Insights

Despite preheating, the panel delaminated. And because the PCBs were still connected to each other, we could no longer process the remaining ones separately.

On Thursday I am at FUSE in Enschede. Plenty of startups, plenty of ideas and probably plenty of MVPs that are not quite finished. With hardware that can go faster.

Sample 2 is usually exactly the reason you built sample 1. On why "get it right the first time" is rarely the fastest route in hardware.

The answer is often not in the technology. Almost any EMS company can assemble a good board. The real differences come from the way you work together.

Don't aim for a perfect first version, but learn from the first version as fast as possible. A post by Bart van Arnhem (Orbisk) got me thinking about how electronics is making the same leap as software.

Some people see a technical problem and think: uh-oh. Jochem thinks: fun! Meet the new lab manager of our PCBAProtoLab at Kennispark Twente.

The real question isn't how to save €1000 on a protoPCBA, but what it costs if you can only test a week later. Why we look at the Total Cost of Development.

Misplacements out of nowhere — no software, no nozzle, no component changed. How two shiny stainless-steel bolts and bright summer light confused Buddy.

Sometimes improving a process isn't about a more complex machine, but about a simpler and more controllable one. How we get certain prototypes spotlessly clean.

A prototype isn't a phase but an umbrella term. Which risk are you trying to remove in which TRL stage? An overview of the types of prototypes in electronics and PCBA development.

A small series with a low yield and a request to x-ray it. Why a second opinion sometimes confirms your first hunch — and sometimes proves an engineer's gut feeling right.

A prototype has only one goal: to learn as fast as possible. Why a parallel track saves hardware teams weeks.

A single proto says "it works". A proto series says "it keeps working". Why we expanded our process with extra pick & place capacity.