt
https://iconnect007.com/index.php?cID=854

Graham’s Book:
“The Printed Circuit Assembler’s Guide to Process Validation”
https://iconnect007.com/my-i-connect007/books/process-validation/

Graham’s Contact Info:
graham.naisbitt@gen3systems.com

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A Conversation with AIM Solder’s Jen Fijalkowski About Advances in Solder Pastes

Jen Fijalkowski works for Aim Solder. Jen obtained her B.S. from the University of Rhode Island in Chemical Engineering and is a certified Lean Six Sigma Green Belt. Prior to her role as a Technical Marketing Engineer, she interned as a SMT Process Engineer, where she analyzed various reports regarding solder paste printing and co-authored “Comparison of Aperture Designs, Solder Pastes, Nanocoatings and Print/Inspection Systems”, published in Circuits Assembly Magazine. 

Jen also produces a video blog titled “Line Down” where she discusses common questions about solder paste best practices and how to avoid solder paste induced line-down situations.

I spoke with Jen about solder paste best practices as well as some of the latest advances in solder pastes such as low temperature, low voiding, and high reliability solder pastes.

Jen Fijalkowski may be contacted here:
jfijalkowski@aimsolder.com
https://aimsolder.com

Technical Article:
https://tinyurl.com/3xt2cejf

Line Down Video Series:
https://www.facebook.com/AIMSolderMaterials/videos/?ref=page_internal

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Best Practices for Purchasing X Ray Equipment

In this episode I speak with four experts about best practices for purchasing X ray equipment.

There are numerous manufacturers of X ray equipment each with multiple models with varying capabilities. Which type of X ray equipment is right for your application? What are the price ranges? What are the specific capabilities? What questions should I ask when speaking with manufacturers of X ray equipment? How do I define my needs? 

These and other questions will are answered by our expert panel.

Our expert panel includes:
Keith Bryant of Keith Bryant Consultancy. Keith has more than 30 years in the electronics industry and has worked for and with X ray equipment manufacturers.
Keith may be contacted here:
keith@smta.org

Dr. David Bernard of David Bernard Consultancy. Dr. Bernard has more than 20 years of experience in the X ray industry and has worked for and with X ray equipment manufacturers.
Dr. Bernard may be contacted here:
dbc@bernard.abel.co.uk

David Kruidhof is the Sales Manager for Creative Electron, a manufacturer of X ray equipment.
David may be contacted here:
dkruidhof@creativeelectron.com

Robert Boguski is the President of Datest, an analytical laboratory specializing in failure analysis. Robert is a user of X-ray equipment.
Robert may be contact here:
rboguski@datest.com

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A Conversation with Industry Gurus Phil Zarrow and Jim Hall about their New Book

A couple of episodes ago, I talked to Dr. and Professor Ron Lasky about a couple of books he wrote. He also recommended a book he didn’t write. That book is titled Troubleshooting Electronic Assembly: Wisdom from the BoardTalk Crypt by industry gurus Phil Zarrow and Jim Hall available on Amazon (both were prior guests on this show). Well today, we’ll have a conversation with Phil and Jim about their book.

If you’ve been in the electronic assembly industry for some time, there’s little doubt that you haven’t heard of Phil Zarrow and Jim Hall. Phil has been involved with PCB fabrication and assembly for more than 35 years. Phil is the President and Principal Consultant of ITM Consulting.

Jim Hall has been involved in the electronic assembly industry for the past 26 years. He’s a principal consultant and resident Lean Six Sigma Master Black Belt with ITM Consulting. He’s also an instructor in the Lean Six Sigma programs offered at Dartmouth College. Together with Dr. Ron Lasky, Phil and Jim designed the SMTA’s SMT Processes Certification Course.

Phil and Jim host the popular audio series “Board Talk” on Circuit-Insight.

Contact Phil and Jim:
Phil Zarrow
phil_zarrow@itmconsulting.com

Jim Hall
jim_hall@itmconsulting.com

ITM Consulting
https://itmconsulting.com

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A Conversation with SMTA SMT Certification Course Authors Dr. Ron Lasky and Jim Hall

I spoke with Dr. Ron Lasky and Jim Hall, authors of the SMTA SMT Certification Courses (along with Phil Zarrow) about the content of these courses. I also spoke with two course students, Claire Hotvedt of Indium Corporation and Tom Watson of Kimball Electronics about their experience taking the courses and the value they received.

SMTA offers two certification courses:

• SMT Processes
• Lean Six Sigma Green Belt

Each SMTA Certification program is a three-day offering consisting of a 1.5-day workshop on topics in SMT Processes or Lean Six Sigma Green Belt. The program concludes on days two and three with an open and closed book examination (SMT Processes) and open book examination (Lean Six Sigma Green Belt.)

This is not an entry-level program. Basic algebra will be used in the workshop and examination. This challenging examination requires both written answers and calculations with the intent to enable the attendee to establish competitive credentials as “Certified” by the SMTA in SMT Processes or Lean Six Sigma Green Belt.

More information on the SMTA certification courses is available here:
https://smta.org/page/certification

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A Conversation with Author Dr. Ron Lasky About His Many Books

Dr. Ron Lasky talks about the many books he has authored on SMT processes and production efficiencies. 

Dr. Ron Lasky is a Senior Technologist at Indium Corporation, as well as a Professor of Engineering at Dartmouth College, where I have twice had the privilege of speaking on the Dartmouth campus to his students. If you’re like some people who view the next generation of young adults skeptically and pessimistically, I can assure you your view would quickly change after spending time with his students. Dr. Lasky has more than 30 years of experience in electronics and optoelectronics packaging at IBM, Universal Instruments, and Cookson Electronics. Additionally, he has served as an adjunct professor at several colleges, teaching more than 20 different courses on topics ranging from electronics packaging, materials science, physics, mechanical engineering and science, and religion.

Dr. Lasky holds numerous patent disclosures and is the developer of several SMT processing software products relating to cost estimating, line balancing, and process optimization, all subjects of paramount importance in today’s hyper-competitive environment. He is the co-creator of engineering certification exams that set standards in the electronics assembly industry worldwide. Dr. Lasky was awarded the Surface Mount Technology Association’s (SMTA) Technical Distinction Award in 2021 for his “significant and continuing technical contributions to the SMTA.” He was also awarded SMTA’s Founder’s Award in 2003.

Dr. Lasky holds four degrees, including a Ph.D. from Cornell University in materials science, and is a licensed professional engineer.

He has authored six books, and contributed to nine more, on science, electronics, and optoelectronics, and has authored numerous technical papers and today, I’m going to talk with Ron about some of those books.

Here’s how to get Dr. Ron’s books:
Handbook of Electronic Assembly and A Guide to SMTA Certification
https://smta.org/store/viewproduct.aspx?id=16304955

The Printed Circuit Assembler’s Guide to Solder Defects
http://iconnect007.com/index.php?cID=852

Troubleshooting Electronic Assembly: Wisdom from the BoardTalk Crypt
https://www.amazon.com/Troubleshooting-Electronic-Assembly-Wisdom-BoardTalk/dp/1732283680

Patty and the Professor
https://www.mikekonrad.com/patty-and-the-professor

Dr. Ron’s Contact Information:
ronald.c.lasky@dartmouth.edu

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A Conversation with Dr. Kunal Shah about Ni-Less ENIG & the Improvements in Reliability

Dr. Kunal Shah is the President and Chief Scientist at Lilotree, a manufacturer of novel surface finishes for circuit boards.

Dr. Shah explains the advantages of surface finishes utilizing the thinnest thickness of gold as well as Ni-Less ENIG surface finishes.

Lilotree:
2904 266th Ave NE,
Building B,
Redmond, WA, 98053
https://www.lilotree.com
contact.us@lilotree.com
Phone:
+1-425-780-2732

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