Reliability is no coincidence What Years of Metallurgical Investigations Have Taught Us About Quality

It often starts with a phone call.

A company is experiencing unexpected failures with a PCB supplied through another source and wants to understand what went wrong. The board met the specification on paper, passed incoming inspection, and looked no different from previous deliveries. Yet during assembly or later in the field, failures began to occur.

That is when AQC is asked to investigate.

As an independent laboratory, AQC performs metallurgical investigations for customers and third parties to determine the root cause of PCB and material-related failures. Every investigation is different, but over the years one observation has returned time and time again: the long-term reliability of a product is directly linked to the quality of the factory that produced it.

On the surface, two PCBs may appear identical. Under the microscope, however, the differences can be substantial. Variations in copper plating, laminate quality, drilling, or process control are often invisible to the naked eye, yet they can have a significant impact on product reliability.

These are exactly the kinds of issues that cannot be identified by looking at a finished PCB alone.

That is why supplier qualification has always been a fundamental part of AQC’s quality philosophy.

We deliberately work only with qualified manufacturing facilities that have proven production capabilities. Not trading companies or manufacturers that outsource production without proper oversight, but physical factories where manufacturing processes, equipment, and quality systems can be independently verified.

Our relationship with these factories does not end after the initial qualification. Every manufacturing partner is audited regularly to ensure that quality management systems, process controls, and production standards continue to meet our requirements.

Verification also continues after the products arrive in the Netherlands.

Every delivery supplied through AQC is inspected in our laboratory in Helmond by certified inspectors. Inspections are performed in accordance with IPC-6012, IPC-6013, IPC-A-600, and customer-specific requirements. This independent verification provides an additional level of confidence before products are released to our customers.

One of the recurring conclusions from our metallurgical investigations is that many failures could have been prevented by selecting the right manufacturing partner and maintaining robust process control throughout production.

A reliable PCB is not the result of a final inspection alone. It is the outcome of disciplined manufacturing, qualified suppliers, regular factory audits, and independent verification.

Ironically, the investigations we perform on products that were not supplied by AQC continue to reinforce why we insist on these principles. Every root cause analysis reminds us that quality cannot be verified by documentation alone—it must be built into the manufacturing process and confirmed every step of the way.