Printed Circuit Engineering Association™

Certified Printed Circuit Designer Training

The printed circuit design industry’s choice for comprehensive training and certification. This 40-hour live curriculum was developed by leading experts and includes a 400-page handbook containing information on everything from parts libraries to high-speed design.

PCB Design Training

Upcoming PCEA PCB Design Training Classes for 2025

PEACHTREE CITY, GA – NOVEMBER 20, 2024  – PCEA Training today announced the upcoming winter and spring 2025 schedule for the Certified Professional Circuit Designer (CPCD) training and certification program. 

The instructor-led classes cover the gamut of printed circuit design engineering, from layout, place and route to specifications and materials to manufacturing methods. Schematic capture, signal integrity and EMI/EMC are also part of the comprehensive program.

Classes will be held on the dates below:

  • Jan. 20, 27, Feb. 3, 10, 24   
  • Feb. 28, Mar. 7, 14, 28, Apr. 4
  • May 9, 16, 23, 30, Jun. 6

Each class is 40 hours long and includes a copy of Printed Circuit Engineering Professional, a 400-page handbook on circuit board design, and the optional certification exam.

The deadline to register for the January class is Jan. 3, February class deadline is Feb. 3, and May class deadline is April 11.

There are no prerequisite requirements to enroll. Upcoming classes will be held online. All courses are led by experienced instructors.

The course handbook, Printed Circuit Engineering Professional, was authored by Michael Creeden, Stephen Chavez, Rick Hartley, Susy Webb and Gary Ferrari, industry veterans who combined have more than 200 years’ experience designing and building PCBs for all types of applications.

The course includes an optional certification exam recognized by the Printed Circuit Engineering Association (PCEA).

For information about the course overview, class format, and materials to prepare in advance for the class, visit pceatraining.net/course-overview.

For information about the instructors of the course and authors of the course material, visit pceatraining.net/instructors-authors.

To enroll, visit pceatraining.net/registration for the next available class or email pceatraining@pcea.net for additional information.

Awards

Circuits Assembly Opens 2025 NPI Award Registration

PEACHTREE CITY, GA – NOVEMBER 19, 2024 – Printed Circuit Engineering Association (PCEA) today opened registration for the 2025 New Product Introduction (NPI) Awards for electronics assembly equipment, materials and software suppliers. The deadline for submissions for the annual awards is Jan. 3, 2025. 

Colloquially referred to as the Engineer’s Choice Awards – a nod to the background and independence of the judges – the 18th annual NPI Awards recognize the leading new products for electronics assembly during the past 12 months. Recipients are selected by an independent panel of practicing industry engineers and are presented by CIRCUITS ASSEMBLY.

The 2024 winners included AIM Solder, Anda Technologies, Arch, ASYS Group, Brooks Automation, BTU International, CalcuQuote, Cetec ERP, Hanwha Techwin Automation Americas, Henkel, Indium, ITW EAE, Juki Automation Systems, Kurtz Ersa, Kyzen, Pemtron, PVA, StenTech, Tagarno, Vayo, ViTrox, and Weller Tools.

How It Works

Entrants must submit a single registration form for each product and category entered. All entries must include a 250- to 1,000-word statement describing the product in the following terms:

  • Creativity and innovation

  • Compatibility with existing technology

  • Cost-effectiveness

  • Design

  • Expected reliability

  • Flexibility

  • Expected maintainability/reparability

  • Performance

  • User-friendliness

  • Speed/throughput.

Evaluations will be based on the above list.

The entry fee is $500 per product. The deadline for entries is Jan. 3, 2025.

To be eligible, entries must have been introduced to the market (any region) no earlier than Jan. 1, 2024.

Categories

Equipment: automation tools (conveyors, feeders, etc.); bonders; cleaning equipment; component placement – high-speed; component placement – multifunction; component placement – accessory technologies; component storage; device programming; dispensing equipment; labeling equipment; process control tools; rework and repair tools; screen/stencil printing; screen/stencil printing peripherals/consumables; soldering – reflow (convection); soldering – wave; soldering – selective; selective soldering tools and accessories; soldering – alternative (vapor phase, hot bar, laser, etc.); soldering – hand tools; test and inspection – AOI; test and inspection – AXI; test and inspection – ICT; test and inspection – SPI; test and inspection – functional test; first article inspection; curing ovens (for non-solder materials); ESD

Materials: adhesives; cleaning materials; coatings/encapsulants; underfills; thermal interface materials; flux; soldering materials (paste, bar, wire, core, etc.); cored wire

Software: process control; production; management (ERP, MRP, etc.)

Training Materials

Process Innovation (Open to electronics manufacturing services companies only)

For more information, visit https://www.circuitsassembly.com/ca/editorial/npi-award.html.

Register now at https://na.eventscloud.com/npi2025.

Service Excellence Awards (SEA)

Circuits Assembly Announces 2024 Service Excellence Award Winners

PEACHTREE CITY, GA – OCTOBER 22, 2024 – CIRCUITS ASSEMBLY today announced the winners of its 32nd annual 2024 Service Excellence Awards (SEAs) for electronics manufacturing services (EMS) providers and electronics assembly equipment, materials and software suppliers. CIRCUITS ASSEMBLY recognized companies that received the highest customer service ratings, as judged by their own customers, during a ceremony at the SMTA International trade show in Chicago.

In the EMS category, the overall winners were Creation Technologies (sales over $500 million), Mack Technologies (sales of $100 million to $500 million), Silicon Forest Electronics (sales of $20 million to $100 million), and XLR8 Services (sales under $20 million).

The EMS companies with the highest scores in each of seven individual service categories also received awards. (Overall winners were excluded from winning individual categories.) In the small-company category, RBB Systems won for responsiveness; and Kodiak Assembly won for dependability/timely delivery, manufacturing quality, technology, value for the price, flexibility, and overall satisfaction.

For companies with revenue between $20 million and $100 million, Absolute EMS won for dependability/timely delivery; Concisys won for technology; and Electronic Systems Inc. won for dependability/timely delivery, manufacturing quality, responsiveness, value for the price, flexibility, and overall satisfaction.

For firms with revenue between $100 million and $500 million, Vexos won for dependability/timely delivery, manufacturing quality, responsiveness, technology, value for the price, flexibility, and overall satisfaction.

For EMS companies with revenue over $500 million, Kimball Electronics won for dependability/timely delivery, manufacturing quality, responsiveness, technology, value for the price, flexibility, and overall satisfaction technology.

Electronics assembly supplier award winners were Inovaxe for component storage systems, Europlacer Americas for screen printing; Europlacer Americas for placement equipment; Kyzen for cleaning/processing materials; Koh Young for test and inspection; Datest for test laboratories; and Win Source for representatives/distributors.

CIRCUITS ASSEMBLY has sponsored the awards program for 32 years.

Read the latest issues of PCD&F/CIRCUITS ASSEMBLY!

Collaborate, Educate, and Inspire

The Printed Circuit Engineering Association® (PCEA) is an international network of engineers, designers, fabricators, assemblers, and anyone related to printed circuit development. Our mission is to promote printed circuit engineering as a profession by encouraging and facilitating the exchange of information and the integration of new design concepts through education, certification, communications, seminars, and workshops. This is facilitated by a network of local, regional, virtual PCEA-affiliated chapters and the support of our sponsors.