Work continues on quantum machines. But classical computing is here, now, and faster and more powerful than ever.

When Frontier, the latest supercomputer at the US Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), went live at the end of May, it became the first to demonstrate true exascale performance, according to the TOP500 organization that benchmarks commercially available computer systems. At 1.102 Exaflop/s (quintillion operations per second), Frontier’s performance is three times faster than the previous performance leader, Fujitsu’s Fugaku system at the Riken Center for Computational Science (R-CCS) in Kobe, Japan. By breaking the exascale barrier, Frontier is 10 times faster than its ORNL predecessor, Summit.

The top eight fixes in the fishbone diagram to get back in spec.

The last column focused on making a “green light” stencil printing process more efficient, but for a not-so-green – maybe a bit more amber – print operation, some tried-and-true troubleshooting methodologies can get high-yield boards moving again. As I’ve noted before, myriad stencil printing inputs can affect outcomes. The famous fishbone diagram, noted in FIGURE 1, can seem daunting at first, but by taking a methodical approach to understanding the root cause of a problem, it’s relatively straightforward to get printing back in spec.

For more than 20 years, PCD&F/CIRCUITS ASSEMBLY has been proud to be the exclusive publisher of the annual NTI - 100 list of the world’s largest board fabricators.

One of the striking changes over the years has been the reshaping of the industry geographical landscape.

In this year’s rankings, which begin on page 32 of the August 2022 issue, see how many Europe- and US-based companies are in the top 25. I'll save you the suspense. One each: AT&S and TTM Technologies, respectively. Long gone are the days when Photocircuits, Sanmina, Hadco, Viasystems and the like dominated the top of the chart.

A thwarted vacation provides lessons in the importance of timely communication, training and skilled staff.

Summertime was here, and after a couple years that seemed more like a couple decades hunkering down under the Covid cloud, it was finally time to take a vacation. Based on the Covid protocols at the time, we decided not to travel abroad but instead return to one of our favorite domestic vacation spots. Resort accommodations were booked, airline tickets purchased, and a rental car secured. Now we waited for the day to come for our first real pre-pandemic trip, wondering, with everything booked well in advance, what could possibly go wrong?