Seminar: Science of Soldering© by Jim Smith
REGISTER NOW
March 3-4-5th, 2026 | 8 AM to 1 PM PT
PRICE: $975
-
76
Days
-
12
Hours
-
53
Minutes
-
24
Seconds
Jim Smith
Founder of Electronics Manufacturing Sciences, Inc.
This class will be hosted online via Zoom.
Science of Soldering includes hands-on experiments and exercises. All tools (including a special soldering iron ) and fluxes will be provided for use during the class. At the end of class, a prepaid label will be provided for return of those tools via USPS using the original shipping box. Participants will receive and keep the following:
-
78-page Science of Soldering© workbook/reference book with workmanship criteria
-
Science of Soldering© certificate
-
All components, circuit boards and wiring
Science of Soldering© is coming back!
After attendees rated our first eight Science of Soldering© seminars 5/5, we are excited to announce that expert Jim Smith of Electronics Manufacturing Sciences will return for a tenth class with Sierra.
You may not think you need this amazing class — but you do
Soldering is the fundamental process in electronics. Virtually every activity determines or is determined by soldering.
REGISTER NOW
Yes, Science of Soldering© will change the life of assembly, repair or prototyping technicians. But the Science of Soldering© lessons are essential even if you never touch a soldering iron. This is critical knowledge for how to make more producible designs, achieve more robust processes, truly manage quality, select and manage suppliers, avoid costly tool and materials purchasing mistakes, and measure the real state of operations. In other words, you need this course if your job involves:
- Manufacturing engineering or management
- Quality engineering or management
- Design engineering or prototyping
- Supplier management
- Operations
- Purchasing
- Assembly or repair
What you’ve been told about soldering is wrong
What you’ve been told about soldering originated half a century ago for reflowing tin-plated leads of large through-hole components protected against damage by mechanical heat sinks. Today’s components and materials aren’t like those. Unlike tin plating which melts during “soldering”, today’s platings don’t melt; additional process steps are needed. Heat sinks won’t fit on today’s tiny leads. Fluxes are vastly more complex and their residues can’t really be removed after soldering. And there’s more.
Processes that worked well in 1980 are disastrous today. But the standards and training curriculums are the same in every aspect that matters. In fact, training and industry “standard” practices cause needlessly high failure rates and large avoidable costs.
Science of Soldering© is unique
Science of Soldering© is not like any other soldering class. It is the only course designed specifically for the challenges of today’s electronics. What is taught is only one difference. How it is taught is just as important. Other courses tell you what to do but not why. Science of Soldering© experiments, demonstrations, process troubleshooting, thorough videos and discussion show why as well as what. This is genuine education, not training based on rules and memorization.
Don’t trust inspection
The most important soldering defects – internal damage to components – can’t be seen. Yes, a cosmetically flawed connection generally indicates a reliability problem. However, beautiful soldering is not necessarily reliable. At soldering iron temperature, solder will stick to oxides and meet the visual acceptance requirements – but the part is not actually soldered. Even worse, the heat needed to make the solder stick degrades electrical bonds inside components. Improperly used soldering irons cause most component failures.
They loved the soldering seminar
William Bruni Jr
Design Engineer, Mitsubishi
“Taking the online soldering seminar with Jim Smith definitely improved my soldering skills. Having basic knowledge of how to solder made it easy for me to get by in my job duties. After taking the seminar, my skills greatly improved. Jim made it easy to pinpoint flaws in my process and helped me refine what I was doing to ensure a better outcome and work product. A small class size and Jim’s extensive knowledge made it a guarantee that each student involved in the seminar got every question answered and consistent results throughout every exercise presented. I would recommend this course to anyone looking to learn more about soldering or brush up on the skills they already possess.”
Yogi Ahuya
Engineering Manager, Advantest
“Jim’s soldering class was very meaningful for me. With 25 years in the PCB industry, I did not have any formal soldering study or training and always felt lacking in my comprehension of this subject. After the class, I had a clearer understanding of the principles, techniques and the language to use when describing the processes of soldering. I recommend this class to every entry level engineer so they start off with the correct information that they can convert into knowledge through experience.”
Willa Hughes
Electrical Engineer, Infinite Biomedical Technologies
“Jim’s class demystified soldering for me – where once I had a mess of contradictory advice, I now have a scientific framework for exactly which soldering processes work and which don’t, and why they do so. Beyond improving my soldering ability, it’s given me the perspective to design better processes.”
Joseph Olson
President, MicroAutomata Corporation
“After 35+ years working as an Electrical Design Engineer with a diversity of companies from start-ups to industry giants, someone has finally shown me how to solder properly. Dr. Smith’s Science of Soldering course completely demystifies the “art’’ of soldering. I’m baffled how something so critical in electronic assembly is so little understood, at least in my experience. An enormously delightful surprise to learn a straightforward and controllable soldering process that yields consistent, predictable, and reliable soldering results.”
Registration will close 15 days before the seminar.
Contact Lucy at lucyi@protoexpress.com for more information.
What you will learn in Science of Soldering©
-
Soldering is mostly about chemistry
-
7 easy steps that guarantee perfect soldering
-
A simple technique for preventing all heat damage (most component failures are caused by overheating components)
-
Why cosmetically “perfect” connections may not be reliable (you can’t inspect-in reliability)
-
What you must know about flux (and their manufacturers don’t tell you)
-
How to make a $125 soldering iron perform like an $800 iron
-
Why “soldering” tin-plated parts is not actually soldering
-
A simple, easy way to work with ground planes
-
The fast, simple way to solder fine-pitch surface mount components
-
How to replace any component quickly and easily without damaging the PCB (and without any special equipment)
-
The secret to easy lead-free soldering
-
Why flux-cored solder isn’t suited to soldering
-
To never trust any lessons from the Internet
-
The “industry standards” that are 100% wrong
-
And much, much more on how to achieve perfect soldering…
About Jim Smith
For more than 40 years, Jim has been respected as one of the world’s foremost authorities on soldering reliability and efficiency. Jim first worked as an electronics assembler in the earliest days of solid state electronics. As an executive of an international electronics holding company, he developed uniquely successful high volume production systems. In 1981, he founded Electronics Manufacturing Sciences and released the first version of Science of Soldering© to teach his unique “recipe” for perfect soldering worldwide.
In addition to teaching, Jim remains active in process development and failure analysis. The effects of his work are reflected in prominent standards and the widespread use of no-clean fluxes that he pioneered in the automotive and telecom industries. His book Optimizing Quality in Electronics Assembly (McGraw-Hill Professional Publishing, 1995) redefined quality management practices (and caused the national quality management association to change its name from ASQC to ASQ). His Unconventional Wisdom column appeared monthly in Assembly Magazine for more than ten years and he remains an emeritus contributor. His articles have appeared in more than 100 publications worldwide.
A native of Cambridge, Ontario, Canada, Jim graduated from McMaster University (Hamilton, Ontario) and conducted his post-graduate studies at the University of Toronto. He lives in St. Petersburg, Florida but spends much of his time at clients worldwide.
