Elmatica’s SA seminars on PCB design a success
29 May 2020
News
During March, just weeks before COVID-19 resulted in South Africa going into lockdown, Elmatica held several seminars in the country, to get closer to and educate the local industry on printed circuit board (PCB) design and manufacturing.
Rather than being a sales pitch for Elmatica, a leading Norway-based PCB broker, the events were highly technical and practical in nature, organised in such a way as to encourage interaction with delegates. One of the company’s senior technical managers, John Steinar Johnsen, who has more than 35 years’ experience, shared his knowledge on PCB trends, technologies, specifications, design for manufacturing, design rules and other topics.

John Steinar Johnsen.
According to Elmatica’s South African country manager, Mikael Jansson, the idea was all about creating a forum for sharing knowledge and experience with the goal to create more reliable products and educate attendees around design, free of charge.
“This seminar concept was all about sharing the knowledge Elmatica has gained since its inception in 1971 and our philosophy of getting involved in customers’ design from the beginning stages in order to help them develop optimised products,” Jansson explained. “This fits perfectly with our company culture of openness, assistance and transparency. Over and above the seminars, we are also making every effort to assist our customers with personal customer visits.”
As to the effects of COVID-19, which were only beginning to make themselves known at the time of the seminars, Jansson says it helps that Elmatica has a global mindset and “hedges its bets by not putting all its eggs in one basket, but offers manufacturers in Asia, the US and Europe.” This allows the company to continue sourcing from qualified PCB manufacturing facilities around the world as lockdown measures vary from region to region.

Mikael Jansson.
Based on how well the seminars were received, Elmatica plans to hold more in the future, hopefully sooner than later as the coronavirus situation allows. Until then, its focus is on high-quality webinars on PCB design-related topics, defence regulations and PCB standards.
Further reading:
Embit signs NeoMesh wireless protocol stack licensing agreement
News
The agreement enables Embit to offer fully customised module solutions with integrated NeoMesh wireless protocol stack that leverage NeoMesh’s ultra-low power consumption and exceptional scalability.
Read more...
Latest European market figures
News
The latest market figures indicate a modest, but notable return to growth across the European electronic components sector.
Read more...
2025 GSA award nominees
News
The Global Semiconductor Alliance recently announced the nominees in various awards categories. Winners will be revealed at a gala event on 04 December 2025.
Read more...
Automation and AI: powering Africa’s energy future
News
Driving innovation, reliability, and digital transformation in Africa’s energy sector – a key focus at the 2026 Africa Energy Indaba.
Read more...
SAPVIA hails R2bn credit guarantee fund for transmission expansion
News
Soon after the mini budget was delivered in parliament, the South African Photovoltaic Industry Association (SAPVIA) congratulated Finance Minister, Enoch Godongwana, for the announcement of a R2 billion Credit Guarantee Vehicle.
Read more...
Automotive Ethernet communications
EBV Electrolink
News
EBV Elektronik has expanded its automotive solutions offering with Infineon’s Marvell Automotive Ethernet portfolio.
Read more...
Tronics Microsystems begins machine and asset health monitoring
News
Tronics Microsystems, a subsidiary of TDK, has announced its expansion into vibration sensor solutions, targeting process and asset monitoring to support predictive maintenance and industrial IoT applications.
Read more...
Electronic News Digest
News
A brief synopsis of current global news relating to the electronic engineering fields with regards to company finances, general company news, and engineering technologies.
Read more...
4000 A containerised DB for power project
News
Power Process Systems has successfully completed the design, fabrication, and commissioning of a 4000 A containerised distribution board for a wind/PV solar hybrid renewable energy project.
Read more...
Datacentrix Industrial Indaba 2025
News
Datacentrix recently hosted its inaugural Industrial Indaba 2025, where industry leaders explored how digitalisation, resilience, security and compliance are shaping the future of sustainable industrial operations in Africa.
Read more...