Category Archives: Laying It Out

Off-grid thoughts from a burned-out designer turned editor.

Why Not Nick?

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Nick Martin, the founder and, until last week, CEO of Altium, is fighting back against the board that tossed him out.

But the real question isn’t whether he will regain his spot atop the CAD tool developer. It’s why the board saw fit to relieve him of his duties in the first place.

Some contend privately that at least one board member wants to sell the company but that Martin, who is the company’s largest shareholder, has been reluctant to go along. If so, pushing him out would mean removing, in part, one big barrier. For its part, the board has publicly stated that the decision to leave was Martin’s — something he vehemently contests, and which seems unlikely on its surface — and that the company has not returned the type of shareholder value the board seeks.

So while it’s true the move to Shanghai coincided with an improved bottom line and a higher share price, it’s also true the stock hasn’t topped $1 in years (chart — the top line = $1; the current price is about 80 cents). No one is getting rich owning Altium right now. If the board is getting antsy, it’s understandable. Whether that merits replacing  Altium’s answer to Steve Jobs — a design visionary who, according to many we’ve spoken with, has always put the technology first — is for the historians to determine.

 

SMTAI: Mixed Blessings

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The biggest news from SMTAI this year actually came before the exhibition even began.

Just moments after the conclusion of a terrific and touching keynote presentation, newly elected SMTA president Bill Barthel announced that IPC would locate its semiannual technical committee meetings at SMTAI next year, effectively bringing to an end (at least for now) the annual (and competing) IPC Midwest show.

There was notable relief among exhibitors when they learned the news. While SMTAI is the larger show, with roughly twice the booths and a greater number of attendees, and is generally recognized for having a much stronger technical conference, the difference hasn’t been so clear-cut as to make the decision as to which show to attend a slam-dunk. Many of those on the show floor, including quite a few conference speakers, welcomed the news as a time-saver and cost-cutter. A few exhibitors did express concern over the location, adding that the Orlando site of this year’s show is the only electronics manufacturing event of any size in the Southeast US. The deal is agreed to but not yet signed, and covers only 2013, as far as we’ve been told. Yet it’s a move of enough significance that it could make SMTAI the best technical event for electronics assembly in North America. (Disclosure: I’m on the technical conference program committee.)

Speaking of the conference, the program was well attended. I moderated a panel looking at what we’ve learned (and what we still need to figure out) about lead-free solders and materials, and as we have for the past umpteen years, co-chaired the EMS session with Sue Mucha. Some of the posters were excellent, with one from Matt Kelly of IBM underscoring the importance of performing DfM as early as possible in the product conception process.

The keynoter, NASA’s Brooks Kimmel, was an inspired choice, offering a very personal 45-minute presentation relating how the agency’s technology benefits not just the space program but also has made its way into everyday life.

Many exhibitors noted the two-day show appeared slower than last couple years. A few said they had busy spurts, with a couple saying the first day was consistently busy. That was disappointing, as insofar as I could tell, there were more machines on the floor than ever, and several companies set up a full package-on-package (PoP) assembv line featuring equipment and materials by Juki, IBL Bare Board Group and others.

Aisles were spaced pretty tight, but still it was not unusual to look up and down and not see more than a handful of attendees walking around. I know the folks at SMTA pulled out all the stops to market the show, and I am left to wonder whether Orlando is a good venue for this type of show. That said, the registration and execution of the event were flawless.

Overheard:

Some grumbling about the new IPC SIR test, which one distinguished engineer went so far as to refer to as “garbage.” A new B-52 test coupon is being studied.

DEK general manager Brian Smith said business has picked up for them in the last month.

Those looking for a test lab to investigate possible counterfeit components might consider GD4 Test Services in Austin, TX.

Semblant has two new machines coming out that handle mid- and lower-volume surface finishing.

ASM (Siplace) president Jeff Timms acknowledged a “definite” onshoring trend, and added that they also see OEMs bringing production back in-house from EMS companies in Asia. He was very bullish on ASM’s management, and touted the company’s new operation in Manaus, Brazil, which will be fully operational in November.

XOS has become the latest company to compete in the XRF arena, using their equipment to spot counterfeit components.

 

CAD Tool Survey

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PRINTED CIRCUIT DESIGN & FAB is undertaking a survey of how printed circuit board designers, design engineers and other layout specialists use and think about various CAD tools. Results will be published in an upcoming issue of PCD&F. Please be assured that the data collected are revealed only in the aggregate. No individual data will be revealed.

The survey will take about 3 minutes to complete. Please click below to begin: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/NC35KK8

Because this is a survey, not a poll, the audience being surveyed is not selected or controlled. In short, the more responses we receive, the more representative the results will be. So feel free to share this link with other designers.

If you have any questions, please contact me at [email protected]. Thanks!

Bragging Rights

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I want to call attention today to a great new contest for designers being run by Sunstone Circuits.

The contest works like this: From now until Dec. 16, design engineers can share their PCB-related design success stories online at Sunstone’s website.

Friends and others to the site can vote for the best project. All entrants and voters are entered into a sweepstakes to win a series of prizes, ranging from gift cards to an iPad.

It’s a great way for designers talk (and yes, perhaps, brag) a bit about what they do. And while Sunstone certainly benefits from the exposure, I’m glad to see a company taking steps to highlight the remarkable things designers can do.

‘The Magic One’

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It was 50 years ago today when a then 33-year-old scientist at General Electric invented the first practical visible-spectrum light-emitting diode, a device that GE colleagues at the time called “the magic one” because its light, unlike infrared lasers, was visible to the human eye.

Dr. Nick Holonyak, Jr. could not have known then the door he was opening, but today LEDs are not only the foundation of a massive government-driven push to eliminate the popular (but higher energy consuming) incandescent, but also a potentially enormous market for the manufacturers of LED and driver printed circuit boards at the core of LEDs.

 

LEDs contain metal or graphite core bare boards, generally with lead-free solder paste. They are not easy to rework, on account of their heat-sinking core. The LED components are typically surface-mounted, although some versions have radial-leaded parts, explains Scott Mauldin of LEDnovation, an OEM of residential and industrial LED lighting.

Many PCB and EMS companies have an opportunity to play in this market today, thanks to one man’s bright idea 50 years ago. We owe Holonyak a big round of applause.

Image courtesy Scott Mauldin, LEDnovation

Heads in the Cloud

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DigiTimes is reporting that companies like Quanta are working with cloud computing developers to offer turnkey solutions, selling storage space to design and manufacturing customers.

What DigiTimes did not report, however, is that such arrangements extend to PCB CAD tool providers. In fact, Quanta is offering one major CAD tool vendor’s PCB software via the cloud. Users can access the tool on a fee for use basis.

What’s scary about this arrangement is the potential for havoc should a dispute arise between Quanta and its customers. Access to designs — in process or legacy — is critical, and if a design needs to be respun at 11 PM on a Sunday night, and the OEM doesn’t have easy access to the server for whatever reason, that’s going to be a problem.

Fun and Sun in Santa Clara

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Just a terrific week at PCB West in Santa Clara last week. It was great seeing old friends like Gary Ferrari, Susy Webb and Rick Hartley, and of course, for the first time in a few years, Doug Brooks. The weather was great, the show was even better –attendance was up 10% over last year (take that, stupid economy!) and the sold-out floor was bursting at the seams much of the day.

And I couldn’t be associated with a finer, harder working group of people than my colleagues at UP Media.

I’ll have more up soon on the show itself, but for now, it’s all smiles here.

Cadence: All Sync’d Up

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Cadence today announced the release of point revisions to both Allegro and OrCAD, continuing its tradition of keeping releases of its major platforms in sync. They show significant upgrades in timing speeds and simulation speeds, respectively, as well as better use of state-of-the-art collaboration tools.

To the latter point, Hemant Shah, the product marketing manager for Allegro, says the point releases are a reflection of changes Cadence sees in the user base. ODMs are evolving to “parallelism,” he told me. “That’s where we learned the EDA tools were not designed for parallelism and needed to be rethought.” As a result, Cadence adopted Microsoft’s SharePoint collaboration tools, giving users a greater control over different versions and WIP design data management.

It was interesting to hear a major software vendor acknowledge that not everything developed in-house would or could be best in class. Likewise, Shah said that the company’s recent acquisition of Sigrity reaffirms the management’s commitment to the PCB space — something its competitors have questioned from time to time.

He added that the future releases leverage Sigrity’s power and SI technology across both the existing platforms and in Sigrity’s standalone products.

PCB West: Are You Ready?

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It’s here.

PCB West opens on Tuesday at the Santa Clara Convention Center. The annual conference and exhibition is the Silicon Valley’s largest electronics design and manufacturing trade show of the year, and this year’s preregistration is running about 7% above last year’s numbers.

We are ecstatic to be back in Santa Clara, and are looking forward to this year’s program. Highlights of the 55-presentation conference include several talks on RF and microwave design and materials, flex design and fabrication, and the return of Doug Brooks as a presenter for the first time in three years.

The emerging assembly “conference within a conference” covers everything from package-on-package and bottom termination components to Eric Miscoll’s presentation on the latest trends between electronics manufacturing services providers and their OEM customers.

The show floor is sold out, and every leading design software company will be there, plus several top fabricators and EMS companies of all sizes. Be sure to turn out on Sept. 26 for “Free Wednesday,” when we feature several technical presentations and our New Product Introduction awards. (That’s also the the exhibition is open.)

The show takes place Sept. 25-27. Register at pcbwest.com, and if you see me walking the show, be sure to say “hi.”

PCB West Next Week

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As most of you (hopefully) know, PCB West is next week. The annual conference and trade show, now in its 21st year, is the biggest and best event for the electronics design, fabrication and assembly in the Silicon Valley.

Here’s what Dave Ryder, president of Prototron Circuits, has to say about PCB West: “We have been coming to this show for a number of years now and we never fail to pick up some very good and productive leads. In fact, last year we were so busy that we barely had time to eat lunch. With all of the PCB designers attending the conference it makes this a great show for us who are in the quickturn prototype business.”

PCB West takes place Sept. 25 to 27 at the Santa Clara Convention Center. The exhibition, which is free to attend (be sure to preregister at pcbwest.com), is Sept. 26. The show floor is sold out. Check it out!