{"id":12946,"date":"2026-03-22T06:30:20","date_gmt":"2026-03-22T10:30:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/podcasts\/?p=12946"},"modified":"2026-03-26T15:20:51","modified_gmt":"2026-03-26T19:20:51","slug":"drop-it-in-the-river-the-surprisingly-simple-philosophy-behind-manufacturing-2000-circuit-boards-with-a-tiny-team","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/podcasts\/printed-circuit\/drop-it-in-the-river-the-surprisingly-simple-philosophy-behind-manufacturing-2000-circuit-boards-with-a-tiny-team\/","title":{"rendered":"Drop it in the river: The surprisingly simple philosophy behind manufacturing 2,000+ circuit boards with a tiny team"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>What if the wrong click turned out to be the right one? And once you\u2019re in the industry, how do you build a process that lets a lean team of 15 manage more than 2,000 unique circuit board products without it all falling apart?<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"embed-megaphone\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" frameborder=\"0\" height=\"200\" scrolling=\"no\" src=\"https:\/\/playlist.megaphone.fm?e=TLFIE2496752577\" width=\"100%\"><\/iframe>\n<\/div><!-- Megaphone -->\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">What you\u2019ll learn:<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>(00:50)<\/strong> Are Halvorsen\u2019s role at Microchip and his team\u2019s mission building eval boards and EVKs for new silicon products<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>(04:00)<\/strong> How Microchip\u2019s Trondheim team manages high-mix, low-volume production of 2,000+ PCB products using contracted manufacturers and a PCB broker<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>(07:35)<\/strong> Why DFM must be built into the design from day one and what it means to truly know your CM\u2019s capabilities<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>(11:45)<\/strong> Test point strategy: when full net coverage makes sense versus targeted functional testing for complex, constrained boards<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>(16:25)<\/strong> Gerber vs. ODB++ vs. IPC-2581\u2014where the industry actually stands today<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>(17:20)<\/strong> Scaling design processes across global teams: lessons learned from early Atmel days to Microchip\u2019s current operations<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>(23:00)<\/strong> The \u201criver\u201d philosophy: a self-service, no-blockers approach that lets designs flow from concept to warehouse<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>(24:45)<\/strong> What Are is looking forward to with Siemens EDA\u2014integrated toolchains, browser-based design review, and automatic lifecycle traceability<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>(29:05)<\/strong> Final thoughts: constant change, AI, data centers, and the endless possibilities ahead for PCB engineers<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">More about the episode<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>In this episode of the Printed Circuit Podcast, host Steph Chavez welcomes Are Halvorsen, Principal Design Engineer at Microchip Technology&#8217;s Trondheim office in Norway. Are&#8217;s path into engineering is anything but conventional \u2014 starting as a teenage electrician-in-training, pivoting through an oil-drilling master&#8217;s program, and ultimately landing in electronics after accidentally clicking the wrong course in an online portal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The conversation dives into Microchip&#8217;s high-mix, low-volume production model, where a team of 15 operations professionals manages over 2,000 unique PCB products through contracted manufacturers. Are walks through their layered quality approach \u2014 AOI, MDA, and a Python-based functional test framework \u2014 and explains how remote debugging through test logs lets him pinpoint issues without ever touching the hardware.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Are also reflects on the lessons learned scaling these processes across global teams, championing a self-service &#8220;river&#8221; philosophy where well-prepared design packages flow from creation to warehouse with minimal friction \u2014 but without sacrificing accountability. The episode closes with his vision for a fully integrated EDA toolchain that frees engineers to focus on what they do best: designing great hardware.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In the episode, Are mentions the following Microchip products:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.microchip.com\/en-us\/development-tool\/EV10P22A\" data-type=\"link\" data-id=\"https:\/\/www.microchip.com\/en-us\/development-tool\/EV10P22A\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">PIC32CM PL10 Curiosity Nano Evaluation Kit<\/a> (at 11:45)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.microchip.com\/en-us\/development-tool\/ATMEGA1284P-XPLD\" data-type=\"link\" data-id=\"https:\/\/www.microchip.com\/en-us\/development-tool\/ATMEGA1284P-XPLD\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">MEGA-1284P Xplained evaluation kit<\/a> (at 17:20+)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.microchip.com\/en-us\/development-tool\/atatmel-ice\" data-type=\"link\" data-id=\"https:\/\/www.microchip.com\/en-us\/development-tool\/atatmel-ice\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Atmel-ICE<\/a> <\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.microchip.com\/en-us\/development-tool\/atsame54-xpro\" data-type=\"link\" data-id=\"https:\/\/www.microchip.com\/en-us\/development-tool\/atsame54-xpro\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">SAM E54 Xplained Pro evaluation kit<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n<div class=\"bio-block row\">\n    <div class=\"col-3 order-first bio-pic\">\n        <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/32\/2026\/03\/Are-Halvorsen-bio.jpg\" alt=\"Are Halvorsen\" \/>\n    <\/div>\n    <div class=\"col-9 bio-info\">\n        <div class=\"bio-header\">\n            <h4 class=\"speakerintro\">Are Halvorsen<\/h4>\n        <\/div>\n        <div class=\"bio-biography\">\n                    <\/div>\n        <div class=\"bio-contact\">\n            <p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/are-halvorsen-0b87b184\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Connect with Are on LinkedIn<\/a><\/p>\n        <\/div>\n    <\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n<div class=\"bio-block row\">\n    <div class=\"col-3 order-first bio-pic\">\n        <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/32\/2026\/03\/Stephen-V-Chavez_2025-500.jpg\" alt=\"Stephen V. Chavez\" \/>\n    <\/div>\n    <div class=\"col-9 bio-info\">\n        <div class=\"bio-header\">\n            <h4 class=\"speakerintro\">Stephen V. Chavez<\/h4>\n        <\/div>\n        <div class=\"bio-biography\">\n                    <\/div>\n        <div class=\"bio-contact\">\n            <p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/stephen-v-chavez-59985012\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Connect with Steph on LinkedIn<\/a><\/p>\n        <\/div>\n    <\/div>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>What if the wrong click turned out to be the right one? And once you\u2019re in the industry, how do&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":69244,"featured_media":12952,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spanish_translation":"","french_translation":"","german_translation":"","italian_translation":"","polish_translation":"","japanese_translation":"","chinese_translation":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[751],"tags":[1010,756,920,759],"industry":[41,40],"product":[],"coauthors":[1052],"class_list":["post-12946","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-printed-circuit","tag-pcb","tag-pcb-design","tag-pcb-design-automation","tag-printed-circuit-engineering","industry-consumer-industrial-electronics","industry-electronics-semiconductors"],"featured_image_url":"https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/32\/2026\/03\/Podcasts_2025_1280x720_7.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/podcasts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12946","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/podcasts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/podcasts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/podcasts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/69244"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/podcasts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12946"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/podcasts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12946\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12959,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/podcasts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12946\/revisions\/12959"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/podcasts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12952"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/podcasts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12946"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/podcasts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12946"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/podcasts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12946"},{"taxonomy":"industry","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/podcasts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/industry?post=12946"},{"taxonomy":"product","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/podcasts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/product?post=12946"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/podcasts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=12946"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}