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Browse our past newsletters on PCB design and industry information

Go to Market Fast With Bolt’s In-House Engineering Team Recently we had the opportunity to get to know Tyler Mincey, the VP of Engineering at Bolt which is a hardware and software accelerator with offices in San Francisco and Boston. In this interview, we talk with Mincey about his passion for engineering and the incredible work being accomplished at Bolt. Their unique model of providing venture capital along with an in-house engineering team continues to fuel a growing portfolio. Bolt is part of Read Article

Young Designer Hits Her Stride at Mil Aero Company Back in August of 2017, a young and impressive PCB designer by the name of Nicole Pacino was featured in this newsletter. Pacino is a second generation PCB designer who has followed in the footsteps of her father who owned, grew and sold his successful design bureau, San Diego PCB. Since the last time she appeared in this newsletter, she has moved to the US East Coast and earned a place on the Cobham Advanced Electronics Solutions design team. At Read Article

Elmatica: Advancing the Vision of a Fully-Digital Supply Chain Recently, while at IPC APEX in San Diego, I had the privilege to meet and interview Elmatica CEO, DidrikBech. Each year at the conference I volunteer as a guest editor for Real Time with IPC which always affords me a wonderful opportunity to meet interesting industry leaders such as Bech. As a follow-up, I asked to interview Bech again for the OnTrack audience so you could also learn about this fascinating Norwegian-based PCB broker. Elmatica has Read Article

OnTrack Newsletter: Tech Predictions, Launching Rockets, and Snapping in a ECAD tool - February 2019 OnTRack Newsletter February 2019 VOL. 2 No 10 FIVE TECH PREDICTIONS FOR THE NEXT DECADE Duane Benson Predicts What’s to Come in the Next Ten Years This month in the OnTrack Newsletter, we bring you a special guest article from EMS Subject Matter Expert, Duane Benson of Screaming Circuits, in which he shares five technology predictions for the next decade. Benson covers his personal thoughts on what may come in artificial intelligence, highways Read Article

2019 Five Tech Predictions — The Decade of Disruption We’re coming in for a wild ride in 2019. The last few years have been pretty crazy, and 2019 looks to continue to amplify this highly innovative and disruptive trend. While some may be nervous about trends in technology such as artificial intelligence, I'm still quite optimistic. The most long-term successful aspects of our civilization are those that rip apart on a regular basis. Frequent disruption allows for people to start anew and create Read Article

Student Rocket Team Oronos Polytechnique Shoots for the Stars with PCB Designs In this interview I talk with Nathanael Beaudoin-Dion, Avionics lead for the Oronos Polytechnique Rocket team from Polytechnique Montreal Technical University. Each year in June, Oronos competes in the Spaceport America Cup, the world’s largest rocketry competition which takes place in New Mexico at the only commercial spaceport in the world. Enjoy this article as well as the photos of their rockets and videos from this inspiring team. Judy Read Article

OnTrack Newsletter: Why Use a Service Bureau? Multilayer Design Tips, Steps to a Good Design Release - January 2019 OnTrack Newsletter JANUARY 2019 VOL. 2 No 9 “AT YOUR SERVICE” Insights from a PCB Design Service Bureau Companies and design teams look to professional PCB design service providers to support their product development for a variety of reasons. In this article, we talk with Scott Miller, CEO of Freedom CAD, about what dynamics, benefits, and potential concerns come into play when contracting with a design service provider. READ FULL ARTICLE TRICKS Read Article

The Benefits of Using a Professional PCB Design Service Bureau Companies and design teams look to professional PCB design service providers to support their product development for a variety of reasons. In this article we talk with Scott Miller, CEO of Freedom CAD, about what dynamics, benefits, and potential concerns come into play when contracting with a design service provider. Judy Warner: Scott, will you please give us a brief overview of Freedom CAD, the services you offer, and the types of Read Article

OnTrack Newsletter: A Look Under the Hood at Altium Designer 19, and Is IPC CID Important for Your Career? - December 2018 OnTrack Newsletter December 2018 VOL. 2 No 8 ALTIUM ^® 19 HAS ARRIVED! See the New Features of Altium 19 Altium 19 has just been released and features several exciting new and enhanced capabilities. Get a first look here at some of the functionality that defines the latest version of Altium . READ FULL ARTICLE IS IPC CID TRAINING IMPORTANT FOR YOUR DESIGN CAREER? Insights from CID IPC Trainer, Stephen Chavez Stephen Chavez is the lead electrical Read Article

Altium Designer 19 Has Arrived Rather than to tell you about Altium Designer 19, we thought you’d prefer to see it with your own eyes through a series of brief videos that will allow you to explore all the new and enhanced features in Altium Designer 19. Some of the key features represented in the latest release are: Advanced Layer Stack Manager Routing Improvements Pad/via driven polygon thermal connections uVia Support Unlimited Mechanical Layers Draftsman Improvements BOM Read Article

Is IPC CID Training Important for Your Design Career? Stephen Chavez is the lead electrical engineer that oversees a global design team for a well known military aerospace company in the greater Phoenix, AZ area. He is a highly skilled engineer and PCB designer whose passion for board design goes beyond his day-to-day work. He is a member of the IPC Designers Council Executive Board, is CID, CID+, and CIT certified, a CID trainer for Eptac, and a columnist for the PCB007 magazine. In this article Read Article

Surviving the Component Shortage, Design Resources and Printed Electronics - November 2018 OnTrack Newsletter November 2018 VOL. 2 No 7 WHERE HAVE ALL THE GONE? Understanding and Surviving Shortages Every EE and PCB is feeling the pinch of component shortages these days. How in the world have basic standard capacitors become scarce? When are we going to see the end of this annoying state of affairs? How can designers work around these shortages and get their work done--on time?! I gave John Watson of LeGrand a call to ask these Read Article

Design Survival Guide in a World of Parts Shortages Every EE and PCB is feeling the pinch of component shortages these days. How in the world have basic standard capacitors become scarce? When are we going to see the end of this annoying state of affairs? How can designers work around these shortages and get their work done--on time?! I gave John Watson of LeGrand a call to ask these questions and more. As a PCB design lead who oversees 50 designers globally, I knew he’d have a lot to share on Read Article

Altium Resources for Learning PCB Design At Altium, we continually produce and publish resources to help you be the best you can be, as well as help enable you to take full advantage of the features found in Altium. Since there is so much available, we thought we’d share a few shortcuts to finding whatever resource it is you’re looking for. AltiumLive: Annual PCB Design Summit is our live event where we share lots of great teaching by industry leaders, Altium staff and Altium users Read Article

Homegrown PCB Professionals, BOM Management and Subject Matter Expertise - September 2018 OnTrack Newsletter September 2018 VOL. 2 No 6 ARE ENGINEERS AND PCB TECHNOLOGISTS HOMEGROWN? Highlighting Multi-Generational Technologists Over the past year, I’ve noticed a subtle trend in the designers and technologists we’ve interviewed for this newsletter. Have you noticed it? There have been a number of times people cited their parents as the ones who inspired them to pursue an electronics career. (Think...Rick Hartley, Nicole Creeden, Bill Read Article

Are Engineers and PCB Technologists Homegrown? Mihir and Milan Shah Over the past year, I’ve noticed a subtle trend in the designers and technologists we’ve interviewed for this newsletter. Have you noticed it? There have been a number of times people cited their parents as the ones who inspired them to pursue an electronics career. (Think...Rick Hartley, Nicole Creeden, Bill Brooks, Charles Pfeil, Mary Elizabeth McCulloch, etc.). This is especially true at Royal Circuit Solutions, which is Read Article

Meet the San Diego Keynotes of AltiumLive 2018: Annual PCB Design Summit - August 2018 OnTrack Newsletter August 2018 VOL. 2 No 5 Welcome to the August edition of the OnTrack Newsletter! This month we have a special AltiumLive 2018: Annual PCB Design Summit feature in which you can get a sneak peek into what we have planned with you in mind — and what our four illustrious keynote speakers will be presenting at the October event in San Diego. (Stay tuned for more information on our Munich event January 15-17, 2019.) In Makerspace Read Article