In this episode, we uncover the multifaceted persona of IPC President and CEO, Dr. John Mitchell, from his educational background to his Ironman pursuits. Learn about IPC alongside insights into John's acclaimed book, Fire Your Hiring Habits. John also talks about the history behind the IPC Apex Expo and what you can expect at the even if you participate. Check out our other episode on IPC here. Chris will be hosting a podcast meetup at IPC Apex Expo. We'd love it if you'd join him!  Date: Tuesday, April 9th Time: 3:15 PM to 5:00 PM Location: Room 209A, Anaheim Convention Center ..read more

In this episode we're happy to welcome back Brett Babilonia, who we spoke to way back in episode 3 and 4 on the show. In addition to purchasing, Brett also handles a lot of quoting at Worthington. We often get asked how we quote boards, is there a magical formula, and figured Brett is the perfect person to speak on this topic.  pickplacepodcast.com ..read more

Parts packaged in tubes are awful and Chris has started enough. He's starting a movement to end the use of tubes once and for all. Why do they still exist? If anybody has an answer PLEASE write in to let us know. Join us on this hour long rant as we discuss all the reasons why tubes suck including their effect on the environment and how inefficient they are for pcb assembly.  pickplacepodcast.com ..read more

Welcome to the first episode of 2024 (which was recorded in 2023)! In today's show we're joined by AIM Solder's Content Marketing Specialist, Gayle Towell.  AIM is a leading global manufacturer of solder assembly materials for the electronics industry with manufacturing, distribution, and support facilities located throughout North and South America, EMEA, and Asia. Gayle helps to walks us through topics like what exactly a soldering company like AIM does, how they make their products, who buys it, how they decide what product to design next, and more.  ..read more

We like to talk to interesting people on this show so when Praxie reached out to us wondering if their CEO, Michael Lynch could come on the show we knew it would be a fun conversation.  Michael is the former head of Internet of Things at SAP software and now CEO of Praxie (and believe it or not, former lead in Les Miserables on Broadway prior to that!).  We talk about how Michael went from the acting/performance world to the internet of things and eventually wound up founding Praxie.  Praxie provides a platform that allows organizations to transform their workflows with AI-pow ..read more

Why would we dedicate an entire episode to conveyers, you ask? Because it just so happens to be Chris' favorite topic! Chris has an addiction to progress and conveyers are one of the best ways in a factory setting to achieve that (both literally and figuratively). We get an overview of the different types of conveyers typically used in a factory setting and get into the technical aspects of how to set conveyers up before venting about the end of daylight saving time. Transfer inspection conveyer - https://vanstron.us/collections/transfer-inspection-conveyors/products/copy-of-ptb-460l-5m-20-lo ..read more

At the end of our episodes we've been asking you to send in any questions you had...and we're finally answering them.  In this grab bag episode we discuss topics like what happens to excess parts, the ISO certification process,  the shrinking size of resistors, and more! In honor of spooky season, we also share some scary stories from production ..read more

In this episode we welcome back NCAB Group Field Application Engineer Ryan Miller. The first time we had him on the show he gave us a lesson on what impedance control is, in what situations is it necessary, and more. This time we recorded a video demo going through how he would create a stackup the requires controlled impedance. In order for this episode to make sense watch the video version: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XwsyTUTN1z0 ..read more

What's been going on at the factory while we've been away? Chris catches up Melissa and all of you listeners on all of the new people, machines, and processes that have been introduced during our break.  ..read more

After a LONG hiatus, we're back! Our break was for a very good reason though. Listen to find out why! In this episode, we welcome SelecTech CEO and co-founder Tom Ricciardelli. Tom is a technical flooring expert on static control or ESD flooring. He is also chairman of the committee formed by the ESD Association (www.esda.org).  His company, SelecTech, is a leader in the manufacture of innovative flooring products and has a very interesting story on how it came to be. Tom gives us a quick recap on what ESD is (we also have a full overview episode on ESD) and discusses the importance of ..read more