AURORA CIRCUITS BLOG – Updates on PCB Manufacturing and Assembly

Fighting Back Against Parasitics

Fighting Back Against Parasitics

Parasitics in electronics are a persistent and often underestimated challenge that engineers and designers encounter in the development of electronic circuits and systems. Parasitic elements, which include stray capacitance, inductance, and resistance, can have a...

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Treat Your Suppliers Like Gold

Treat Your Suppliers Like Gold

Treat your suppliers like Gold. We all know about how important it is to treat our customers like gold, but what about our vendors and suppliers? Gone are the days when we could pull out that old capitalist golden rule: “He who has the gold makes the rules.” That just...

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How the Other Half Lives

How the Other Half Lives

Semiconductor development and manufacturing in the US has been getting quite a bit of attention lately; the shortage in late 2020 that remains today opened the eyes of all stakeholders across a large bandwidth of industries that depend on chips.  Automotive, consumer...

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Automation is our Future

Automation is our Future

The current challenges finding labor is going to drive us to do something we should have done a long time ago in the PCB industry: automation. There are already a few PCB fabrication houses that are as automated as any PCB shop can get these days, with more moving in...

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Working With Your PCB Supplier

Working With Your PCB Supplier

After working with customers over the years, I have compiled a list of some of the things in my career that foster a positive PCB fabricator/customer relationship. Here’s a short list of steps you can take that will make your partnership with your PCB supplier more...

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Working Smarter

Working Smarter

So many times over the years we have experienced the frustration of losing a major order because of price and thought: “Well, let the other guy have it, he’s going to lose his shirt building it at that price.” It was easier to rationalize and walk away from the...

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The Canary

The Canary

Profit is a key component to the free market equation, so how in the world did we go wrong in the US? Before the governmental response to the COVID-19 pandemic, we assumed our economy was humming along, witnessing the longest economic expansion on record with 128...

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RECENT NEWSLETTERS

Newsletter: January 2024

Newsletter: January 2024

It’s a new year and optimism comes with it! We are excited to get moving on quite a few advanced package projects and believe this is one of the future markets for our team.

Newsletter: December 2023

Newsletter: December 2023

We would like to share a message of resilience and hope for Aurora Circuits and the domestic PCB/advanced packaging industries from our President, Chris Kalmus.

Newsletter: November 2023

Newsletter: November 2023

As the year starts to slow down, we are ramping up with new, unique opportunities that test the current boundaries of “American Innovation/manufacturability”.

Newsletter: October 2023

Newsletter: October 2023

Well, since fall is upon us, we’ve seen an uptick in activity over the tight summer. There are still many unknowns with the economy, but we can bet that as the geopolitical tensions across the world rise to a fever pitch, supply chain concerns will continue among OEMs and manufacturers.

Newsletter: September 2023

Newsletter: September 2023

We are proud to announce that our MIVA LED Direct imaging system has been installed and is already paying dividends.

Newsletter: August 2023

Newsletter: August 2023

The last two quarters of the year will be laser focused on our capitol equipment expenditures and further shoring up/learning about the advanced packaging market. We’ve been having some great conversations with semiconductors fabs, learning about their challenges, projects and initiatives, specifically targeting areas where we can assist.

Newsletter: July 2023

Newsletter: July 2023

What's Happening at Aurora Circuits Our teams have been on the road lately at events and shows, meeting the communities that we have been serving. Our leadership attended the iMAPS and IPC joint event/workshop, Onshoring Advanced Packaging and Assembly. There were...

Newsletter: June 2023

Newsletter: June 2023

Our President, Dr. Christopher Kalmus, recently travelled to Washington DC to attend the annual Printed Circuit Board Association of America’s (PCBAA) meeting where industry experts, industry leaders and congresspeople spoke about the current state of microelectronics manufacturing in the US.

Newsletter: April 2023

Newsletter: April 2023

We are investing in the future at Aurora Circuits as we plan on major capital equipment expenditures in the coming months, along with our commitment to achieving IATF 16949 certification by the end of Q3 2023.

Newsletter: March 2023

Newsletter: March 2023

We had a great time at APEC in Orlando. We were able to meet so many new faces and catch up with some that we haven’t seen in years.

Newsletter: February 2023

Newsletter: February 2023

We are getting ready for the APEC show in March. If you’re attending and would like to stop by our booth or schedule an appointment, please reach out. The exhibitor hall will be open at 5pm on Monday, 3/20, 9-4:30 on 3/21 and 9-2 on 3/22.

Newsletter: November 2022

Newsletter: November 2022

We are definitely seeing an uptick in orders and companies looking to keep their innovative IP safe. As we inch towards more financial upheaval in the next 6-12 months…

Newsletter: October 2022

Newsletter: October 2022

We are definitely seeing an uptick in orders and companies looking to keep their innovative IP safe. As we inch towards more financial upheaval in the next 6-12 months…

Newsletter: September 2022

Newsletter: September 2022

We are definitely seeing an uptick in orders and companies looking to keep their innovative IP safe. As we inch towards more financial upheaval in the next 6-12 months…

Newsletter: August 2022

Newsletter: August 2022

We are starting to shift our business model at Aurora Circuits to better accommodate…

Newsletter: July 2022

Newsletter: July 2022

The supply chain continues to affect growth across our industry. Because we continue to battle…

Newsletter: June 2022

Newsletter: June 2022

We’ve been plugging away the past month on some exciting new projects, fine tuning processes…

Newsletter: May 2022

Newsletter: May 2022

We at Aurora Circuits continue to battle supply chain issues like the rest of the manufacturing and consumer world–hopefully…

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FEATURED CIRCUIT BOARD STORY

US Car Manufacturer Sitting Pretty With 67% Cost Savings

By reengineering this auto manufacturer’s PCB, the cost dropped to 33% of the original amount, saving over $375,000.

In late 2015, Aurora received an opportunity to quote a LED vanity mirror for a major, fully electric car manufacturer circuit board.  The initial design was a plated-through-hole version that was fairly sophisticated for the application. The Manufacturer also required a production commencement in 60 days to prevent a shutdown of the production line.

The engineering team at Aurora Circuits suggested, after reviewing the manufacturer’s original design, that a redesign to a single-sided board would drastically save turnaround time and expense when starting production. The original design would sell for $2.25 each and require two separate printed circuit boards per vehicle. This particular part was reengineered into a single-sided, common version for less than $0.90 each, thus saving $2.70 per vehicle. When applying this to the production volume, Aurora Circuits is saving the manufacturer over $375,000 on a model year basis.

Also, to prevent any production line start up issues, Aurora Circuits built a small quantity of the plated through hole version until the single-sided version was fully tested and in full production.

Could your costs use a makeover? Let's talk.