It is very easy to overlook how important the Printed Circuit Board industry is, both domestically and worldwide.  Many designers, fabricators, and assembly shops have voiced their desires for greater recognition, and the IPC is even lobbying on Capitol Hill for increased federal notice and support.  And yet, I truly believe the greater danger is that WE (the designers, fabricators, and assemblers) might forget how important our role is.  Even more specifically, I want to challenge us as an industry to step back and remember who our real customers are… …

A big topic in the last few years has been the occurrence of (and the damage caused by) the growth of tin whiskers in high-profile and high-reliability products.  Elusive, often misunderstood, and difficult to prevent; tin whiskers have posed significant problems.  In fact, even just two weeks ago TechEye.net was speculating that tin whiskers may be behind the massive Toyota recalls. Whether the whiskers are out to race cars, or are turning into conductive plasma arcs capable of carrying hundreds of amps, it is clear that they are a force …

Yesterday I had the opportunity to attend the final Wind River – Aerospace and Defense Seminar Series lecture event of the year. It was an extremely informative day of seminars and networking with various vendors within the field of Embedded Systems. Attendees/Exhibitors included GE Fanuc, IBM Rational Software, Freescale Semiconductors, Curtiss Wright Controls, McObject, Aonix, and others.  Two of the seminars I attended were particularly informative and intriguing.
The first was the Industry Keynote speaker, Ken Krieg, former Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology, and Logistics.  He spoke …