An engineer must be grounded, hands-on, and unafraid to get their hands dirty — learning by doing and using practical experience to verify theory.
Because of his job, Workingbear often visits various professional electronics manufacturing service (EMS) factories and spends a lot of time on production floors. He frequently interacts with process engineers and test engineers. To these engineers, Workingbear always emphasizes two things:
1. Do it yourself.
2. Always ask “why.”
There are many ways to de-panel or remove the edge rails of a PCB, but the simplest and cheapest method is manual V-cut breaking. However, this method can easily lead to uncontrolled quality issues. Before using manual breaking, it’s important to confirm that the board really cannot be processed with a V-cut scoring machine, or that the components on the PCBA are strong enough to handle bending stress without damage.
Anyone who works in the electronics industry should be familiar with the role of a PM — short for Project Management. Almost every company involved in R&D or contract manufacturing has PMs. In fact, not just electronics — most industries have people doing project management.
Some people say PMs are like the locomotive that pulls the whole product or project forward. Others describe them as the lubricant inside a company, smoothing things out when departments clash or have small disagreements. But most PMs probably feel like they’re doing every odd job possible — the “handyman” or “gofer” who takes on everything that no one else wants to do.
When producing large volumes of PCBs (Printed Circuit Boards), multiple individual boards are often combined into one large panel. This panelized form is then processed through automated SMT production lines to improve efficiency and reduce costly machine idle time.
When deciding how to connect the boards in a panel, you must also consider how they will be separated later. Otherwise, you might end up with a panel that’s easy to assemble, but difficult to de-panel.
The 5W1H (Five Ws and One H) method can be considered both a problem analysis and solution tool. However, it’s better viewed as a structured way to think about and describe problems. It helps us look at issues more comprehensively, explore possible causes, and take corrective actions. Although the method is somewhat simple, it’s easy to remember and very practical. Sometimes it’s also called the Six Ws method, and some people even extend it into 5W2H by adding another “H” for “How much” or “How many.”
