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Reliability Matters

By: Mike Konrad
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  • Summary

  • Reliability Matters is a podcast on the subject of reliability of circuit assemblies. Reliability "best practices" and success stories are discussed. This podcast features interviews with experts in the electronic assembly industry.

    All electronic production segments which effect product reliability are on the table. This includes contamination, coating, cleanliness assessment, inspection, building for harsh environments, reflow, printing, failure analysis, board fabrication, and much more.

    Your Host:
    Mike Konrad began his career in the electronic assembly equipment industry in 1985. Mike founded Aqueous Technologies in 1992 in response to the Montreal Protocol and the resulting international treaty banning most popular cleaning/defluxing solvents.

    Mike is an internationally known speaker on the subject of increasing reliability through contamination removal and cleanliness quantification techniques and procedures. Mike was awarded “Distinguish Speaker Status” with SMTA in 2018 and received the “Rich Freiberger Best of Conference Award” in 2019.

    Mike is a member of the SMTA Global Board of Directors where he is Vice President of Communications. Mike is also Vice President of Technical Programs for the Los Angeles / Orange County SMTA Chapter.

    Visit the Reliability Matters Podcast Website:
    https://www.reliabilitymatterspodcast.com
    Copyright Mike Konrad
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Episodes
  • Episode 144: A Conversation with Indium's Rick Short about Education-Based Marketing

    Episode 144: A Conversation with Indium's Rick Short about Education-Based Marketing
    May 28 2024
    We’re the best, we’re number one, we’re better than them, we’ve won more awards than our competitors, we’ve all seen those ads. While this form of advertising isn’t unique, when’s the last time it caused you to buy a product based on the ad. I think we all know that answer.

    There was a time when we relied heavily on print advertising to determine what products were available and from whom. The two primary methods to gain product awareness were print advertising and trade shows. While advertising and trade shows still exist, they are no longer the primary method of product awareness.

    31 years ago, beginning on April 30, 1993, all of that began to change. What happened on April 30, 1993? Public access to the Internet was born.

    Over the past 31 years, Internet technology propelled us into an age of self discovery. The older generation accuses the younger generation of always having their face in a screen. While that may be true, it’s not always TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, or Snapchat. People today, particularly younger people, research products, technologies, and a host of other things online. Consumers today are far more educated on the products they wish to purchase them at any time in history.

    In what I find to be an exceptional irony, much of the industry responsible for building the technology behind Internet connectivity continues to advertise their products in a pre-Internet style.

    You may ask, what does this have to do with reliability? Building reliable products requires a net sum of a vast amount of best practices. One of those practices is insuring the right products, procedures, specifications, designs, and so many other factors are implemented.

    This goal cannot be accomplished by just reading advertisements from sellers. Frequently, engineers struggle to solve problems without a complete knowledge of the root cause of the problem. Particularly today, with so many in-house subject matter experts retiring, advertisements boasting the number of customers, time and business, and where they place in the hierarchy of competitive products do not assist the engineer and understanding the root cause of a potential problem, and certainly not the solution.

    Over the past several years, several companies in our industry have begun to change their advertising strategies from transactional, to transformational. That is to say they help to connect problems to solutions, more than merely hyping products.

    My guest today fully understands the value and effectiveness of what I like to call “Conscious Marketing “.

    Rick Short is Corporate Associate Vice President for Indium Corporation. Rick has been with the company since 1984 in capacities including Technical Service Manager, Marketing Director, International Sales Director, head of Technical Support, and head of Environmental, Health & Safety, in addition to his current role. He has an MBA from Ren-Se-Lere Polytechnic Institute, a bachelor’s degree in business management from Utica College, and an associate degree from Mohawk Valley Community College.

    I talk with Rick about his company’s unique approach to education and how that has helped to transform their customer base.
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    1 hr
  • Episode 143: A Candid Conversation with Industry Icon Doug Pauls

    Episode 143: A Candid Conversation with Industry Icon Doug Pauls
    May 14 2024
    We’ve discussed the silver tsunami on the show numerous times, the unprecedented rate of which employees are retiring. When engineers and other employees retire from companies, they take with them more than a set of gold cufflinks or an engraved plaque. In many cases, they also take with them wisdom and knowledge.

    Perhaps this is never more true than in the case of my guest today. And who is that? My friend and colleague Doug Pauls.

    Doug Pauls holds a B.A. in chemistry and physics from Carthage College, Kenosha, Wisconsin, and a B.S. in electrical engineering from the University of Wisconsin, Madison. He worked nine years for the Navy, eight years as technical director of Contamination Studies Labs, and more than 20 years at Rockwell Collins (now Collins Aerospace), in the Advanced Operations Engineering group where he is a technical fellow and, a principal materials and process engineer. Doug was awarded the Rockwell Collins Arthur A. Collins Engineer of the Year Award in 2004 as well as numerous other awards.

    Doug is a long-time (and when I say long time I mean well over 30 years) IPC chairman and was awarded the IPC’s Hall of Fame Award in 2017. Most notably, he is known for his expertise in surface insulation resistance testing, cleaning and cleanliness assessment, conformal coatings, and how to investigate and qualify manufacturing processes. He has been a U.S. representative to ISO and IEC working groups on SIR, electromigration, and cleanliness reliability standards. He has participated in numerous national and international consortia on electronics manufacturing materials and processes. He recently led a team of SMEs to redefine the cleanliness provisions of J-STD-001, culminating in what is presently J-STD-001H.

    To take liberties with a famous Mark Twain quote “rumors of my retirement have been greatly exaggerated”. For several years now, I’ve heard rumors of Doug Pauls retirement. Well, that day has finally come.

    I’ll talk with Doug about his Long career within the electronic assembly industry. We’ll talk about his triumphs and challenges, and his journey in this ever changing, dynamic, and challenging industry.
    If you’re new to this industry, stick around because I plan on asking Doug for his advice to young people entering our world, the world of electronic assembly.
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    1 hr and 16 mins
  • Episode 142: Live from SMTA's Pan Pacific Strategic Electronics Symposium (PanPac)

    Episode 142: Live from SMTA's Pan Pacific Strategic Electronics Symposium (PanPac)
    Apr 23 2024
    This episode was recorded at SMTA's Pan Pacific Strategic Electronics Symposium on the big island of Hawaii.

    My guests on this episode are Dr. Chuck Bower, founder of PanPac, Keith Bryant, and Dr. Ron Lasky.

    We discussed the history of PanPac, technologies introduced at PanPac, and what makes PanPac so unique. We also discuss Dartmouth College's unique engineering innovations program.
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    38 mins
Politics & Government
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