CHAPTER NEWSLETTER – June 2022
Hello members!
PCEA local chapters are made up of engineers, designers, software vendors, resellers, students, manufacturing and material professionals … basically, anyone who is involved in the electronics industry. They exist to help fulfill our mission of facilitating the sharing of design concepts concerning printed boards and related technologies all the way through engineering, fabrication, assembly, and test.
Design engineers need a way to access information on existing and design methods, materials, packages, manufacturing processes, etc., that will enable next-generation products (or more functional/higher yielding current generation products). And then they need to push those designs downstream in a way that ensures the design intent is met.
Standards alone aren’t enough. CAD tools aren’t enough. As product development gets more spread out geographically and split up by specialty, access to experts outside one’s company is crucial to progress, both from a product and a career development standpoint. Through the PCEA chapters, industry professionals can access that network.
Also, there are plenty of opportunities to get more involved, whether it be on subcommittees, developing white papers, or preparing presentations.
This is your chance to step up into a bigger arena. The possibilities that go with advancing your own career or mentoring others are endless. Contact me today to learn more.
Mike Buetow
PCEA President
mike@pcea.net
Local Chapters
ALBUQUERQUE – There is interest in forming a local PCEA chapter here. Please contact pcea@pcea.net if you are interested in helping the launch.
DALLAS – Harry Kennedy of Altair says: Howdy! Are you looking to help build our Texas Chapter? We’re looking for individuals within the DFW Metroplex to help build and develop our Dallas Chapter. If you’re interested in helping, or just want to stay informed, please fill out the form here.
ONTARIO (CANADA) – Holding a Lunch and Learn about the PCEA on June 8. Learn more here.
ORANGE COUNTY, CA – The Orange County chapter held a virtual meeting on April 20 and is hoping to plan a meeting for mid-July, which we’re going to try to do IN-PERSON for the first time in 2.5 years. This pandemic definitely slowed down our chapter activities, so I am really hoping our members are ready to emerge from their caves and attend.
NATIONAL – We have agreed to cosponsor (with Vac Consulting) a free webinar by Dan Beeker on designing for successful EMC compliance on June 14 at 2 pm Central European Summer Time (CET) / 8 am Eastern Time. More info here.
A free 90-minute webinar by Kunal Shah on surface finish selection is set for June 28. Following Dr. Shah’s presentation, we will have an additional 30 minutes for Q/A on any topic related to PCEA. Register here.
We would also like to announce the addition of Doug Dixon and Anaya Vardya to our board of directors.
Anaya is chief executive of American Standard Circuits, a Chicago-based printed circuit board fabricator. Prior to that, he held top operations positions at Coretec and Merix and was also an engineering manager at IBM for nearly a decade. He has bachelor’s and master’s degrees in chemical engineering.
Doug is chief marketing officer at 360 BC Group, Inc., a full-service B2B marketing firm focused on technology clients. He has more than 30 years in product and marketing management with leading SMT assembly companies such as Speedline, Universal Instruments, and most recently, Henkel, where he was global marketing director. He has a bachelor’s in engineering and started his career in manufacturing at Raytheon. They plan to focus first on our finance committee and strategic plan.
OCTOBER ELECTIONS – In accordance with the PCEA bylaws, any PCEA member in good standing is eligible to be nominated for the board of directors. Board members are nominated by the nominating task group and voted on by the general membership, with ballots circulated a minimum of 60 days prior to the annual meeting (currently scheduled for October 4, 2022, at PCB West). Any members interested in joining the board should contact Steph Chavez or Mike Buetow at pcea@pcea.net no later than June 10.
Please forward your chapter news to Chelsey Drysdale (chelsey@pcea.net) for inclusion on our website and in future newsletters.
Other Educational Opportunities
DDR LAYOUT WEBINAR – Join noise control expert Rick Hartley on June 7 for a two-hour webinar on PCB layout of DDR bus structures. Hartley’s presentation will focus on identifying reasonable rules and guidelines, as well as proper PCB layout concepts to ensure DDR structures function as intended without adding extra time or cost to the project. ($175) Thanks to Siemens EDA for sponsoring.
PCB WEST – The PCEA Conferences Task Group announced the technical program for PCB West 2022, featuring nearly 50 presentations and more than 110 hours of in-depth electronics engineering training.
Among the industry experts on tap for this year’s show are Rick Hartley, Susy Webb, Thomas Chester, and Dan Beeker. The conference will be held from October 4 to 7 at the Santa Clara (CA) Convention Center and features classes for every level of experience, from novice to expert. Registration is now open at pcbwest.com.
Reading Material
Highlights of the June issue of PCD&F/Circuits Assembly:
- SIMULATION – Reflections, even from a single discontinuity, can destroy a signal, but the effect of the major discontinuities can be predicted with validated models before the board is designed. (Yuriy Shlepnev, Ph.D.)
- SIGNAL INTEGRITY – Managing propagation delay and relative time delay mismatches is a challenge. We need to know how to calculate trace length from time delay value to implement the PCB trace routing accordingly. (Lance Wang)
- SUPPLY CHAIN – Fresh off its inaugural meeting, the Printed Circuit Board Association of America gets legislative good news. What’s next for the organization that wants to rebuild US production? (Travis Kelly)
- PROCUREMENT – Working with a contract manufacturer can be daunting, particularly if it lacks experience sourcing challenging parts in a challenging market. (Brian Laney)
- IC CLEANING – A case study showed a well-balanced aqueous cleaning agent removed lead-free, water-soluble tack flux residues better than straight deionized water. (Ravi Parthasarathy and Umut Tosun)
Committees
The Education Committee met on May 16 to review the panel discussions for PCB West. The committee also reviewed the PCEA mentor program. We receive requests each month for mentors. If you are open to helping coach colleagues looking to develop their design or engineering skills or provide career advice, please let us know at pcea@pcea.net.
Salary Survey
Please take a moment to complete the annual PCD&F salary survey (link here) for designers and design engineers. This year we offer two forms: 1) our classic comprehensive version that encompasses all aspects of the field, from compensation to technology, and 2) an abridged, 13-question version that focuses only on compensation and can be completed in fewer than two minutes.
