Reliability Matters

Most of us are well aware of the supply chain shortages, both within our industry and well beyond. Some of us are also keenly aware of labor shortages. This show is all about reliability of circuit assemblies. While reliability is often referred to as a process, it is also rooted in culture.Reliability begins with people. So, instead of talking about common reliability, subjects, such as voiding, soldering materials, assembly, best practices, and the plethora of other usual suspect topics, I thought it would be a good idea to talk about people. After all, as I said, reliability begins with people.My guest today is Dr. John Mitchell. Many of you know John as the president and CEO of IPC, one of our industries largest trade associations. John has recently written a book, entitled fire your hiring habits. I have to admit, the title is quite intriguing.Here’s a little background on John. Since 2012, Dr. John Mitchell has served as president and CEO of IPC, a not-for-profit trade association driving competitive advantage for more than 3,000 companies across the globe. Leading the global operations and staff, John manages the creation and execution of the Board of Director’s goals.Under his leadership, IPC has essentially doubled the total company membership globally as well increased the acceptance of standards by over 50 percent. John led the charge for IPC’s Online Certification Portal and the company’s overhaul of it Member Success department. His efforts served to improve relations with members and helped move the needle on positive regulatory change.Prior to IPC, John was an engineer with General Electric Aerospace and was a founding member of Alpine Electronic’s research company—which pioneered modern navigation systems in the U.S. OEM market. John himself holds a patent in GPS navigation systems. John then served as general manager/director of the largest product development initiative in Bose Corporation’s history. He went on to become CEO of Golden Key International Society, the noted collegiate honor society serving over two-million members.John earned his doctorate in higher education management from University of Georgia’s Institute of Higher Education, a Master of Business Administration from Pepperdine University, and a Bachelor of Science in electrical and computer engineering from Brigham Young University. In addition to his work with IPC, John is an in-demand speaker and the author of two books so far (sounds like more books may be in the works… I need to ask him about that!).Fire Your Hiring Habits is available at most book sellers including Amazon:https://tinyurl.com/fire-your-hiring-habits

Michelle Ledet Henley, a developer at The Manufacturing Game since 1998, discusses her innovative approach to reliability training. She emphasizes the shift from traditional methods to interactive simulations and games that enhance understanding. Michelle explores the connections between safety and reliability in organizations, advocating for a culture of reliability. She shares insights on engaging diverse learning styles through hands-on activities and storytelling, highlighting the transformative potential of these methods in building effective reliability practices.

I first met my guest at the SMTA Pan Pacific Symposium in Hawaii this past January. He was presenting a paper entitled Quantum Technology, A Theoretical Overview of the Possibilities. The more I listened to and watched his presentation, the more I wanted to learn about quantum physics and mechanics. So I selfishly invited him onto my show today so I could learn more, and perhaps you can too.My guest today is Dr. James Whitfield. Dr. Whitfield is an associate professor of physics at Dartmouth. He earned his Bachelor's of science and chemistry and mathematics from Morehouse University and his PhD in chemical physics from Harvard University. He was a postdoctoral fellow at Columbia University in New York, Vienna Center for Quantum Science and Technology in Vienna and Gant University and Belgium, and he is currently an Amazon visiting academic and even better than all that, he's my guest today on the Reliability Matters Podcast.

The subjects of Industry 4.0 and Big Data have been widely discussed on this podcast. What is Industry 4.0? What data is our industry collecting? And, perhaps more importantly, how can we sift through all of that data to make it useful and actionable?To help answer these and other data-related questions, I invited Ryan Gamble, CEO and Founder of Intraratio on this episode. Intraratio Corporation is a company that provides on-premise and cloud hybrid software with platforms to track, manage, control, and automate the manufacture of advanced electronics. Intraratio serves the semiconductor, SMT, space/military, medical device and EV markets. Ryan earned a dual Electrical and Computer Engineering degree and spent many years in the semiconductor industry. He’s responsible for improving product manufacturing and testing of commercial and space/military product lines including multi-core DSP, RF and Silicon Photonics devices. During this period he developed software systems to automate and manage quality and reliability of complex electronics, extending this to hyperscale web based platforms that interconnect factories globally.His passion is working with all levels, to identify and recommend solutions to business problems, based on a deep technical understanding of operational processes and product complexities.Ryan's Contact Info:rgamble@intraratio.comhttps://www.intraratio.com

My guest, Eric Camden (Lead Investigator with Foresite) and I discuss electrochemical migration (ECM) and other failure modes caused by residues on circuit assemblies.Eric Camden's Contact Information:ericc@foresiteinc.comhttps://www.foresiteinc.com

On this episode, I speak with Mark Goodwin, COO of Ventec Europe, a supplier of copper clad laminates and prepreg bonding materials for the circuit board fabrication industry about supply chain challenges.Mark Goodwin's Contact Information:mark.goodwin@ventec-europe.comhttp://www.ventec-group.com

You don't have to be in the tech industry you understand importance and value of data. Industries have always collected various sets of data, first manually and, in modern times, automatically. The volume of data has historically been limited to the ability to capture and store it. Recent advances in technology have vastly increased the ability to capture and store data. The industry 4.0 movement has fueled both of desire and requirement to capture data.We have created a "be careful what you ask for" scenario as we now are capturing data at an unprecedented rate but frequently lack the ability to discern and analyze all of our newly captured data.My guest today, Luisa Herrmann, Head of Product for Arch Systems, is helping to transform "big data" into useful data. Luisa has 10 years of experience in Product Management and Product Marketing, launching products, building teams, and scaling organizations in the data software space. She was most recently the Head of Product at Cape Privacy, an encrypted machine learning company, and before that she was the Head of Product at expert.ai, an NLP company. She has a degree in Chemical Engineering from the University of Pennsylvania and lives in the Boston area.Luisa Herrmann may be contacted here:lherrmann@archsys.iohttps://archsys.io/

On this show, we’ve discussed many aspects of the Electronics assembly process. We talked about reflow, thermal management, printing, soldering materials, additives, and so much more. What do all these topics have in common? When done correctly, they all contribute to the reliability of circuit assemblies.Today, we’re going to dive into the subject of cleaning circuit assemblies after reflow. For many assemblers, the cleaning process was replaced by the use of no clean flux technology. Time and technology have eroded the concept of allowing all residues to remain on the assembly. Today, residue caused failures are such a concern, that IPC recently and radically changed the way circuit assemblies are considered to be clean.My guests today are Sal Sparacino and Eric Camden. Sal is Director of Sales at Zestron Americas, located in Manassas Virginia. Zestron is a manufacturer of cleaning chemicals for the electronics industry. Eric is Lead Investigator for Foresite, an analytical laboratory based in Kokomo Indiana. Eric, is the guy you call when things go wrong. Together with my experience as a cleaning equipment manufacturer, we’ll discuss how cleaning contributes to increased reliability, and we’ll review the reasons cleaning has returned as a mainstream assembly process. Guest Contact Info: Sal Sparacinosal.sparacino@zestronusa.comhttps://www.zestron.comEric Camdenericc@foresiteinc.comhttps://www.foresiteinc.com

Episode 113: A Conversation about Counterfeit Component Detection with Dr. Eyal WeissWe are all aware of the “oldest profession in the world”. Perhaps the second oldest profession is counterfeiting. Whenever a product is introduced, a counterfeit version soon follows. While the electronics industry has experienced counterfeit components from its inception, recent events such as the pandemic and supply chain shortages have fueled the counterfeit industry.Statistics by the Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA) reveal that the counterfeiting of electronic parts in the US alone, cost the chip industry more than $7.5 billion in revenue annually. According to new data from the ERAI, a global information board for counterfeiting, reports of counterfeit electronic products are growing. Although it is difficult to put an exact figure on just how many counterfeit products are in circulation, estimates suggest that consumer and industrial businesses lose approximately $250 billion each year due to counterfeit parts. To talk more about counterfeit components and detection technologies, I invited Dr. Eyal Weiss, Founder and CTO of Cybord to be my guest. Dr. Weiss received his Ph.D. in Electronic and Computer Engineering from BGU (Ben-Gurion University) in IsraelAs well as a Masters in Plasma Physics and bachelors cum laude in Mechanical Engineering from the Technion–Israel Institute of Technology.He worked as a researcher on pulsed plasma at Soreq Research Center (SNRC). He then worked as a technology department manager in the high-tech fiber-optics industry. He was the technology manager at Lynx Photonics and then at Explay, developing state-of-the-art Silicon and optical chips production, packaging, and assembly production lines. He developed a new fiber-pigtailing and packaging technology and built full-scale production lines utilizing this new technology.He returned to Soreq SNRC and for 15 years served as manager and leading scientist of the R&D Systems Department. He built mass-production lines and assembly lines for new sensors technology and developed their test equipment. He has twice received the prestigious Israel Defense Prize. In 2018, he founded and became CTO of Cybord, developing electronic component qualification and authentication technologies. He is a member of the Israel Innovation Authority, Euramet, SAE, and IPC committees. He specializes in multidisciplinary technology development and has received significant awards and accolades in the fields of machine learning, plasma physics, optical assemblies, laser technology, and electromagnetics. Dr. Weiss is an expert in technology development and manufacturing technology and has published over 20 peer-review articles, 4 patents, and a book, and, I’m happy to say, he’s my guest on this episode of the Reliability Matters podcast.Contact Eyal Weiss:eyal.w@cybord.aihttps://cybord.ai

David Raby is President of Madison Alabama-based STI Electronics, a contract manufacturer for the EMS industry. David worked at the family business since he was a child and eventually took over the family business when his father (and company founder) Jim Raby retired.The electronics industry moves at the speed of light and any business within the EMS industry must learn to stay ahead of technology and trends. David shares some of his experiences in taking over the family business and some of the challenges his business (and many other businesses) face on a near daily basis.David Raby's Contact Information:draby@stiusa.comhttps://stiusa.com