EPTE Newsletter: Taiwan Electronics are Heating Up (Figuratively)

October 15, 2018 | Dominique Numakura, DKN Research

Dominique Numakura considers electronics manufacturing in Taiwan to be the barometer for the global consumer electronics industry. Market trends can be predicted by analyzing shipping data from Taiwanese circuit board manufacturers. Annual volume increases every year, despite slow monthly cycles.

Standard of Excellence: Working for the Future—Partnering with PCB Vendors on Innovative Technology

October 1, 2018 | Team ASC, American Standard Circuits

The true test of the vendor-customer relationship comes when you need innovative PCBs—boards that are not easily found in the common marketplace and are so technologically advanced that they require your designers and suppliers to work together to go where neither has before.

Building a Better Board: It Always Comes Back to Communication

September 24, 2018 | I-Connect007 Editorial Team

For our experts meeting on the August’s theme of reliability, we reached out to Colonial Circuits and asked them to participate in a conference call with our I-Connect007 editorial team consisting of Dan Feinberg, Andy Shaughnessy, Patty Goldman, and Happy Holden. Joining the call from Colonial Circuits was Mark Osborn, president and CEO, Kevin Knapp, quality manager, and Rodney Krick, manufacturing manager.

More Than a Word: Solder Mask

August 15, 2018 | Patty Goldman, I-Connect007

Do you spend time, as I do, musing on the language of PCBs? We have developed our own lexicon to convey as much by picture, as by word, what exactly we mean.

Flex Time: Why is Rigid-Flex So Expensive?

July 11, 2018 | Bob Burns, PRINTED CIRCUITS

One question that I hear fairly often, particularly after an initial quotation, is “Why is rigid-flex so expensive?” In this article, I’ll share with designers the cost drivers in rigid-flex relative to standard rigid boards and flex circuits with stiffeners. A typical rigid-flex PWB will cost about seven times the cost of the same design on a hard board, and two to three times an equivalent flex circuit with stiffeners.