A PCB buying strategy shifts focus from unit price to total cost, design discipline and supplier governance.

This is not the year for buyers to accept PCB price increases blindly. This is the year to buy PCBs like a professional who understands the job isn’t just about placing orders; it’s about controlling total cost of ownership while protecting delivery, quality and continuity.

How sourcing new, complex equipment becomes a long-term support problem.

One week of factory training on PCBA capital equipment isn’t enough. Equipment suppliers tailor their training to the lowest common denominator. There, I said it.

I repeat: one week doesn’t cut it.

To think otherwise is delusional.

Are you listening, equipment suppliers?

How the industry standard revolutionizes PCB collaboration.

Last month’s column talked about a simpler way to exchange stackups with manufacturing partners. This month, continuing the theme of migrating from handoffs to bidirectional design data exchange, we will talk about electronic exchange of technical queries with design/manufacturing partners through IPC-2581’s DfX module. The module may be included within the design data or exist independently, such as a stackup exchange module that can be shared separately.

AI investment shows no signs of slowing, prompting concern about what happens when it eventually does.

Victor Huang has described ChatGPT’s arrival as AI’s “iPhone moment,” when the technology’s potential to change the way we live became clear to all. Indeed, the publication of large language models (LLMs) is arguably the most powerful innovation we have seen so far, enabling widespread user engagement spanning personal and professional purposes. Resulting from this, acceptance has snowballed and more and more of us have come to trust and rely on AI assistants. In turn, mainstream use has driven further improvements, as successive updates have delivered more humanlike interactions and additional capabilities.