Jennifer: Hello and welcome back to another joint Assembly/Quality podcast. I'm Jennifer Pierce, multimedia editor with Assembly Magazine and the host of "Assembly Audible."

Michelle: And I'm Michelle Bangert, managing editor of Quality and the host of Quality’s "QCAST."

Jennifer: On "Assembly Audible," we focus on the latest processes, technologies and trends for assembling parts into finished products.

Michelle: And on "QCAST," we interview subject matter experts on a range of quality topics from the skilled workforce to stress.

Jennifer: We're counting down to the Assembly Show 2025, where you can see the latest assembly technology, learn cutting edge manufacturing strategies and network with top industry professionals. The show will take place in Rosemont, Illinois, on October 21st through the 23rd. We're proud to once again partner and co-locate with SMTA to bring engineering and manufacturing professionals together in one location. Your assembly badge grants access to the SMTA exhibit hall.

Michelle: And we're here today with Greg Vance, who's the president of the board of directors of SMTA. He's also a principal engineer in the Printed Circuit Board Assembly Advanced Manufacturing Engineering team at Rockwell Automation. He has over 32 years of experience at Rockwell Automation and has supported global electronic assembly operations in various roles.

To start off, can you tell our listeners a little bit about your background?

Greg: Yeah. So, as you highlighted, 32 years for Rockwell Automation. The majority of that has been in electronic assembly. And the team that I'm a part of is responsible for electronic assembly from design all the way through the manufacturing process.

So, we're done with it when we ship it over to the final assembly area for the box build aspect of it. So, everything in between materials, equipment, process, and driving standardization and continuous improvement across the Rockwell Automation Electronic Assembly Plants is what we work on every day.

Jennifer: So, what obstacles or challenges are your members facing right now?

Greg: Well, electronic manufacturing is an ever-evolving industry. Packages continue to get smaller and smaller, requiring quality improvements in our printing placement, in soldering processes, as well as two emerging trends.

Besides package miniaturization, I'll say there's probably several, so I won't limit myself to just two. One is harsh environments. We have a track at SMTA for harsh environments. Our products are exposed to all the contaminants in the air in the environments where they reside, whether that be on your body or something in an industrial plant. And with miniaturization, that has created some significant challenges for the life cycle of a project. So that's one of the areas that we'll be delving into at SMTA International in our conference track. As well as, there's a number of exhibitors that'll be there that can talk to attendees about conformal coatings and even special solders that help to protect a product while it's out in the environment to ensure a long, long and healthy life.