Epec's Blog | Electronics Manufacturing Solutions

Battery-powered portable devices demand smaller form factors, higher power output, and longer runtimes, often at lower cost. These competing requirements introduce challenges in battery pack design, including safe lithium operation, thermal management, and power efficiency.

The average American “holiday season” usually begins somewhere around Halloween and continues at a frantic pace through January 1^st. For those of us who work in supply chain management, the holiday season has a completely different meaning.

ENEPIG (Electroless Nickel, Immersion Palladium, Immersion Gold) was derived out of the need to combat the challenge with the immersion gold process and Black Pad Syndrome. Black Pad (the hyper corrosion of underlying nickel) was baffling both PCB assemblers and manufacturers. After much analysis, the root cause was determined to be the nickel deposit.

Discrete wire, or lead wire, is the backbone of any interconnect or cable. Within this blog post we break down for you the anatomy of the basic hookup wire and the compositions that can be used as a single unit or grouped together to produce a multi-conductor or multi-pair cable.

Heat shrink tubing, also known as heat shrink, is a shrinkable tube that shrinks radially when exposed to heat. Produced using a two-step process, heat shrink is available in a wide range of materials to suit almost any application. Heat shrink tubing has many useful applications, including to provide electrical insulation to wires, connections, joints, terminals, and splices, as well as bundling loose items such as wires and as a protective covering.

As material, freight, and labor costs continue to increase, printed circuit board (PCB) designers and buyers are under growing pressure to reduce manufacturing costs wherever practical. While material selection and board construction often receive the most attention, PCB array design can also have a significant impact on manufacturing efficiency and overall product cost.

Printed circuit board (PCB) designers often find themselves at odds with their purchasing and marketing departments after a design goes out for bids and comes back with a larger than expected price tag. Once the source of the high cost is identified, the questions fly, the fingers point, and the nerves fray.

Gold surface finishes serve different functions in printed circuits board (PCB) manufacturing, and selecting the right option depends on assembly requirements, durability needs, and overall cost objectives. Understanding the differences between ENIG, ENEPIG, hard gold, and flash gold helps designers choose the most appropriate finish for their application while balancing manufacturability, reliability, and lead time.

The holiday season is truly an exciting time of the year for many Americans, but inadequate planning for your custom cable assembly can create some less than desirable commotion for your company. Christmas is closing in, and manufacturers are already gearing up for the approaching holiday season.

Here at Epec Engineered Technologies, we believe that our customers come first. Everything we are is because of our customers. We also strive to make sure that our employees are happy. We are part of a family, and we want to make sure we work as a cohesive team; in fact, throughout our facility you will often hear the phrase “One Team, One Fight”.