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26 SMT Magazine • July 2016 by Stephen Las Marias I-CONNECT007 In an interview with SMT Magazine, NK Chari, marketing director for manufacturing technologies at the Electronic Industrial Solu- tions Group of Keysight Technologies, talked about the challenges in PCBA testing and in- spection, tougher requirements for testing, and the need for functional testing. He also mentioned some best practices to consider to improve the PCBA testing and in- spection process. Stephen Las Marias: What are the greatest chal- lenges that your customers face when it comes to PCB assembly testing and inspection? NK Chari: Electronics manufacturers continue to face challenges for PCBA test (i.e., they want to test as many components and processes as effectively as possible at the lowest cost). Their challenges are compounded by the type of tech- nologies and products they are working on. For instance, we are seeing more RF integration or high-speed component into products. These are shielded components, thus, making it very dif- ficult to do board-level testing. Las Marias: Are there new or tougher demands and requirements from your customers for testing? If yes, what are they? Chari: With the advent of the Internet of Things, these PB- CAs have become even small- er, and manufacturing vol- umes are not necessarily very high. Hence, customers have to optimize their test strategy for a mix of medium volume, high-mix, high-complexity production environment. At the same time, new test access challenges con- tinue to surface, with developments like USB 3.0 and integration of higher-speed signals, so the boards can no longer host test pads. Customers have to think of new methods of testing, such as embedded test. Las Marias: What technology or market trends are driving these issues? FEATURE INTERVIEW NK Chari