Latest Articles

I-Connect007 Welcomes Newest Columnist, Dr. Adam Klett, KYZEN

I-Connect007 is excited to announce its newest columnist, Dr. Adam Klett, director of science at KYZEN. His new column, The Clean Truth, will appear monthly in SMT007 Magazine, bringing a science-based perspective to cleaning, contamination control, and reliability in electronics manufacturing. Klett is a chemical engineer and scientist whose expertise includes chemical phase behavior, material characterization and selection, process development, and failure analysis. Through The Clean Truth, he will separate cleaning facts from industry myths while examining the practical realities manufacturers face when making decisions about cleaning processes and contamination control.

I-Connect007 Editor’s Choice: Five Must-Reads for the Week

I recently discovered that the original “Star Trek” debuted in the same month I was born. You can look that up if you want to, but did you know that the series only ran for three years? During that time, however, they produced nearly 30 episodes per season, so there were more than 80 episodes to run through the many years of syndication, as was often the case for me after school: “Brady Bunch” at 4 p.m., “Gilligan’s Island” at 4:30, and then “Star Trek” at 5 p.m. I really tried to be interested in “Star Trek,” but it just felt too corny for me, although I’m not sure how much more “Gilligan’s Island” was rooted in reality.

Follow the Story: Building the Hardware Behind AI

When TTM opened its new UHDI facility in New York earlier this year, it wasn't simply adding another PCB factory. As the largest circuit board builder in the United States, TTM was investing in technologies that bring PCB fabrication closer to the complex world of semiconductor packaging. The advent of AI helps explain why that matters. The enormous compute power required by AI is pushing chip performance to new levels, but those chips don't operate in isolation.

Rehm Thermal Systems Readies for SMTA Guadalajara

In this interview, Nolan Johnson speaks with Rehm Mexico General Manager Luis Garcia about the growing electronics manufacturing market in Mexico, renewed investment in production equipment, and increasing demand driven by AI, automotive, electromobility, and medical applications. Garcia also discusses Rehm’s expanding technology portfolio and what the company will showcase at SMTA Guadalajara.

3 Key Takeaways from The Printed Circuit Assembler's Guide to... Via Structures: Reflow Process Survivability, Reliability, and Robustness

As PCB technology has evolved, the structures being evaluated become more complex. But have the methods used to determine their reliability evolved at the same pace? In The Printed Circuit Assembler's Guide to... Via Structures: Reflow Process Survivability, Reliability, and Robustness, Bob Neves challenges some long-held assumptions about how the electronics industry evaluates PCB via structures. He draws on decades of reliability experience, and examines not only how we test, but what those tests actually tell us.

The Skills Match Is Becoming the New Hiring Challenge

The U.S. labor market may be settling into a more moderate hiring environment, but manufacturing hiring (including electronics manufacturing) has remained robust. Recent data from Indeed Hiring Lab show that overall U.S. job postings have hovered close to their pre-pandemic baseline, standing just 1.8% above February 2020 levels as of mid-August. Production and manufacturing, however, have gained momentum. Job postings in the sector increased approximately 8% over the past year. The latest federal job openings data tell a similar story.

I-Connect007 Editor’s Choice: Five Must-Reads for the Week

The middle months of 2026 have been defined by, shall we say, “projects” throughout the industry, and as we approach the end of the third quarter, many of those projects are coming to light. That’s the theme I’m getting from this week’s news, and I tried to capture it with my selections. My must-reads include a market update on the leading fabless semiconductor houses, a call to action from SEMI directed at the policymakers in the European Union, a rollup of workforce and educational programs announced just this week, a role change at Indium, and the relaunch of the Global Electronics Association Sustainability teams’ DMA Toolkit.  

Mexico’s Answer to Bypassing the Panama Canal

In 2019, Mexico made a huge step toward economic development by creating the CIIT as a public body to integrate the ports of Coatzacoalcos and Salina Cruz with railway transport and regional development. The decree explicitly describes the project as a logistics platform linking those ports by rail and promoting economic development in the Isthmus. After several significant construction projects, the 308.5 km rail line, the Interoceanic Corridor of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, began operating in December 2023. For electronics manufacturing, the value is not just the “new railway.”

Mexico’s Manufacturing: A Story Bigger Than Nearshoring

Mexico’s electronics manufacturing story is often reduced simply to nearshoring. But companies operating within the country’s manufacturing ecosystem describe a market moving beyond its reputation for cost-competitive assembly. They see deeper capabilities in engineering, automation, technical services, supplier integration, digitalization, and advanced manufacturing under development. And they want the world to know. For SMT007 Magazine, we asked six organizations at different positions along the manufacturing value chain to share their vision. We asked them to describe their companies, the value they bring to customers, where they see growth, and how Mexico’s place in global manufacturing is changing.

Mexico Solders On With Indium Corporation

It makes sense to go where the customers are, which is why Indium Corporation recently opened a new solder paste manufacturing facility in Guadalajara, Mexico. Chris Bastecki, vice president of the Americas Sales and Service Group at Indium Corporation, as well as vice president of PCB Assembly Materials, discusses the reasons behind the new facility, the growing market segments, and the challenges of matching solder to specific applications.

Advanced Packaging at the Limits: What’s Ahead in the Next Issue of Advanced Electronics Packaging Digest

The upcoming issue of Advanced Electronics Packaging Digest looks at what happens as advanced packaging pushes further into the limits of scale, power, thermal performance, and manufacturing capability. These features examine the measurement technologies, materials decisions, manufacturing investments, and system-level challenges shaping the next generation of advanced electronics.

An Open Invitation to Standards Development in Paris

The Global Electronics Association is doing something a little different around standards this year. IPC Builds, Sept. 19–24, in Paris, is a series of standards development meetings open to both Association members and nonmembers, offered at no charge, with lunch provided. Sponsoring an event like this at no charge caught my attention. Removing any registration cost clearly removes a barrier to participation at a time when global input into standards development is needed more than ever. An open forum naturally makes it easier for someone who is curious about standards work or has wanted to get involved but hasn’t yet taken the first step to experience the process firsthand, with no risk or expectation.

I-Connect007 Editor’s Choice: Five Must-Reads for the Week

I feel compelled to start off by recognizing that today marks the 25th anniversary of the tragic activities that took place on 9/11/2001. Like so many of us, I will never forget exactly where I was and what I was doing when I heard that United flights 11 and 175 had struck the World Trade Center in NYC. That day, the world was forever changed, and the effects still reverberate. Today, I am taking a moment to remember the lives lost and the heroism and coming together that day brought about. 

SMTA Guadalajara: 15 Years of Advancement in Electronics Manufacturing

This year, SMTA Guadalajara Expo & Tech Forum, Oct. 7–8, marks 15 years of supporting and advancing the electronics manufacturing industry in the region. Over the years, the event has grown steadily in both attendance and industry impact, becoming one of the most important events of its kind in Latin America. SMTA Guadalajara brings together OEMs, EMS providers, suppliers, academia, and industry experts. As one of Mexico's largest electronics manufacturing hubs, Guadalajara provides the ideal setting for companies to discover new technologies, strengthen partnerships, and exchange technical knowledge.

Heller and SEHO Investing in Mexico

Heller Industries is the leading provider of thermal systems in the electronics assembly and semiconductor industries, manufacturing a wide range of equipment, primarily for standard reflow applications in electronics assembly. The company has realized significant business growth in Mexico in recent years and is now preparing for SMTA Guadalajara. Paul Lancaster, vice president of sales and marketing, spoke about the Mexican market, growing a local support infrastructure, and partnering with SEHO.

Connecting Quality, Traceability, and Manufacturing Processes

Traceability is easy to describe and difficult to maintain. From the moment a component arrives, its supplier lot, inspection results, certificates, and eventual use in production have to be captured and carried forward into the finished assembly and shipment. Every step creates and requires information. In EMS and PCB assembly, products involve thousands of components, multiple levels of subassemblies, customer-specific requirements, revision changes, and supplier documents arriving in any number of formats. This becomes infinitely more difficult when quality, inventory, production, and document management live in separate systems.

Follow the Story: AI Reshapes the Electronics Supply Chain

The AI infrastructure boom is creating enormous opportunities for electronics manufacturers, but its effects are spreading well beyond companies building AI servers and data centers. High performance laminates, glass fabric, copper, memory, MLCCs, foundry capacity, and other critical resources are being pulled toward fast-growing AI applications, tightening supplies and pushing up costs elsewhere in the electronics industry. I-Connect007 has been following these developments from several directions. What initially looked like separate stories about laminate availability, memory prices, component demand, PCB capacity, and data-center growth are demonstrating how AI is changing how the electronics supply chain allocates materials, capacity, and investment.

I-Connect007 Observes Labor Day Holiday With Office Closure

In the U.S, the Labor Day holiday arrives as the unofficial end to summer, but its roots run much deeper (and a little darker, if you’re a student of U.S. history) The first observance was held in New York City on Sept. 5, 1882, when thousands of workers marched in a parade organized by the Central Labor Union. Numerous states recognized Labor Day prior to Congress establishing it as a federal holiday in 1894. At its heart, the contemporary Labor Day holiday recognizes the workers whose skill, persistence, and ingenuity have built the nation’s prosperity.

I-Connect007 Editor’s Choice: Five Must-Reads for the Week

As a longtime journalist, I always find myself pulled in so many directions of curiosity. I’ve often felt like the saying, “A jack of all trades, master of none.” It seems to be the price I’ve paid as a writer and editor, delving into so many different corners of industry, community, and the human condition. But that’s also why I love this week’s collection of must-reads. From novel flexible circuits to modernizing IPC standards, a trade show in the burgeoning China Plus One region, Mexico’s manufacturing moment, and opportunities for workforce development, we’ve gone around the world and back again. We touch on so many aspects of the industry, and especially the opportunities and challenges of keeping up with change.

Real Time with... THECA 2026: Global Electronics Association on PCB Growth, Standards, and Emerging Technology

David Bergman, VP of International Relations at the Global Electronics Association, talks with Marcy LaRont about his privilege in being involved in THPCA from early on and the strategic opportunity for the Association to make a difference in Thailand's growing electronics industry through standards and education. Also as an active member of the Electronic Circuit World Council (ECWC) (which occurs every three years) Mr. Bergman discusses plans for ECWC17 which will take place next year with THECA 2027, highlighting Thailand's role in electronics manufacturing.

Real Time with... THECA 2026: Polar Instruments Expands Testing and CAM Capabilities

Amit Bhardwaj, managing director of Polar Instruments (Asia Pacific), discusses the company's evolution from a long-standing UK subsidiary into an independent regional business, with expanded CAM offerings and IST technology that can substantially reduce test time. Mr. Bhardwaj explains how these capabilities support critical applications and the continued growth of electronics manufacturing across the Asia Pacific.

Workforce Partnerships Mean New Apprenticeships and Funding Opportunities

Workforce development is most effective when employers have access to both a proven training model and the financial resources needed to implement it. At the Global Electronics Association, our workforce partnerships team is expanding those connections by helping electronics employers recruit, train, retain, and advance their workers through Registered Apprenticeship and industry-focused funding opportunities. We are excited to be in the final stages of preparing and submitting our newest Registered Apprenticeship occupation: wire harness assembler.

Real Time with... THECA 2026: Reliability Assessment Solutions Inc. on Smarter Electronics Testing

Bob Neves, CEO of Reliability Assessment Solutions Inc., examines how electronics companies can approach product reliability more realistically. Drawing on concepts from his book, The Printed Circuit Assembler’s Guide to...Via Structures: Reflow Process Survivability, Reliability, and Robustness, he describes the three Rs of via testing and reliability and stresses the importance of truly understanding the type of testing required in each specific use case. He warns that poorly aligned accelerated testing can lead to inaccurate life predictions, unnecessary over-engineering, and higher costs.

IPC-1751 Builds Supply Chain Infrastructure for the Future

IPC-1751 Committee Chairs Nikki Johnson, VP of operations and regulatory at Source Intelligence, with over 20 years of experience in compliance standards, and Dr. N Nagaraj, a chemical engineer and former NASA contractor who helped develop early IPC compliance solutions, discuss IPC-1751, the newly adopted JSON-based standard that replaces the older XML format. In this roundtable-format conversation, Johnson and Nagaraj explain how IPC-1751 serves as a modular "envelope" that connects related standards (IPC 1752–1757, IPC-1782) for material composition, lab reports, and conflict minerals.

September SMT007 Magazine Examines Mexico’s Manufacturing Growth

Mexico is playing an increasingly important role in North American electronics manufacturing as companies invest in new capacity, reconsider sourcing strategies, and implement nearshoring plans. The September 2026 issue of SMT007 Magazine examines what’s behind this investment and what it means for the broader electronics supply chain. Through perspectives from companies operating and investing in Mexico, we explore trade considerations, manufacturing capabilities, and the opportunities and challenges of building a stronger regional supply chain.

THECA 2026 Review: Innovating PCBs and Advanced Electronics

The Thailand Printed Circuit Association hosted its third annual trade show in the bustling city of Bangkok this past week, under the theme “Innovating PCB and Advanced Electronics with Next-Gen Packaging.” Building on its success as a leading PCB industry exhibition, THECA has brought together the entire PCB value chain, creating a comprehensive platform for advanced electronics.

I-Connect007 Editor’s Choice: Five Must-Reads for the Week

This week, the Global Electronics Association published its monthly report on PCB fabrication and EMS bookings and shipments, and the numbers are extremely positive. In EMS, the three-month book-to-bill ratio stands at 1.29 for July. Year-to-date EMS bookings are at 11% over 2025. The picture is similar in PCB fabrication as well. Year-to-date bookings are up 33% over last year, and book-to-bill stands at 1.46.

Road to Reliability: Failures, Monitoring, and Standards on the Path to EV Reliability

Throughout this series, we have examined the technologies, materials, architectures, and environmental challenges that influence the reliability of EV electronics. Yet reliability is ultimately judged in only one place: the field. Customers do not experience qualification reports, design reviews, or accelerated test results. They experience vehicles that either perform as expected or do not. As EV adoption expands globally, the industry has accumulated a growing body of field experience. These lessons reveal both the strengths of current designs and the areas where improvement remains necessary.

I-Connect007 Welcomes Newest Columnist, Tianming Liu, FSQuality

I-Connect007 is excited to announce its newest columnist, Tianming Liu, founder of First Quality Circuit Co. Ltd. (FSQuality) and Fuji PCB. His new column, Bridging the Pacific, will draw on more than three decades of experience in PCB manufacturing to explore the different manufacturing cultures, practices, and perspectives found across the global electronics industry.

Where Will the Next Generation of Great Engineers Come From?

Most young engineers do not grow up dreaming about careers in ceramic substrates or plating processes. It’s not because these careers are uninteresting. In many cases, young people simply do not know they exist. They are excited about AI, robotics, aerospace, autonomous vehicles, space exploration, renewable energy, electric vehicles, medical technology, and advanced computing. What many students do not yet understand is that virtually every one of those technologies depends upon an incredibly sophisticated electronics manufacturing infrastructure.

Decoding the CMMC Suspension

The recent CMMC suspension put all of us in something of a state of shock and confusion, and I have been closely following the discussion in the Defense Industrial Base (DIB) community, including vendors, customers, and cybersecurity specialists. In a memo to my clients, I shared some details for the decision. A common theme among those reasons is cost and capacity. We’ve learned that CMMC has prohibitive compliance costs, with individual bills approaching $600,000; SBA estimates above $7 billion annually across the base, that there is a severe assessor shortage; roughly 100,000+ firms need assessments from only about 100 approved organizations and that the DoD stood up a 60-day CMMC Reform Task Force to recommend a lower-barrier replacement framework.

3 Key Takeaways From a New White Paper on Component Salvage

Electronic waste is typically discussed in terms of recycling, but recycling is only one way to recover value from discarded electronics. In the white paper “Salvaging Electronic Components: A Reliable Method for Reducing Electronic Waste, and Ensuring Economic Reuse,” Nash Bell, president of BEST Inc., examines a different approach: harvesting high-value components from obsolete or superseded PCBs, reconditioning them, and putting them back into service.

I-Connect007 Editor’s Choice: Five Must-Reads for the Week

Some situations came up for me this week (delayed flights and malfunctioning work software) that highlighted how much we rely on tools every day. When they’re working, we barely think about them. When they’re not, we’re suddenly reminded of everything else that has to be in place for the work to get done: good processes, knowledgeable people, communication, teamwork, and sometimes ingenuity. I’ve observed that engineers aren’t any different in their work.

How San Francisco Circuits Achieved CMMC Certification

When the U.S. Department of Defense began signaling that cybersecurity self-attestation would eventually give way to mandatory third-party certification, San Francisco Circuits decided to get ahead of it. That decision, made in 2019, shaped everything that followed: the systems we implemented, the partners we engaged, and the audit we ultimately passed. This is the story of that process, including what worked, what added complexity, and what we'd tell other EMS companies and defense suppliers that are now facing the same path.

Follow the Story: The Business of Engineering

Building great products requires great engineering, but building a successful engineering company requires something more. Leaders must make decisions about investments, acquisitions, workforce development, automation, sourcing, strategy, and innovation, all while navigating changing markets and emerging technologies. This collection of articles and columns explores the business side of technical leadership, by gathering perspectives from executives, engineers, entrepreneurs, and industry experts who understand that long-term success depends on more than technical excellence.

The Strategic Importance of Hiring Efficiency

While discussions surrounding workforce shortages often focus on the number of available workers, many manufacturers face a different challenge: securing highly qualified candidates before competing employers do. We’re in a market where experienced PCB designers, process engineers, quality specialists, manufacturing engineers, and reliability professionals are in high demand, so even modest delays in the hiring process can have measurable business consequences.

3 Key Takeaways: Factory Analytics Turns Data Into Action

Every electronics manufacturer generates data. The challenge is knowing what to do with it. In The Printed Circuit Assembler's Guide to... Factory Analytics, Julie Cliche-Dubois of Cogiscan explains how manufacturers can transform disconnected machine data into meaningful insights that improve productivity, quality, and profitability. Rather than focusing on analytics as an IT initiative, the book demonstrates how factory-wide visibility empowers everyone, from line operators to quality managers, to make smarter decisions.

IPC Standards Released for Q2 2026

Each quarter, the Global Electronics Association releases a list of standards that are new or have been updated. To view a complete list of newly published standards and standards revisions, translations, proposed standards for ballot, final drafts for industry review, working drafts, and project approvals, visit electronics.org/ipc-standards. These are the latest releases for Q2 2026.

I-Connect007 Editor’s Choice: Five Must-Reads for the Week

Another week has flown by, and it’s time for the must-read articles and news highlights. This week, I’m putting a spotlight on FUJI PCB and FS Quality, through an interview by Dan Beaulieu with President Tianming Liu, and “the rest of the story” from the EIPC Summer Conference technical sessions. I’m also focusing on a new marketing book by Brittany Martin, and there’s rarely a week when we don’t talk about AI, so I also chose Sean Patterson’s most recent practical advice for PCB fabricators. Though the U.S. has placed a “stay” on CMMC Level 2 certification, it’s still coming for you and your business. If you work in the Mil/Aero space in the U.S., check out what Omega EMS has done to accelerate its compliance. Their wisdom may be worth your time.

The True Cost of Rework: Integrating RMAs and Rework into Core Business Processes

Returns and rework are a reality for every manufacturer. Most companies can authorize an RMA. Fewer have the process or vehicles for carrying it through receiving, quality, production, shipping, and accounting. RMAs and rework can have a significant impact on the top and bottom line. Credits and refunds reduce revenue. Repair adds cost to a product already built and takes capacity away from new, revenue-producing work. Poor execution also puts customer relationships at risk, which is everything in contract manufacturing.

Omega EMS Advances Toward CMMC Level 2 Certification

In June, Omega EMS announced its intention to achieve CMMC Level 2 before the U.S. Department of Defense’s mandatory November 2026 implementation timeline for organizations handling Controlled Unclassified Information (CUI). We caught up with Omega EMS CEO Chris Alessio to discuss the company’s certification journey, the investment required, and what CMMC means for Omega’s military and aerospace business. Note: The DoD has suspended its November requirement pending a 60-day review.

EIPC Summer Conference 2026: Technical Presentations Tell the Rest of the Story

In early June, the EIPC Summer Conference in Vilnius, Lithuania, featured an impressive group of speakers ranging from PCB suppliers and technical experts to startups and robotics OEMs, the latter of which added a “cool factor” to the meeting’s ambiance with a fully operational, interactive humanoid. After some early coverage of the event, I’m now following up with key takeaways from many of the technical presentations. I regret that I could not cover all speakers in detail, but this will give you a good taste of what you missed in Lithuania in June.

CMMC 2.0: The Defense Supply Chain’s Next Qualification Requirement

The U.S. Department of Defense’s Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification (CMMC) program has finally moved from concept to contract language. Cybersecurity compliance for companies hoping to participate in the defense supply chain is now a prerequisite for doing business, right alongside AS9100, ITAR, Nadcap, and IPC standards. For years, many organizations have self-attested to cybersecurity compliance. Unfortunately, a series of high-profile cyber incidents demonstrated that self-attestation didn’t always translate into effective implementation. Sensitive information would leak through vulnerabilities in the Defense Industrial Base (DIB), often via suppliers and subcontractors.

Advanced Packaging, Materials Characterization, and System Integration: What’s Ahead in the Advanced Electronics Packaging Digest

The August issue of Advanced Electronics Packaging Digest explores how advanced packaging is reshaping semiconductor innovation through better materials characterization, heterogeneous integration (HI), workforce education, and system-level design. Together, these features examine the technologies and engineering decisions driving the next generation of electronic systems.

I-Connect007 Editor’s Choice: Five Must-Reads for the Week

Are you familiar with the “locus of control," which describes how much we believe our actions can change the outcome of our lives? Internal locus of control, for example, is the belief that our actions greatly shape our outcomes; external locus of control holds that external forces have a greater influence than our actions on how our lives play out. How we view our own locus of control can strongly influence how we respond to the world, perhaps even creating a self-fulfilling prophecy situation. The news has taken a more languid pace this week. Not so, however, for our intrepid band of I-Connect007 columnists, who thoughtfully tackle some chunky locus of control topics.

3 Key Takeaways: Design for Test Starts Long Before the First Test

Design for test has traditionally been viewed as the last checkpoint before a product enters production. Bert Horner's The Printed Circuit Assembler's Guide to... Design for Test challenges that thinking. In his book, he argues that testability should influence every stage of PCB and CCA development, from the first schematic through layout, manufacturing, inspection, and long-term product support. The result is a practical guide that connects engineering decisions with measurable manufacturing outcomes.

USMCA Rules of Origin for Electronics: What Could Change in 2026

In my first article on the USMCA, I explained why the USMCA six-year review matters to the electronics industry and where the negotiations currently stand. Now I want to get under the hood, because the most consequential changes for electronics manufacturers are in the rules of origin, the technical framework that determines whether your product gets duty-free treatment under USMCA. Free trade agreements don't just lower tariffs; they also determine what counts as an “originating” product.

SMTA Bright Manufacturing Challenge Enters Its Second Year With 30 Teams

SMTA’s second annual Bright Manufacturing Challenge kicked off July 1 and will end at SMTAI in October as college students from 30 teams (nearly double from the first year) compete to build a robot from the design to fabrication to assembly. Finalists will watch as the robots they built race for the first-place award. SMTA’s Tara Dunn talks about the program and this year’s challenge, what they’ve learned, and how excited the students are to be involved.

I-Connect007 Editor’s Choice: Five Must-Reads for the Week

When I first came to the electronics industry, I was coming from the outside. Over time, I learned that this is not an industry that can be understood from just one angle. What happens in design affects manufacturing. Material choices affect reliability. Supply chain decisions influence business strategy, and advances in technology create new challenges and opportunities throughout the entire ecosystem. That complexity is one of the things I appreciate most about covering this industry. Each week, I’m reminded that there is always another layer to explore.

August SMT007 Magazine: Cybersecurity Remains a Business Imperative

Although the Department of Defense recently suspended its planned rollout of mandatory third-party CMMC certification while it reviews the program, cybersecurity expectations across the defense supply chain remain firmly in place. This issue of SMT007 Magazine explores why manufacturers continue investing in stronger security, what CMMC Level 2 certification involves, and how leading EMS companies are navigating the process.

SMTLINK in the Evolution of Mexico's Electronics Industry

For years, Mexico’s competitive advantage was largely associated with manufacturing capacity, geographic proximity to the United States, and cost efficiency. While those factors remain important, success increasingly depends on a broader set of capabilities: engineering expertise, workforce development, process reliability, automation, and supply chain resilience.

Keeping Electronic Component Recovery and Reuse Closer to Home

Over the past several years, electronics manufacturers have been forced to rethink what supply chain resilience really means. Shortages, extended lead times, allocation pressures, obsolescence, and price volatility have exposed the limits of a procurement strategy built on the assumption that new components will always be available when needed. However, even when parts can be sourced, they may come with unacceptable lead times, inflated spot-market pricing, or concerns around authenticity and traceability.

Beyond PDFs: The Next Generation of Electronics Compliance

Why should electronics manufacturers care about the new IPC Supplier Declaration Standards? Because compliance with global government regulations means manufacturers are expected to collect, verify, and exchange unprecedented amounts of supply chain data, often across hundreds of suppliers and thousands of components. Even more, it must be managed and exchanged efficiently, accurately, and at scale. Yet many engineers, supply chain professionals, compliance managers, and purchasing teams still rely on spreadsheets, PDFs, and manual processes that were never designed to operate at today's scale.

I-Connect007 Editor’s Choice: Five Must-Reads for the Week

In this week’s top five must-reads, I chose articles that go from big business questions (to diversify or not), to important technical issues such as DFM errors made in creating HDI designs using ELIC and design for test, to a discussion around some of the power and thermal considerations in advanced packaging, and the fact that they are now, firmly, performance enablers, not after-the-fact elements to be managed in fabrication.

Circularity for a Resilient Supply Chain, PFAS, and More

As governments around the world take a closer look at PFAS and other sustainability issues, electronics manufacturers face an increasingly complex regulatory landscape. In part 2 of this interview, Dr. Diana Radovan, sustainability policy director at the Global Electronics Association, shares insights on emerging PFAS policies, circularity efforts, and the global conversations shaping the industry's future.

Beyond Recycling: A Circularity Approach for a Truly Resilient Electronics Supply Chain

Dr. Diana Radovan, director of sustainability policy and sustainability advocacy lead at the Global Electronics Association, has been at the center of some of the electronics industry's most consequential policy discussions, from the European Parliament in Brussels to sustainability summits in Germany and circularity conferences across Europe. With the European Union's landmark Circular Economy Act moving closer to reality and updates to PFAS regulations, she has been ensuring that the voice of the electronics industry is heard. In this interview, she discusses what's coming, why it matters, why true circularity extends far beyond recycling, and what policymakers still need to do to enable it.

Meet the Author Podcast: Bert Horner on Design for Test

I-Connect007 is pleased to announce the release of Episode 7 of the “Meet the Author” podcast, featuring Bert Horner, president of TTCI, discussing his new book, The Printed Circuit Assembler's Guide to... Design for Test. In this conversation with Nolan Johnson, Horner explores what he calls the "Butterfly Effect" of Design for Test (DFT): Decisions made early in the design process can significantly influence manufacturing success, product reliability, and long-term profitability.

Electronics Hiring Is a Precision Problem

Manufacturers across the electronics industry continue to report the same challenge: How do I find qualified people? At first glance, this appears to be a labor shortage, but the data reveals a more nuanced story. According to Deloitte and The Manufacturing Institute, the U.S. manufacturing sector will need approximately 3.8 million new workers between 2024 and 2033. Without significant improvements in workforce development and recruitment, an estimated 1.9 million of those positions could go unfilled.

I-Connect007 Editor’s Choice: Five Must-Reads for the Week

The Pentagon’s announcement on Tuesday that CMMC certification is being immediately suspended is the big news of the week. We’ve been covering the CMMC journey since the beginning, and we’ll stick with the story for the duration. If you’ve followed my list of must-reads, you know that I’m always interested in semiconductor news, and this week had a few good ones. I’ll mention them here, and urge you to read the entire stories: Apple adds to the recent Intel fab agreement by adding to its U.S.-based design and manufacturing agreement with Broadcom; Micron is investing $3 billion to the U.S. semiconductor ecosystem; and Intel announces a 5 billion euro investment in European infrastructure.

Ionic Contamination Debate Highlights Growing Divide in Automotive Electronics

A recent Global Electronics Association panel discussion revealed both broad agreement and sharp differences regarding one of electronics manufacturing’s most persistent reliability questions: How clean is clean enough? The discussion, focused on ionic contamination assessment in electronic control unit (ECU) manufacturing, brought together the following experts:  Tim Dietz from Ford Motor Company, Dr. Lothar Henneken from Robert Bosch, Eric Camden from Foresite, Hubertus Mertens from MKS’ Atotech, Doug Pauls from It Depends Electronics, and Stan Rak from SF Rak Company, as moderator. While everyone agreed that contamination control is essential for long-term reliability, panelists differed significantly on whether ion chromatography (IC) should play a larger role in production acceptance and process control.
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