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

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It’s been a busy week here at I-Connect007, an even busier week for PCB designers and manufacturers. This week, we published a variety of articles and news items. In this week’s wrap-up, we have an interview with Rex Rozario that is basically a historical look at the birth of commercial PCB manufacturing, and his involvement with the Rolling Stones in their early days. Then we bring you a look at trends in freight costs, which are—fortunately—heading southward right now.

Columnist Kelly Dack shares his thoughts on specifying materials, with a warning against over-specifying laminates for boards that will go to volume production in Asia. And we’ve just published a book written by our friends at GEN3 that focuses on process control.

Finally, let’s welcome our newest columnist, SMTA Vice President of Communications Mike Konrad, who discusses manufacturing reliable PCBs that can withstand harsh environments. Mike has been around the world discussing PCBA cleaning, and we’re happy to have him in the I-Connect007 stable of columnists.

I hope you all have a great holiday weekend! 

The Birth of the Printed Circuit Board
Published May 23

Rex Rozario has been involved in so many parts of the history of the PCBs—and rock and roll—that it’s hard to keep up with him. In this wide-ranging interview, Rex discusses his involvement in the beginning of the circuit board industry, as well as the earliest days of the Rolling Stones, who used to practice in his night club in the ‘60s. Rex is a real connector, as Malcolm Gladwell would say.

Where Are Freight Costs Going?
Published May 24

Nothing happens in a vacuum, and everything we manufacture has to be shipped somewhere. In this article, IPC Chief Scientist Shawn DuBravac discusses the recent drop in freight costs and trends he’s seeing in global container throughput. If you’re wondering where the Shanghai Containerized Freight Index stands right now, read on.

The Knowledge Base: Building Reliable Electronics for Harsh Environments
Published May 22

Check out our newest column! We’ve known Mike Konrad for years, and we’re glad to have him on board as a columnist. Mike is known throughout the industry for his PCBA cleaning expertise. In his first column, he discusses how to manufacture reliable electronics for harsh environments. 

Latest I-007eBook from GEN3 Focuses on Process Control
Published May 25

Our newest book has just dropped, as the kids say. Check out The Printed Circuit Assembler’s Guide to… Process Control, written by GEN3 and published by I-Connect007. If I’m going to keep editing books, I may have to get a meerschaum pipe and a pretentious blazer with elbow patches. 

Stop Over-specifying Your Materials
Published May 25, 2023

Designers are only trying to help when they over-specify your materials. But guess what? Many times, they’re actually making things worse if the board goes to volume production overseas, as columnist Kelly Dack explains in this feature interview. Definitely an interesting read.

 

06/02/2023 | Suhani Chitalia, IPC Environmental Regulatory Affairs Manager

Man-made chemicals known as PFAS have regulators busy trying to address previous releases and prevent future releases of this chemical into the environment from widespread uses in manufacturing processes and products used across the globe. PFAS chemicals tend to be persistent in the environment and they have been used long enough and in enough applications that their unwanted presence in the environment has public health policymakers concerned.

06/02/2023 | Nolan Johnson, I-Connect007

This week has been both speedy and newsy. Of course, those two characteristics often seem to travel as a pair, don’t they? A four-day week here in the United States, accompanied by a wave of high-impact news from a wide variety of sources, would suggest that readers could be expected to spread out all over the news map. Not so much, judging from readership numbers; folks all found their highest value in the same type of news coverage. This week's list of must-reads is dominated by market reports as a result of that focused readership. On our list, we have PCB fabrication and EMS book-to-bill reports, a 10-year market forecast report, and a supply chain sentiment report. In addition, readers flocked to the EWPTE show coverage. Finally, we saw significant reader interest in the most recent podcast on sustainability in our logistical operations.

05/26/2023 | Barry Matties, I-Connect007

David Thomas, master IPC trainer at EPTAC, says that the more you understand the work and technology that go into your processes and products, the better you can serve your customers. That includes knowing the basics.