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52 The PCB Design Magazine • July 2014 article under voltage surges and sags, and age; con- taminants like grime and dust are also frequent sources of trace damage. Contacting a repair provider is the best way to ensure that your cir- cuit board assembly functions properly once it's reinstalled, and—more importantly—that your industrial electronics won't fail again a few weeks down the road. Even though factories save millions ev- ery year by repairing and/or reworking circuit boards, the guesswork associated with choos- ing a repair shop and anxiety about the qual- ity of the craftsmanship they offer convinces many plant managers to purchase brand new replacement boards instead. This is a costly de- cision in the short and long term: In addition to spending an arm and a leg for new boards, OEMs don't provide preventive and corrective repair recommendations and actions to help your electronics equipment (not just the circuit No matter what brand or board type you're working with, it's impossible to escape the real- ity that PCBs are inherently failure prone. Plan- ning for when, rather than if your circuit boards will malfunction is an approach that reduces costs and relieves future headaches. Shipping out your faulty PCBA for service can be stressful when you're on a tight pro- duction schedule and board failure has already led to downtime, but it pays to have practiced technicians discover the root cause of a circuit board's failure and analyze the extent of its damage. In addition to physical damage to the cir- cuit card, like cracks and corrosion, discrete and power components can deteriorate for a wide range of reasons, including extreme heat, over/ by Ron Fukui Psi rEPAir sErviCEs Choosing the Right PCBA Repair Shop