Strategies for vias and routing.

It seems every new design has at least one BGA component on the board. The 1.0mm pitch BGA has become vanilla. Even the 0.8mm pitch BGA is commonplace. These components are not limited to rigid PCBs; BGAs of all shapes and sizes are implemented in flex and rigid-flex designs as well.

The rules for BGAs are much the same whether the board is rigid or rigid-flex. Due to some of the material differences in a rigid-flex, however, extra care is recommended when it comes to the artwork and the trace routing in the BGA field.

Let’s start with pad and via design. For microvias, many suppliers recommend staying at or above 0.005" diameter vias for reliability reasons. Much experience tells us vias smaller than 0.005" tend to have a much lower mean time between failure (MTBF) than vias at or greater than 0.005". In more benign applications, smaller vias may be an option. If the product will experience temperature extremes, however, the conservative bet is to stay above 0.005" diameter microvias. Depending on the design and manufacturer, the associated pads may range from 0.010" to 0.012". Smaller pads risk a via sliding off the edge of the pad. If it does, the risk is the laser may cut through the dielectric and down to the next copper layer.

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The electronics industry should adopt data-driven planning methods.

For many companies, supply-chain management has become a major challenge as the pandemic has continued to disrupt all our lives. As lifestyles have become home-based, for work and leisure, demands have shifted from services to products: materials and tools for lockdown projects, gaming and video equipment, and extra work-from-home IT. There is a global shortage of shipping containers and ships to carry them. As a result, shipping costs have increased sharply. It could take a long time for container costs to return to pre-pandemic levels. Added to that, the spread of the virus has disrupted and depleted workforces, resulting in backlogs and delays.

On top of the misery came the recent blockage of the Suez Canal, adding several days of delay as the backlog was cleared. And, of course, there were domino effects at ports around the world, as cargo was unable to move into or out of the system. The problem has raised questions about the future of super-large container ships and strengthens the argument for using larger numbers of smaller vessels.

Far-flung supply chains, designed to enhance competitiveness and minimize costs, are now under threat and will likely need to change. The world is simply too impatient to wait for things to return to normal. Moreover, there are strong calls for a “new normal” that should, at the very least, strive for environmental sustainability.

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EMS companies are undertaking a range of measures to appeal to new recruits.

Material constraints combined with unanticipated spikes in demand and shortages in transportation capacity apparently aren’t enough of an electronics manufacturing services (EMS) management challenge for 2021. Labor shortages are also an issue, despite unemployment numbers double what they were pre-Covid. The reasons are complex. While government stimulus payments and more generous unemployment insurance may be incentivizing some to stay home, other factors such as lack of childcare resources or health concerns are also at play. The availability of more remote work options and relocation of previously available workforce due to Covid restriction adaptations are also factors.

In a constrained labor market, the manufacturing sector often finds it hard to recruit. Several decades ago, everyone had friends and family who worked in factories and spoke of the benefits of that career choice. The service economy and offshoring changed that. Today, many potential employees do not even consider manufacturing sector jobs.

How can these trends be changed? I’ve interviewed executives at Firstronic and SigmaTron International to discuss what works for them. I also interviewed a recent “new to manufacturing” hire at Firstronic to add perspective on what makes factory work appealing.

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Five ideas for being a better worker.

“People who need people, they’re the luckiest people in the world,” or so the song goes. If that’s true, though, why do I feel so unlucky?

For many years, colleagues from virtually every industry imaginable have agreed their Number One need, desire, concern and frustration is finding good people to hire. Regardless of job level or education experience, hiring qualified people is possibly the biggest challenge industry faces globally.

In my little corner of the world, which happens to be close to some of the most prestigious universities and colleges in the world, executives in companies of all sizes tell me the mantra is, “Where are the good people?” (Note: No one asks, “Where are the people?” The operative word here is “good.”)
To be sure, colleagues share remarkably similar stories about people who have been hired only to be fired in short order. Such occurrences were once rare, but today are too often the rule. Based on personal experience and countless shared stories, I have identified five issues that individually or collectively are common in today’s job applicants:

1. Everyone likes manufactured things but no one wants to be a manufacturer. The image of manufacturing is that of a dirty sweatshop. Yet enter any plant, be it semiconductors or steel or automobiles or circuit boards, and the reality is companies are modern, computerized and clean, and require smart, engaged team players. When recruiting and interviewing, refute the negative image and highlight the opportunities. For job seekers who believe manufacturing is a dead-end job, consider the latest gadget you use – the phone or tablet or even the car – and what it takes to make it. Spoiler alert: There’s real career opportunity in manufacturing!

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