-
- News
- Books
Featured Books
- design007 Magazine
Latest Issues
Current IssueOpportunities and Challenges
In this issue, our expert contributors discuss the many opportunities and challenges in the PCB design community, and what can be done to grow the numbers of PCB designers—and design instructors.
Embedded Design Techniques
Our expert contributors provide the knowledge this month that designers need to be aware of to make intelligent, educated decisions about embedded design. Many design and manufacturing hurdles can trip up designers who are new to this technology.
Manufacturing Know-how
For this issue, we asked our expert contributors to share their thoughts on the absolute “must-know” aspects of fab, assembly and test that all designers should understand. In the end, we’re all in this together.
- Articles
- Columns
Search Console
- Links
- Events
||| MENU - design007 Magazine
McCurdy: How to Build a Successful IPC Designers Council Chapter
January 11, 2016 | Judy Warner, Zentech ManufacturingEstimated reading time: 3 minutes
As a Southern California native and an industry veteran, the name Scott McCurdy is a familiar one for me. Scott has been in the electronics industry for 40+ years. Thirty-two of those years were spent building and running McCurdy Circuits, a successful PCB fabrication facility in Orange County. These days, Scott is focused on the design side of things as the director of sales and marketing for Freedom CAD Services, the largest independent design bureau in the nation.
In his not-so-spare-time, he is also the president of the largest chapter of the IPC Designers Council in the country. Despite the fact that I’ve known about Scott since the mid-1980s, we only just met within the last year. Shortly after meeting Scott, he began encouraging me to attend the local Designers Council meetings that he hosts approximately 3–4 times per year in Irvine, California. Thankfully, although I stood him up for a couple of meetings, he persisted (a little friendly harassment) and eventually, pushing skepticism aside, I got around to finally experiencing what he was so enthused about.
From Reluctance to Raving Fan
When I finally made that first meeting last March, I arrived late. As I tried to slink in the door unnoticed, I awkwardly realized there wasn’t an empty seat in the house--until one magically appeared in the back of the room. I was awestruck by the attendance of 77 otherwise busy designers and electronics professionals who filled the room. Tom Hausherr of PCB Libraries was the featured speaker for my first meeting.
The next meeting was held in June at a member location, Broadcom. That meeting featured two speakers: Matt Isaacs, technical director of Broadcom and Julie Ellis, a field application engineer with TTM; nearly 100 people attended. My third meeting, which took place at Harvard Park Community Center in Irvine on November 18, broke the attendance record for their home meeting location, topping out at 89 attendees. Chris Heard of CSH Consulting gave a rich and granular talk about signal integrity and power issues relative to routing guidelines and layout features. At these meetings, I witnessed designers being granted access to a very high level of educational and networking opportunities that deeply enriched and inspired them to grow as professionals. In some cases, it has inspired them to even further their formal education or certifications that helps them compete in a fierce global marketplace. In a matter months, I had been transformed from skeptic to a raving fan!
On Becoming the Accidental Chapter President
After the last meeting, I had the opportunity to talk at length with Scott about his 13-year tenure as the Orange County chapter president. It’s clear that he is absolutely passionate about the value of the Designers Council and the immense educational value and resources it can deliver to the industry in a convenient, low cost and regional context. In our time together, he openly shared his “playbook” on how to build and run a successful Designer’s Council chapter, which he is eager share with others who may be interested in launching a local chapter would like to emulate his success. The excitement and generosity he showed instantly compelled me to pass on both his story and his recipe for success.
When Scott made his transition from PCB fabrication to a PCB layout focus about 13 years ago, he accepted an invitation to attend our local IPC Designer’s Council. Shortly after, he was recruited to serve on the group’s steering committee. At that time, 20–25 people were regularly attending the meetings. Within 3–4 months, the chapter’s president made an unforeseen move to Arizona and he asked Scott to take his place.
To read this entire article, which appeared in the December issue of The PCB Design Magazine, click here.
Suggested Items
PCBflow Helps Designers Choose Best Manufacturer for the Job
03/28/2024 | Andy Shaughnessy, Design007 MagazineI recently spoke with a few technologists who have first-hand experience with PCBflow: Susan Kayesar, technical product manager with Siemens; Evgeny Makhline, CTO of Nistec, a CEM based in Israel; and Peter Tranitz, senior director of technology solutions and leader of the IPC Design Initiative. They explain how PCBflow functions, from the designer’s and manufacturer’s viewpoint, and how this database helps break down the wall between these stakeholders.
Elementary, Mr. Watson: Ensuring Design Integrity
03/28/2024 | John Watson -- Column: Elementary, Mr. WatsonBack in February, many of us watched the "Big Game." It reminded me of the saying, “It's not how you start that is important, but rather how you finish." It is perfectly okay when you are talking about sports, you get off to a bad first half and need to recover in the second half. However, when it comes to PCB design, this is not a good practice. If things start badly, they usually don't recover. They continue down that same path, costing more money and losing design time.
Arrow Electronics Launches Intelligent Vision Ecosystem
03/27/2024 | BUSINESS WIREArrow Electronics, Inc. is utilizing the onsemi Imager Access System (IAS) module standard for developing intelligent vision solutions for use in robotics, machine vision, commercial cameras and other uses.
Dymax Will Exhibit Light-Cure Solutions for Today’s Electronics at IPC APEX 2024
03/26/2024 | DymaxDymax, a leading manufacturer of rapid and light-curing materials and equipment, will exhibit at the IPC APEX EXPO 2024 in Anaheim, CA, April 9-11.
Synopsys Announces New AI-Driven EDA, IP and Systems Design Solutions At SNUG Silicon Valley
03/25/2024 | PRNewswireSynopsys, Inc. kicked off its annual flagship Synopsys User Group (SNUG) conference in Silicon Valley at the Santa Clara Convention Center with a keynote presentation by Synopsys president and CEO Sassine Ghazi. Ghazi discussed the unprecedented innovation opportunities and challenges that technology R&D teams face in this era of pervasive intelligence.