I-Connect007 Video: A Salute to The Industry

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I-Connect007 has produced this new one-minute video to acknowledge nearly 35 years of sharing your stories. In 1987 we launched our first industry publication and we have been dedicated to covering this industry ever since.

We did not start out as publishers: in fact, our background was in printed circuit board fabrication. In 1987 there were still nearly 3,000 PCB shops in North America. At the time, profits were goods, trade events included giant industry parties (remember the extravagant hospitality suites in Anaheim?), and the industry was in a state of change.

New environmental regulations were impacting the industry and beginning to change the business of running PCB shops. We saw a real need to start a magazine that really focused on navigating and improving the business of running PCB shop. Now, there are only about 300 PCB fabricators in North America, profit margins are much lower, and running a PCB facility is more challenging than ever.

Our time spent in PCB fabrication inspired us to start the magazine. Well, that and the introduction of the Apple Macintosh. The Macintosh, which offered 128 KB of RAM, a nine-inch monochrome display (512 × 342), and no internal hard drive, enabled us to pioneer desktop publishing. It was an amazing time.

Since that time, we’ve published hundreds of magazine issues, toured countless numbers of facilities all around the world, interviewed so many amazing people, and shot upward of 100,000 photos. From all of this, we’ve learned that in this industry, the whole is truly greater that the sum of its parts.

With this video, we salute the wonderful people in this vital industry who we’ve had the pleasure of working with for almost 35 years.

03/29/2023 | Andy Shaughnessy, Design007 Magazine

Andy Shaughnessy talks with John Andresakis about how the merger of resistive foil technologies from Ohmega and Ticer has evolved under the new ownership of Quantic. Andresakis also shares how these materials are finding new applications, especially in the embedded component application space, as the company reaches out to the new generation of PCB designers and design engineers.

03/28/2023 | Patty Goldman, I-Connect007

Patty Goldman catches up with Gene Weiner, the longest-serving member of IPC, about his experience meeting with the next generation of engineers in IPC’s Emerging Engineers program through a unique contest held at IPC APEX EXPO 2023. Weiner, who has attended well over 60 annual IPC meetings, shared his unflagging optimism and the lessons he’s learned over his illustrious career with the young professionals who managed to find him at the show. With so much still to do, Weiner has no plans to retire any time soon; he’s already hard work helping IPC develop a new program to support aspiring managers in the industry.

03/27/2023 | Nolan Johnson, PCB007

Twenty-plus years is a long time to lead a business during a long decline in the industry, but IMI President and CEO Peter Bigelow remains quite confident about the future. The company is in a strong financial position, running well, and looking at new technologies. So, what’s his biggest challenge? It’s not much different than any other manufacturer you talk to, and while he may not have all the answers, he’s clearly got insight to share.