PCB Manufacturing
Prior to the start of Printed Circuit Board (PCB) manufacturing, engineers review all drawings, specifications and files to ensure manufacturability. Any identified concerns or issues or communicated back to the customer for clarification or correction. Once complete and all issues or concerns are resolved, the first step of the manufacturing process is to release material to […]
Printed Circuit Board – Copper Thickness
The most common measurement unit for copper thickness on a Printed Circuit Board (PCB) is ounces (oz). How thick is that? It’s the thickness when 1 oz of copper is spread evenly over a one foot square area. It equals 1.37 mils (or 1.37 thousands of an inch). For other common units of measure, consider: 1 oz […]
Solid State Lighting Assembly
Generally considered assemblies constructed of light sources emitted via solid-state electroluminescence via PLED’s (polymer light-emitting diodes) or LED’s (light-emitting diodes) instead of gas, plasma (fluorescent lamps), or electrical filaments (incandescent lights). Benefits Solid State Lighting Assemblypresent many notable advantages over compact fluorescent (CFL) or incandescent lighting technologies. Benefits in terms of energy savings and environmental […]
US-China Trade War Fears?
The Trump Administration’s recent announcement that a second -round of Chinese imports COULD BE targeted for tariffs have electronic end products squarely in their sights. While it’s not at all clear to the general public if the published list of $50 billion dollars-worth of goods (and 1,300 end-use items) will experience tariffs, it’s good to […]
Long Lead Times for Electronic Components Continue
The current electronic component shortage primarily caused by MLCC’s continues to cause OEM’s serious problems and according to Industry Insiders, there is no end in sight to this problem (Ref:https://www.ttiinc.com/content/ttiinc/en/resources/marketeye/categories/passives/me-zogbi-20180302.html) MLCC Shortages Are Creating Challenges In Multiple End-Markets in 2018 03/02/2018 // Dennis M. Zogbi in: Passives Limited Capacity To Stack Ceramic Dielectric Will Extend MLCC […]
US-China Trade War Affects
The European Union, Canada, China and Mexico have all implemented retaliatory tariffs on American goods due to the US tariffs applied this year by the Trump Administration on Chinese goods. American electronics manufacturers are especially vulnerable to turmoil in their supply chains due to rare earth minerals and alloys used in many products produced in […]
WEEE
The Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment Directive (WEEE Directive) is the European Community directive 2002/96/EC. The WEEE Directive aims to both reduce the amount of electrical and electronic equipment being produced and to encourage everyone to reuse, recycle and recover it. The law entered into force on January 2007. WEEE Directive http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/site/en/oj/2006/l_396/l_39620061230en00010849.pdf Please direct any […]
REACH
REACH is a European Community Regulation on chemicals and their safe use (EC 1907/2006). It deals with the Registration, Evaluation, Authorization and Restriction of Chemical substances. This law has been enforced since 1 June 2007. The aim of REACH is to improve the protection of human health and the environment through the better and earlier identification […]
Counterfeit Electronic Components
In a world of parts scarcity, buyer be “even-more-aware” holds. When a potential supplier offers valid looking parts with recent date codes at a reasonable price, while every other resource is coming up dry, there may be a reason. Malicious suppliers have invested heavily in equipment and resources with the intention of producing facsimiles of […]
Part Shortages and Effects on Production
Current electronics parts shortages are occurring primarily because of the recovering economy as the supply chain hasn’t caught up with the demand being created in the electronics manufacturing industry. Even one of the simplest parts we procure, monolithic ceramic capacitors (MLCCs), are highly constrained. These capacitors are typically treated as a commodity where you don’t […]
