Ah, our little green friends…the printed circuit board. Taken for granted until they fail, circuit boards are key to the operation of virtually everything these days. So if you are suspicious, or even absolutely certain, that your circuit board is the problem, you may need some advice as well as circuit board repair or replacement.

Always remember the Electronic Axis of Evil: Moisture, Heat, and Dirt. If you can avoid these, your circuit boards will last longer.

Four Top Reasons For Circuit Board Failure and Tips to Identify The Problems & Causes:

Do subjects like high peak load capability and high voltage safety testing keep you awake at night? 

Worried about the California Energy Commission’s (CEC) requirements for efficiency and no-load power consumption? Confounded about why two seemingly-same power supplies can possibly perform differently?

If power supply selection, power supply repair, or other power supply issues are concerning you, then you will want to obtain the new, third edition of the  Power Supply Technical Guide by XP Power.  The plan was to boil all this information down for you right here to make it easy, but having just read this new guide myself, I can tell you… it is so jam packed with useful information that I have thrown my hands up and am just giving you the link. 

Attention all Manufacturers:   ABB is now promoting FUN!  Fun? At work you say?  Under the interesting news category we hear that ABB has teamed with tracermedia interactive to create an electronic game that entertains AND educates manufacturing plant professionals. 

Players have fun while experiencing how their reliability decisions will impact performance down the line and the overall business. Since this a virtual situation, your team can enjoy the challenge without worrying  about disastrous results.

It works like this:  players are members of a failing company.  Then, the game takes them through a series of real-life problems that require  reliability solutions to win the ABB Reliability Challenge.  The virtual manufacturing world gives players a sample of what companies may face in the real world. 

Could smudge marks on your touchscreen monitors leave you vulnerable to a security breach?  According to a University of Pennsylvania study it’s true!  Researchers took photos of the smudge trails left on various touchscreens, digitally increased the contrast and found they could unlock secure touchscreens 92% of the time! 

I just checked out my new, totally cool android phone and sure enough, there are my paw prints leaving a “smudge trail” where I unlock the unit.  My phone is no big security breach, but this could affect touchscreen interfaces such as bank machines, voting machines, or any other public or industrial touchscreen requiring a graphical pattern password. 

Oh, the pain..the misery…the teeth gnashing and, oh yeah, the cursing!  Your drive just alarmed out, your equipment has stopped, production has ceased, and you are wasting time and money.  Can the drive be saved?  The good news is…probably! 

Before it comes to that scenario, consider this:  We all know HEAT is the root of all evil when it comes to electronic equipment.   Add some MOISTURE and DIRT and you have the electronic axis of evil and disaster!

So, practice prevention first by:

-  keeping your electrical cabinets CLOSED

-  keeping your FANS  in good REPAIR

-  making sure those cabinent FILTERS are always CLEAN

LED light bulbs for household and general use are, relatively speaking, right around the corner.  Supposedly the light they will emit will not only save energy, but also look more like incandescent bulbs.  We can only hope.  You might already know that a few months ago the U.S. Department of Energy announced funding of more than $37 million to support high-efficiency, solid-state lighting (SSL) projects.

Lighting accounts for nearly 24% of the total electricity generated in the U.S. today.  That’s huge!  The DOE’s goal is to lower U.S. electricity costs by 33 percent by 2030, and at the same time, reduce greenhouse gas emissions. 

If you are like me, you are always looking for an incredible steal …the sale of the century…AND, you never pay full price for anything!  A major exception to this rule is the purchase of a CNC machine or any component you add to it.  You truly get what you pay for in CNC equipment – new or used.

If you don’t pay up front, you will pay down the road.  Again and again.  And you will be kicking yourself in the a– every time you call the repair guy.

The bad news is the U.S. lost it’s number one spot on the annual competitiveness survey bySwiss based IMD Business School for the first time since 1993 to Singapore and Hong Kong, ranked 1 and 2 respectively.  The good news is the U.S. has survived the risk of financial and economic crises, in part, thanks to the sheer size of its  economy, leadership in business, and unrivaled supremacy in technology, reports Manufacturing.net.

That’s no surprise to me.  The U.S. is an amazing melting pot of resourcefulness and determination.  True grit! 

Not surprisingly, reliability ranked the most important criteria in purchasing industrial electronics according to a recent survey by Plant Engineering & Maintenance. 

Reliability was followed, in descending order, by quality, safety, maintenance, service, price, throughput, technology, noise, speed, and “green”.

Maintenance ranked 4th out of 11 so we know it’s pretty high on your list.  Nobody wants equipment that is difficult or excessively expensive to maintain.  Downtime is lost time and lost time is lost money.  

Save money in the long run by purchasing quality industrial electronic equipment with a good warranty.  And when that warranty runs out, or the OEM does not provide responsive service, send your repairs to a reliable expert. 

It was just a few months ago that I wrote a blog on how to make a decision whether to repair or replace your industrial electronic equipment.  It’s a question many of you probably face every day. 

With the economy just beginning to climb out of the basement, saving money is a  high priority for all of us.  The pain of this recession will stick with us for a long while (I promise I will not get political here! That would be a whole ‘nother conversation.  LOL).