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

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How was your week? We’ve been pretty busy ourselves, bringing you coverage of the SMTA Expo & Tech Forum in Boise, Idaho. Tabletops shows like this offer a great value during the spring, in between the bigger shows like IPC APEX EXPO and SMTA International. In fact, SMTA schedules approximately 30 regional shows around the United States and abroad.

This week we feature an interview with SMTA Boise Chapter President Tony Whitt, as well as a conversation with Sunstone’s Matt Stevenson about his current mindset and outlook for the near future. We also highlight an article by DownStream’s Mark Gallant that explores the intricacies of DFM for flex and rigid-flex circuits. 

There’s news about Cadence’s India subsidiary partnering to build a school for underprivileged students that includes a computer lab and STEM lab. And we’d like to welcome our new columnist and doctoral student Henry Crandall, who details his PhD journey in this month’s column. Henry is a go-getter; he’s already secured industry sponsors for his research.

Have a great weekend!

SMTA Boise: More Than Potatoes in Idaho
Published April 12

Tabletop trade shows are more popular than ever. The Boise SMTA Expo & Tech Forum is a great example of an event that serves an area that’s geographically distant from America’s technology hotspots. During this week’s show, which sold out its exhibit space, Barry Matties spoke with SMTA Boise Chapter President Tony Whitt about the local electronics industry and the constant search for employees who really want to work.

DFM Analysis for Flex and Rigid-flex Design, Part 1
Published April 13

As DownStream Technologies continues to add more post-processing functionality for flex and rigid-flex circuits, they’re discovering that DFM for flex is a much different animal that DFM for traditional rigid boards. In this first part of a three-part series, Mark Gallant explains some of the hurdles that designers face when designing flex, and why flex DFM can be a daunting task, especially with multilayer flex.

The Doctor's In: Everything You Need to Know About Getting a PhD
Published April 10

I imagine that we’ve all thought about going back to school to get an advanced degree at one time or another. (I only thought about it for 11 seconds, actually.) Well, our new PCB007 columnist Henry Crandall is a doctoral student, and in his inaugural column he walks us through the ins and outs of earning a PhD. We salute Henry for working to bring more young people into the industry. 

A Goal of Higher Technology
Published April 12

What’s your mindset this year? That’s the question we put to Sunstone Vice President Matt Stevenson. In this interview, he discusses Sunstone’s optimistic outlook for the rest of 2023, and how the company attracts and retains customers, often including more personal interaction and “hand-holding” with customers.

Cadence Partners with Vidya & Child to Build a School for Underprivileged Children in Noida
Published April 11

Cadence Design Systems’ India subsidiary has teamed up with Vidya & Child to build a school for underprivileged kids in Noida. The school opened in February and is open to students from nursery school through eighth grade, and includes a computer lab and STEM lab that’s equipped with laptops. Vidya & Child educated 400 kids who are now in college or working full time.

     

 

    

11/26/2021 | Nolan Johnson, I-Connect007

If you’re in the United States like I am, and if you celebrated with a traditional Thanksgiving dinner, like my family did, then you just might have fallen asleep sitting up in a chair (or in my case, stretched out on the couch) and missed some of the highlights in the news this week. Never fear, I woke up early to bring the top five news items you should know for this week. We have industry bookings and sales news from IPC, some news from the flex sector, an explanation of induction lamination from Happy Holden, and two different takes on “sustainability.”

11/19/2021 | Andy Shaughnessy, Design007 Magazine

This month—and this year, really—has just flown by. As someone mentioned to me recently, “There are basically only three full work weeks before New Year’s Day.” Yikes. Thanksgiving is next week, which means most of your customers and suppliers will be hard to reach. Unless there’s a problem, that is! In that case, they’ll find you, even if you’re carving a turkey with the kids and grandkids. So, with a short week on the horizon, most of us are in overdrive now, trying to get ahead of the game.

12/08/2020 | Nolan Johnson, I-Connect007

Nolan Johnson recently spoke with the Pacothane Technologies team about the current drivers of circuit board technology and how that has influenced and increased their product development of lamination and lamination assist products.