64 DESIGN007 MAGAZINE I NOVEMBER 2023
and how to select a rigid-flex vendor. Mike
Morando explains that if you're designing
PCBs for an OEM that is betting everything
on a next-generation rigid-flex design, you
would want to use the absolute best vendor
for your rigid-flex design. Your new rigid-flex
design needs to be put into the right shop to
leverage the best manufacturing solution.
Standard of Excellence:
Keep Learning or Start Dying E
"Keep learning or start dying" is an old but
morbid (to say the least) phrase that's perfectly
suited to our own PCB industry. I would tweak
it just a bit and say that if you're not increas-
ing your technology level and expanding your
technology roadmap, your company will
start to die. I think one of the reasons for the
demise of PCB manufacturing in our country
over the past 20 years is that many companies
stopped investing in their future. Anaya Vardya
explains.
Wearables Bounce Back with
8.5% Growth in Q2 2023 and
a Positive Forecast E
Global shipments for wearable devices
returned to growth in the second quarter of
2023 (2Q23) reversing two quarters of decline,
according to new data from the International
Data Corporation (IDC) Worldwide Quarterly
Wearable Device Tracker. e market grew
8.5% year over year with shipments totaling
116.3 million devices.
With Flex and Rigid-flex, Ask the
Right Questions E
I recently met with Tony Plemel, senior appli-
cations engineer with Flexible Circuit Tech-
nologies. In this interview, Tony discusses
when flex designers need to break the rules,
when they can't break the rules, and why it's
so important for fabricators to ask design-
ers the right questions to ensure a successful
build.
Insulectro Flex Materials Showcase
Offers Tips for Technologists E
Insulectro continues its drive to educate PCB
designers about the ins and outs of advanced
flex materials. On Sept. 19, the company hosted
an all-day seminar on flexible and printed elec-
tronic materials at its San Jose, California, facil-
ity. e event kicked off with a presentation by
Dave Rosenfeld, a technical fellow at Celanese,
which acquired DuPont's mobility and materi-
als business last year.
Got Questions? Standards Have
the Answers E
e I-Connect007 Editorial Team recently
spoke with Gerry Partida, vice president of
technology at Summit Interconnect, and co-
chair of the IPC-6012 committee. Gerry has
been involved with standards development for
years, and he believes that adhering to IPC's
standards and specifications has been a big part
of Summit's success.
Selecting a Rigid-flex Manufacturer E
If you're coming from the rigid PCB world,
you're probably wondering how to get started
