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DECEMBER 2025 I DESIGN007 MAGAZINE 23 Inside the oven, the stressed-out panel finally exhales: "Ahhhhh." With the added thermal energy, the panel's atoms reorganize, internal tensions release, and the board relaxes into its true shape. But for manufacturing and assem- bly, this true shape is not a good one. As the PCB cools, it emerges from the reflow oven looking like a potato chip and unusable for a second-side pass. A warped panel can only continue forward if it's a single-sided assembly. Flip a warped panel for printing on the second side, and the paste stencil will have problems making contact and sealing. Try to place parts on the second side, and the bounce and wobble become catastrophic. Components placed on one end will literally bounce off, while the other end is being populated. Even if such a board somehow reaches final mechanical assembly, its last hope is that the mounting hardware forces it flat without twist- ing components and causing cracking failures. In essence, we put the warped PCB back into stress, starting a fresh cycle of potential short-term and long-term field failures. Balance All Things Why do we sometimes pursue success in one isolated metric at the expense of making our down- stream stakeholders—PCB fabricators, EMS provid- ers, even our own teammates—miserable? The message is clear and simple. The best prac- tice for PCB DFM regarding layer stackup is to mirror laminates—copper foil, cores, and prepregs—so that they are equally distributed around the center- line of the PCB cross-section (Figure 6). Is the message as equally simple regarding our work-life balance? We need to avoid hiding our own career-distorting, life-shortening stress. Stress sneaks in through overloaded projects, aggres- sive deadlines, incomplete data, or by misreading a material spec at 2 a.m. Do we mask or "flatten" it with unsustainable counterforces, such as denial, caffeine, or wishful thinking, instead of addressing the imbalance? I often think about the wisdom of feng shui and the concept of chi. Surprisingly, the principles map beautifully to PCB design and manufacturing: • Declutter: Reduce clutter in your design and in your life. Congestion creates stagnation, confusion, and stress. • Clear pathways: Arrange components, routes, layer stackups, workflows, and communication channels to support smooth energy flow. • Natural light and air: Step out of the design cave regularly. Get sunlight, breathe, and reset. There are numerous tools from both Eastern and Western traditions for achieving a healthy work-life balance. In design, manufacturing, and life, every- thing flows better when balance is built in rather than forced. DESIGN007 Kelly Dack, CIT CID+, specializes in DFx-driven PCB design and applications engineering at Pioneer Circuits, Inc., a global leader in high-reliability flex and rigid-flex printed wiring boards for defense, aviation, near-earth orbit and deep- space exploration systems. To read past columns, click here. Figure 6: Flattened, conforming panel. TA RG E T C O N D I T I O N