Drop It in the River: The Surprisingly Simple Philosophy Behind Manufacturing 2,000+ Circuit Boards with a Tiny Team

What if the wrong click turned out to be the right one? And once you’re 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? What you’ll learn… (00:50) Are Halvorsen’s role at Microchip and his team’s mission building eval boards and EVKs for new silicon products (04:00) How Microchip’s Trondheim team manages high-mix, low-volume production of 2,000+ PCB products using contracted manufacturers and a PCB broker (07:35) Why DFM must be built into the design from day one and what it means to truly know your CM’s capabilities (11:45) Test point strategy: when full net coverage makes sense versus targeted functional testing for complex, constrained boards (16:25) Gerber vs. ODB++ vs. IPC-2581—where the industry actually stands today (17:20) Scaling design processes across global teams: lessons learned from early Atmel days to Microchip’s current operations (23:00) The “river” philosophy: a self-service, no-blockers approach that lets designs flow from concept to warehouse (24:45) What Are is looking forward to with Siemens EDA—integrated toolchains, browser-based design review, and automatic lifecycle traceability (29:05) Final thoughts: constant change, AI, data centers, and the endless possibilities ahead for PCB engineers More about the episode… In this episode of the Printed Circuit Podcast, host Steph Chavez welcomes Are Halvorsen, Principal Design Engineer at Microchip Technology's Trondheim office in Norway. Are's path into engineering is anything but conventional — starting as a teenage electrician-in-training, pivoting through an oil-drilling master's program, and ultimately landing in electronics after accidentally clicking the wrong course in an online portal. The conversation dives into Microchip'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 — AOI, MDA, and a Python-based functional test framework — and explains how remote debugging through test logs lets him pinpoint issues without ever touching the hardware. Are also reflects on the lessons learned scaling these processes across global teams, championing a self-service "river" philosophy where well-prepared design packages flow from creation to warehouse with minimal friction — 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. Connect with Steph Chavez: LinkedIn Website Connect with Are Halvorsen: LinkedIn Website