PCB Chat

Dr. Martin Anselm is a professor at Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) and is also the newly elected president of the Surface Mount Technology Association or SMTA. Martin also worked for Universal Instruments. During his 12-year career at Universal Instruments, Martin was, among other positions, a process research engineer and manager of Failure Analysis Services. Martin completed his Ph.D. in materials science and engineering through Binghamton University. His research topic involved copper-nickel-tin intermetallic formation kinetics on electroless nickel substrates. Martin also has a master's in mechanical engineering from Clarkson and a bachelor's in physics from SUNY Geneseo.  

IPC-2581 is a standard format for describing and transferring printed circuit board design and assembly manufacturing data from the OEM to fab and assembly. It is an open format developed by industry consensus through the auspices of IPC, and it is vendor-neutral. IPC-2581 is being rebranded as IPC-DPMX, which stands for Digital Product Model Exchange. On this episode of PCB Chat, host Mike Buetow is joined by IPC-2581 Consortium chair Hemant Shah, DfM expert Dana Korf, Cisco technical leader of electrical engineering Terry Hoffman, and IPC manager of design standards Patrick Crawford. They discuss the latest revision to IPC-2581, which is set to be released in November.

Brad Griffin, product management group director at Cadence, returns to PCB Chat to discuss Clarity 3D Transient Solver, a new system-level simulation solution that solves EMI system design issues up to 10 times faster than legacy 3-D field solvers, and handles workloads that previously required anechoic test chambers to ensure EMC compliance.   

Michael Ford and Mike Konrad talk about Digital Twin, its purpose, value, and its future. Michael Ford, senior director of emerging industry strategy at Aegis Software, has more than 30 years working within the electronics assembly manufacturing space. With a degree in electronics from the University of Wales, he started his career with Sony in the UK, creating software solutions as he acquired a broad range of manufacturing knowledge. He spent eight years working in Japan, which provided Ford the opportunity to expand his innovation and leadership on a global enterprise scale. Today, Ford is senior director of emerging industry strategy for Aegis Software. Having worked with specialized software solution providers in the industry, he is an established thought leader for Industry 4.0 and smart factories. He is also actively working on industry standards with the IPC, including his position as chair of new traceability standard, IPC-1782. Earlier this year, Ford's thought leadership on Industry 4.0 manufacturing and development of the IPC Connected Factory Exchange (CFX) was formally recognized when IPC awarded him with its President’s Award.

In this episode, Mike Konrad speaks with Mike Buetow, Editor in Chief of PCD&F/CIRCUITS ASSEMBLY, Trevor Galbraith, publisher of Global SMT and Packaging, and Philip Stoten of Scoop TV. We discuss the state of the electronics assembly industry, the effects of COVID-19 on our industry, emerging technologies, and more.

We hear a lot about the graying of the PCB industry. Charles Hutchins Award Andrew Daya  has been working in the industry fulltime for about six years and has bachelor’s and master’s degrees in engineering from Rochester Institute of Technology. He talks about his jobs to date, which include Garmin, Anaren and Bose, how design and manufacturing can and do (or don't) work together, and what winning the Hutchins Award and getting involved in SMTA has meant for his career.

Dr. Sean Clancy and Mike Konrad discuss the various types of conformal coatings designed to protect circuit assemblies from moisture and other hazards. They discuss coating best-practices and current IOT-based products that are increasing the need for protecting circuit assemblies from harsh environments. Clancy is director of coating technology at HZO, where he leads a group developing thin-film conformal coatings. Throughout his career, he has assisted hundreds of organizations with electronics manufacturing failure analysis, as well as developed functional coatings and materials for corrosion protection, charge storage, chemical sensing, light emission, and medical research.   Sean holds an Adjunct Professor appointment at the University of Utah's Materials Science and Engineering Department and has previously provided consulting services in the STEAM fields (science, technology, engineering, arts, and mathematics).   Sean earned his Ph.D. in Chemistry from the University of Southern California, his B.S. in Chemistry from the University of North Florida, and his Certificate in Project Management from the University of Delaware.   Dr. Clancy may be reached here: sclancy@hzo.com  

Bill started his first company in Brazil at age 17 and sold it a few years later to move to the US to work for the Department of Energy’s Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory to do nuclear and high energy physics research. As the Department Head for Systems Engineering and after a 10-year long career at Fermilab, He moved from Chicago to southern California to start Creative Electron from his garage Bill was what could be described as an early achiever, earning his associates degree at age 13! Bill earned a BS in Electrical and Computer Engineering from the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul and MS and a Ph.D. from the Illinois Institute of Technology, and an MBA from The University of Chicago Booth School of Business.

Moriah Root is quality manager at Z-AXIS, an EMS firm in New York state. She just won a “Millennials in Manufacturing” Award from FuzeHub, the statewide Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP) center for New York State, for "young professionals doing their part to strengthen New York State’s manufacturing industry." She speaks with Mike Buetow about the award, what attracted her to electronics manufacturing, and whether being a millennial shapes her perspective of the industry.

IPC’s new chief technologist Matt Kelly will help IPC’s members to engage in latest technology trends and supply chain transformation that continues to evolve across the electronics industry. He will work to define the scope of what future products and services the association should develop in the areas of standards, education and advocacy. Kelly’s primary areas of focus will be leading the following initiatives: “factory of the future” standards and technical research; industry intelligence funding; and creation and launch of an Industry CTO Council. Kelly comes to IPC following a 14-year career at IBM Corporation, holding several senior technology and engineering leadership positions within IBM Systems Division. His technical contributions include 25 patents, 80 publications, and numerous industry awards from NAM, ASM, SMTA, IPC, and IBM. Very familiar with IPC’s standards development process, Kelly has served on seven technical committees and currently serves as vice chair of the 5-21H Bottom Termination Components Task Group and co-chair of the 2-17 Connected Factory Initiative Subcommittee.