Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/1284035
64 SMT007 MAGAZINE I SEPTEMBER 2020 Feature Interview by the I-Connect007 Editorial Team Nolan Johnson and Andy Shaughnessy speak with Jennifer Kolar and Dan Warren of Mon- soon Solutions about common bugaboos they encounter during assembly and what design- ers should think about if they're considering panelizing their designs to achieve the great- est reliability. Nolan Johnson: Let's start with a recap of your titles and roles. Jennifer Kolar: I'm vice president of engineer- ing. Together with the COO, I run the design team. With the CFO, I also run our manufac- turing side of the business. I am also responsi- ble for all our power and signal integrity engi- neering work. Dan Warren: I'm a principal designer, as well as the director of designer development. I'm in charge of all of our processes and documents, working with the designers to improve their access to tools, training, and anything they need. Johnson: Tell us a little about Monsoon and your business model. Kolar: We're a service bureau. We like to say if it has anything to do with PCBs, then we're ready to work with it. We have 30 people. We've been around for 20 years. About half of our company are PCB designers and engineers, and the other half are skilled technical program managers. We also have a small lab in-house. Once somebody has a schematic or something that can be captured into a schematic, then we can handle layout, prototype manufactur- ing and assembly, box builds, custom kitting, guided functional testing, and things like that. Johnson: What do project teams need to think about when planning panelization for their design so as to get the greatest reliability at assembly? Warren: Think about overhanging parts. They always come back and bite us one way or another if you don't document them properly. In the past, we had numerous times where a board would be panelized, parts were assem- bled, and then they couldn't break the panel Monsoon Solutions: Achieve Greatest Reliability With Optimized Panelization, Part 1