Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/1424540
10 SMT007 MAGAZINE I NOVEMBER 2021 Feature Interview by the I-Connect007 Editorial Team Bert Horner of e Test Connection, Inc., a test engineering service provider, shares his in- sights on the trends and challenges for test and inspection. He centers his discussion around common challenges in the industry, and the importance of setting up your test and inspec- tion strategy. Barry Matties: Bert, thanks for joining us today. e Test Connection is a generational busi- ness, correct? Bert Horner: Yes. We celebrate our 41st year this year. Matties: Congratulations. at's fantastic. Your father started the business? Horner: Yes, sir. In 1980. Matties: at's wonderful. From those many years, what trends are you seeing in terms of repeating defects in manufacturing, or what your test data is revealing? What are the com- mon mistakes? Horner: We've seen the bar chart until we're all sick in the stomach of seeing shorts and opens. Solder splashes are probably the most common. e other issues are orientation and wrong value passives. en it goes over to the lower levels where they say the device is the wrong one and is not performing up to spec. ey're the low opportunities of electrical tests. One thing we see with electrical test— when you get through the AOI and the X-ray, and you're getting into flying probe and in-cir- cuit ICT—is the bed-of-nails ICT. We're en- croaching on some functional and design test. at helps justify the cost of a bed-of-nails fix- ture or a flying probe. More people are incor- porating what we call cluster or functional test- ing at those test solutions. Matties: What challenges do you see fabrica- tors generally having in test and inspection? Test Strategies and Pain Points