CHAPTER NEWSLETTER – September 2022
Hello members!
The PCEA Annual Meeting will take place Oct. 4 at the Santa Clara Convention Center, in conjunction with PCB West. All PCEA members in good standing are invited to attend. The 2023-24 board will be formally introduced at the meeting.
Scott McCurdy in August stepped down as Membership committee chairman. Mike Creeden takes over as Membership chair and will continue as vice chairman until board elections are finalized.
“Please join me in thanking Scott for all his past and current actions and dedication to service in getting PCEA chapters kickstarted over these past two years,” said board chairman Stephen Chavez. “Scott will continue his involvement with chapter activities as chairman of the PCEA Orange County chapter, and on the executive board.”
And a reminder that the technical program for PCB West 2022 features nearly 50 presentations, including nine free ones. Free sessions include:
- Understanding High Frequency Materials Test Methods for Dk and Df
- Dynamic Guidelines for Design with SAP (Semi-Additive Processes)
- How Heterogenous Integration Affects the PCB Industry
- Evaluating Emerging PCB Technologies Through Industry Collaboration
- The 21 Most Common Design Errors Caught by Fabrication (and How to Prevent Them)
- Leveraging CFX-QPL to Integrate Equipment and Create a Smart Factory
- IPC-2581’s Bi-directional Electronically Executable DFx Exchange Accelerates NPI
- The A+ PCB Outline Drawing
Plus our keynote, Augmented and Virtual Reality, the Next Computer Revolution, featuring Dr. Brian Toleno of Meta.
The free exhibition is on October 5 from 10 am to 6 pm, and includes free lunch on the show floor from 12 to 1 pm and an end-of-day reception from 5 to 6 pm.
Registration is now open at pcbwest.com. Don’t wait: registration is free through Oct. 4, but $25 on the day of show.
Mike Buetow
PCEA President
mike@pcea.net
Local Chapters
Please forward your chapter news to pcea@pcea.net for inclusion on our website and in future newsletters.
ORANGE COUNTY, CA – Steph Chavez and Gerry Partida are putting together a presentation on “Best Practices” focusing on do’s and don’ts, which will be a dialog between a designer and fabricator. We’ve reserved a venue on October 19 to hold this live Lunch ‘n Learn.
SILICON VALLEY – We held an in-person meeting on August 4 at Siemens EDA in Fremont, CA, fearuting a good presentation by Carl Schattke. (Carl will also be presenting at PCB West next month.) No immediate plans available for next meeting.
OCTOBER ELECTIONS – Last call to vote for the next board of directors. All PCEA members in good standing are eligible to vote for the board of directors. PCEA members may vote for up to 12 individuals for the board. Please use the link here access the ballot.
Reading Material
Highlights of the September issue of PCD&F/Circuits Assembly:
- ECAD industry wages are rising. (Tell me something I didn’t know.) Results of our annual PCB designer/design engineer salary survey.
- Why I4.0 and reshoring go hand in hand. According to research firm IDTechEx, it’s only a matter of time before an array of sensors and cobots spur far greater automation and flexibility.
- Tacking material for power module assembly. A no-flux reflow process can mitigate residue issues in vacuum soldering and avoid additional cleaning steps that add process time and cost.
- Ensuring proper alignment of layers and components on a PCB. Why a tooling hole remains the answer for an end-to-end process.
Have an idea for an article? Contact us at pcea@pcea.net. No writing experience required!
Committees
The Education Committee receives 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.
