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.

Upcoming Classes:

April 5, 12, 19, 26 & May 3
June 14, 17, 21, 24 & 28
September 9-16

Printed Circuit Engineering Association™

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Awards

PEACHTREE CITY, GA – MARCH 6, 2024 – CIRCUITS ASSEMBLY today announced the 2024 New Product Introduction Award winners for electronics assembly equipment, materials and software.

The 17th annual NPI Awards recognize leading new products during the past 12 months. An independent panel of practicing industry engineers selected the recipients.

The winners are:   

  • Anda Technologies: Automation Tools – ADA Series Smart Manufacturing Platform
  • Kyzen: Cleaning Materials – AQUANOX A4618 KYZDS
  • Henkel: Coatings/Encapsulants – Loctite Stycast CC 8555
  • Hanwha Techwin Automation Americas: Component Placement – XM520 High-Speed Dual Lane Chip Mounter
  • Juki Automation Systems: Component Storage – ISM 3600 FA, FAMR System
  • PVA: Dispensing Equipment – Direct Series with new PathMaster X Programming Software
  • Tagarno: First Article Inspection – Tagarno 4K Microscope
  • Indium: Flux – Indium8.9FRV
  • ViTrox: Process Control Tools – V9i XL ARV
  • ASYS Group: Screen and Stencil Printing – SERIO 6000 with  “Sphere” Intelligent Print Head
  • StenTech: Screen/Stencil Printing Peripherals/Consumables – BluPrint CVD Surface Treatment
  • Cetec ERP & CalcuQuote: Software – Management – Supply Chain Connected ERP
  • Vayo: Software – Process Control – Vayo-Stencil Designer
  • Arch Systems: Software – Production – ArchFX GLO
  • Weller Tools: Soldering – Hand Tools – Zero Smog Shield Pro
  • BTU International: Soldering – Reflow – Aurora
  • Kurtz Ersa: Soldering – Selective – VERSAFLOW ONE X-Series
  • ITW EAE: Soldering – Wave – Deep Wave Option
  • AIM Solder: Solder – Materials – NC259FPA
  • ViTrox: Test and Inspection – AOI – V510i 3D AOI
  • Brooks Automation: Test and Inspection – Functional Test – PreciseFlex 3400 Cobot
  • ViTrox: Test and Inspection – AXI –V810i Advanced X-Ray Inspection (AXI) System – Series 3 Dual-Lane
  • Pemtron: Test and Inspection – SPI – D-2                                            
  • Henkel: Thermal Interface Materials – Berquist Hi Flow THF 5000UT            

“The judges this year noted the current trend for speed without losing accuracy,” said Mike Buetow, president of the Printed Circuit Engineering Association. “But they also pointed out the interoperability requirements of systems and software, and stressed the importance of full functionality regardless of the logo.”

 

Education

PCEA Announces UHDI Forum at PCB East

PEACHTREE CITY, GA – FEBRUARY 5, 2024 – The Printed Circuit Engineering Association (PCEA) today announced the first UHDI & Substrates: Design to Package Forum will be held on June 5, 2024, in conjunction with PCB East in Boxborough, MA.

UHDI, or ultra high-density interconnect, describes lines and spaces of less than 25 microns on a printed circuit board. Among the presentations are talks on standards, electrohydrodynamic (EHD) printing, direct imaging, a new mSAP process, a new replacement for ABF (Anjinomoto Build-Up Film), planning a new UHDI facility, and new materials for UHDI.

 Each presentation will be 30 minutes. The program will close with a panel discussion.

The forum is chaired by Gene Weiner of Weiner International Associates. Peter Bigelow, president of FTG East, and Alun Morgan, technology ambassador of Ventec and president of the European Institute for the PCB Community (EIPC) are vice chairmen.

“Rapid technical progress and major dollar commitments are being made in the US and Europe to establish sustainable, secure sources of organic substrates and UHDI circuitry for advanced electronics packaging,” said Weiner. “This forum is designed to present new design, process, material, and equipment capability information that delegates can immediately put to use.”

“The industry has begun to recognize the need for – and challenges of – UHDI technology,” added Mike Buetow, president of PCEA and conference chair of PCB East. “Gene Weiner and his colleagues have put together an outstanding program that will look at the state-of-the-art and the requirements for implementation.”

Awards

Circuits Assembly Opens Registration for 2024 Service Excellence Awards

PEACHTREE CITY, GA – JANUARY 25, 2024 – CIRCUITS ASSEMBLY today opened registration for its annual Service Excellence Awards (SEAs) for EMS providers and electronics assembly equipment, material, service, and software suppliers.

Now in its 32nd year, the SEAs honor companies for excelling in the critical area of customer service, permitting participants to benchmark customer service against their peers. It is the only industry awards program that uses direct customer feedback to determine best-in-class.

Customers are surveyed to determine their satisfaction with a participating company in various categories, including dependability/timely delivery; manufacturing quality; responsiveness to requests and changes; technology; value for the price; and flexibility/ease of doing business. For each EMS category, the overall best-in-show winner is selected.

All customer responses and ratings are tabulated and provided in a confidential report to the participating company.

‘‘At ESI, our focus is on meeting and exceeding our customer’s expectations every day. Continuous improvement with a constant emphasis on the customer is how we achieve that, winning the Circuits Assembly’s Service Excellence Awards means we’ve done everything right,” said Amy Hoines, VP of Strategic Partnership, Electronic Systems Inc. (2023 Overall Winner, EMS Revenues $20 Million to $100 Million).

About the Awards

The SEAs recognize four categories of EMS providers based on revenues (under $20 million; $20 million to $100 million; $101 million to $500 million, and over $500 million).

Equipment, material or software supplier awards will be presented in each of the following categories: component storage systems; automation and handling equipment; cleaning processing or materials; device programming equipment; dispensing; pick-and-place; repair and rework; screen printing; test and inspection; materials (solder, encapsulants and adhesives); soldering equipment; automation/manufacturing software (not ERP/MRP); and supply-chain/ERP/MRP software.

Non-manufacturing service providers will be honored in the following categories: test laboratories; recycling, cleaning or other non-manufacturing process providers; and design service bureaus. Reps or agents and/or distributors will also be honored.

CIRCUITS ASSEMBLY will honor winners in person at SMTA International in October 2024 at the Rosemont Convention Center in Rosemont, IL. Participants will receive their report as an Excel file after the show.

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

To register, visit https://na.eventscloud.com/2024sea.

The deadline to enter is March 25, 2024..

PCB East

PCB East 2024 Conference Registration Open

PEACHTREE CITY, GA – JANUARY 10, 2024 – The PCEA Conferences Task Group today announced the technical program for PCB East 2024, featuring more than 75 hours of in-depth electronics engineering training. 

Rick Hartley, Susy Webb, Tomas Chester and Zach Peterson are among the headliners of this year’s conference. It will be held June 4 to 7 at the Boxboro Regency Hotel and Conference Center in Boxborough, MA. It features classes for every level of experience, from novice to expert. 

The scope of classes ranges from basics on design engineering and circuit grounding, to DDR5 routing, impedance characterization, controlling noise and EMI, thermal management, board stackups and design for assembly. 

More than half the presentations are new to the PCEA, including ones on SMT equipment validation, medical wearable device compliance, flex design, AI in electronics, and signal integrity/power integrity.

“Attendance more than doubled in 2023, showing both the vibrancy of the East coast electronics ecosystem and the need for topnotch technical training,” said Mike Buetow, conference director, PCB East. “This year’s event offers an array of experts in printed circuit design engineering and manufacturing, and a new emphasis on assembly.”

Registration is now open for both the technical conference and the exhibition at pcbeast.com.

Registrants who sign up by May 3 can take advantage of the Early Bird Special discounts for the conference.

The program was developed by the PCEA Conferences Task Group from more than 60 abstracts submitted. The task group is made up of nine industry veterans with more than 270 years of cumulative experience in the printed circuit industry, chaired by Troy Hopkins. 

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.