Epec's Blog | Electronics Manufacturing Solutions

Avoiding Expensive PCB Materials & Processes

Printed circuit boards are only one component of an entire assembly designed to meet the best cost-to-performance ratio possible. The finished product into which the PCB is installed must meet a price point that compares favorably against competing products, so the lower the expenses, the more money your product returns. In order to make the best choices during the design cycle, it is important to first understand what drives the primary costs.

Packaging for user interface assemblies is the last step in the manufacturing process, but not a step that should be rushed. Epec pays as much attention to packaging detail as we do to design and manufacturing of custom assemblies. Because each assembly part number is customized, each has different size, mass, and shape. However, styles of user interfaces can be grouped into several categories. Experience has shown the type of packaging that works best is based on complexity of construction, shape, size, mass and shipped unit volume. No one packaging solution works for every assembly style.

In today's battery and charger market, most companies typically provide either battery pack assemblies or battery pack chargers, as opposed to providing both. In the past, buying a battery from one source and a charger from another worked just fine when using the older NiCd batteries with overnight chargers. However, due to new battery chemistries and the increasing need for faster charge times, careful matching of the charger to the battery has become essential. Without proper battery and charger matching, aspects such as safety, cycle life, and run-time may be greatly affected.

Engineering in most industries, still tends to be primarily dominated by males. When I first entered the field of Printed Circuit Board (PCB) engineering, it was a bit intimidating. This was because the men always outnumbered the women. I felt we were graded on separate standards "Men vs Women".

When creating your optimal circuit board design, one factor that must be considered is the solder mask and whether to go with matte finish solder mask or gloss finish mask for your final product. Usually, most designers don't specify their preference and end up leaving the decision to the PCB fabricator. Most fabricators will likely default to a gloss surface finish, the more popular choice of the two.

One point that anyone involved with cable assemblies understands is that "every electronic or mechanical component will eventually reach the end of its life cycle". This blog post will define cable assembly obsolescence as the point in an assembly’s life cycle when it is either no longer in a usable state, meaning it is not functioning as it was designed, or there is no longer a use for the cable assembly due to technology changes.

When we sat down in 2005 to develop our IT infrastructure plan for the company, I was unsure of why we spent so much time evaluating every investment in terms of what we would do in case of a disaster. Well this winter, I found out why that was so important.

Two distinct types of polyimide flex core material constructions are utilized in today’s flex circuit manufacturing: adhesive based and adhesiveless. The difference, as you can probably tell from the name, is the method used to attach the copper layers to the polyimide core. This creates a unique set of material properties for each of the material types which must be factored into designs to meets all requirements and remain cost effective.

At Epec, our staff members are our most valuable resource and we believe in empowering employees for success. In this company, we celebrate each others success and support each others challenges. We strive to attract, hire, develop and retain passionate, talented, high performing individuals that are driven by our mission which is to provide a cost savings, technical resource and delivery advantage for our customers. We are committed to recruiting the best people that want to share our success, fit in our culture and live by our core values.

This blog post addresses custom user interface testing in terms of functional test schemes that are completed prior to shipment. Generally, the first user interface assemblies shipment are for First Article acceptance testing where customers fully examine the first units for mechanical and electrical compliance to all engineering drawing and specifications.