5 Supply Chain Questions to Ask Your Assembly Partner

August 16, 2018 | Neil Sharp, JJS Manufacturing

A key question for any OEM who may be considering outsourcing production is whether to maintain its existing supply chain or to hand those crucial purchasing decisions over to its assembly partner. This article highlights five questions to ask a potential assembly partner before handing over the responsibility for your supply chain management.

Cross Functional Teams Drive Strong Focus on Risk Mitigation and Quality

August 15, 2018 | Sandy Kolp, Firstronic

Having a traditional cross-functional team (CFT) approach, with a much larger CFT group that includes a tactically focused program manager, a strategically focused account director, a buyer, a product engineer, a process engineer, a test engineer, a quality engineer, a production supervisor or lead person, and a customer service representative focused on materials and scheduling, will help EMS firms govern all the necessary outputs associated with each customer.

The Role of Bismuth (Bi) in Electronics, Part 3

August 8, 2018 | Dr. Jennie Hwang, H-Technologies Group

The third part of this column series aims to answer why SAC isn't able to become a universal interconnecting material for electronic circuits, and why a quaternary alloy system offer a more wholesome...

Replating of Gold Fingers: Getting the Shine Back

July 30, 2018 | Bob Wettermann, BEST, Inc.

There are several instances where the gold contacts on PCBs need to be replated, and IPC A-610 discusses several of these cases. This column by Bob Wettermann discusses gold replating of defective contacts caused by processes such as...

Contamination: The Enemy of Electronics

July 18, 2018 | Eric Camden, Foresite

Welcome to the first installation of “Quest for Reliability.” The goal behind this column is to use my experience at an independent laboratory for over 18 years to help readers understand PCBA reliability issues, and more...