RM 187: An Academic Look at Al in Electronics Manufacturing: Where It Works, Fails, and Why It Matters

Artificial intelligence is being promoted as the next revolution in electronics manufacturing, but what happens when the people evaluating it aren’t traditional AI experts, aren’t software vendors, and aren’t selling anything? Today’s conversation brings together engineers and professors who live at the intersection of education, reliability, and real-world manufacturing to separate meaningful progress from speculation. This episode is all about “AI in Action: Progress, Pitfalls, and the Future of Electronics.” Artificial intelligence is becoming a frequent topic in electronics manufacturing—from inspection and process optimization to predictive maintenance and reliability modeling. But rather than approaching this conversation from the standpoint of AI evangelists or software developers, we’re taking a different path. Mike Konrad's panelists are Eva Hymes, Hayden Lee, Dr. Ron Lasky, Dr. John Evans, and Dr. Pradeep Lall. None of today’s panelists claims to be AI experts. Instead, they are engineers and professors who sit at the intersection of education, engineering, and real-world manufacturing challenges. Their perspective is grounded in physics, data, reliability science, and decades of experience teaching the next generation of engineers—many of whom will be working alongside AI-driven tools whether they choose to or not. Because all of the panelists come from academia, this conversation intentionally steps back from hype and buzzwords. We’ll focus on how AI is actually being used, where it shows promise, where it introduces risk, and where critical gaps still exist—especially in high-reliability electronics manufacturing. We’ll also touch on broader societal questions, including how AI is shaping engineering education and professional intuition.

You can listen to RM 187: An Academic Look at Al in Electronics Manufacturing: Where It Works, Fails, and Why It Matters online on Radio and Podcast. Open the player on this page to stream the available audio.

RM 187: An Academic Look at Al in Electronics Manufacturing: Where It Works, Fails, and Why It Matters is an episode from PCB Chat by UP Media Group.

This episode is 59:11 long.

This episode was published on Apr 16, 2026.

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