Foundation Course for PCB Design and Manufacturing
DAY 1
Enrolment at Invotec, Tamworth
Jason Barnett and Nick Hughes (of Spirit Circuits) started off the first day by
enrolling at the Invotec facility at Tamworth, where we were greeted by Bill
Wilkie, Technical Director of the ICT (Institute of Circuit Technology) and Steve
Kerr of the Ivotec Group who talked us through the basic manufacturing sequence.
This was followed by a presentation by Mike Osmond from Intrasys Design on
Design for Manufacture of PCB’s (DfM), and then onto a talk by Neil Chilton of
Printed Electronics on Digital Manufacturing finally finishing up with a Facility
Tour of the Factory.
Once the factory tour had ended we moved onto Loughborough University Halls of
residence where we met up with other delegates from various companies such as
Invotec, Zot, Electra, Faraday and Plextek and where we enjoyed a get-together
dinner and washed it down with a couple of lemon and orange cordials.
Presenter Steve Kerr
Foundation Course for PCB Design and Manufacturing
Day 2
Feeling refreshed from the last nights get together meal we sat down to our first
lecture of the day about Manufacture of PCB and Multi-Layer Laminates by Geoff
Layhe of Lamar Group,
The next lecture was on Programming, Drilling and Routing by Gavin Barclay of
ACS Ltd, followed by Photographic Processess by John Dingley of AGFA PCB
Products.
After Lunch we started with Etching and Pre-treatment Processess by Tom Parker
of Eternal Technology Corporation followed by Photomechanical Processes by
John Rankine of Eternal Technology CorporationAnd Through Hole Plating and
Multilayer Desmear by Steve Hirst of Chestech Ltd, which completed day 2 and
the first full day of lectures
Day 3
Presenter Tom Parker
Foundation Course for PCB Design and Manufacturing
The starting lecture was Soldermask Application Processes and was passionaltely
presented by Grant Bradley of Electra Polymers Ltd followed by Surface
Preparation and Adhesion Promoters and Alternative Surface Finishes, both
presented by Nigel White of Atotech.
Afternoon session
Environment Considerations and Assembly Fusing and Soldering by Professor M
Goosey of Loughborough University, followed by the Presentation of our
Certificates by ICT Chairman Professor Martin Goosey. Day 3 was completed by
Principles of Plating Copper and Tin Lead by DR Andy Cobley of Coventry
University.
Day 4
Presenter Grant Bradley
Foundation Course for PCB Design and Manufacturing
Day 4 started off by having a talk on Automatic Optical Inspection by Andrew
Norton of Peplertech followed by IECQ using IPC Standards and Embedded
Devices by Dennis Price of Merlin Circuit Technology. This concluded the formal
part of the proceedings and was followed by the course overview and any
questions – we also handed in our feed-back sheets before saying our goodbyes.
Good points
· Well organised and friendly people.
· Content of lectures were very good and detailed
· Most lectures were well presented
Foundation Course for PCB Design and Manufacturing
· You come away with good ideas that you can try in your own factory
· You can network with other people from the same industry about any
problems or issues that you may have and come up with solutions to those
problems
Bad points
· Too much food, for example, large fried breakfast in the morning, roast
dinner at lunch time and then a large meal like a curry in the evening, it got
to much for me on the third day and my meal ended up on the floor
My Curry slips off the tray!
Foundation Course for PCB Design and Manufacturing
Lemonade Shandy makes you walk funny
· No television in room
· The University Grounds are so enormous you get lost and everything looks
the same
Summary
I fully recommend this foundation course to Spirit employees in the future, but I
recommend that you must have some prior knowledge of PCB manufacturing
before hand, because it does go into an awful lot of detail at times.
Not only do you receive an attendance certificate for doing this course but you also
become an associated member of the INSTITUTE OF CIRCUIT TECHNOLOGY
which is presented to you by the ICT Chairman, Professor Martin Goosey
Foundation Course for PCB Design and Manufacturing