Happy Holden Second Recipient of I-Connect007 'Good for the Industry' Award

Estimated reading time: 3 minutes

Our second "Good for the Industry" award has been presented to Happy Holden. We've worked with Happy for a number of years, and it is clear to see that he is dedicated to improving the industry. He has a long history in the PCB industry, starting off with HP in the '70s. Not only did he develop HDI, but he then wrote the HDI Handbook, which is provided to readers at no charge. In his latest efforts, he has written columns on the 25 essential skills for engineers and a new book on automation (to be published soon) in an effort to help the next generation succeed.

At I-Connect007, “Good for the Industry” means helping the industry improve cycle time, lower cost, increase yields, build better products, increase profitability, reduce waste, become overall more efficient, do things differently, and motivate and inspire others to do the same— all things that are good for the industry. These are things that we strive to do in our own business, every day. 

I-Connect007 Publisher Barry Matties had this to say:

"Recently, I had the chance to spend three days in Shanghai, China with Happy Holden talking and mostly listening. Happy shared with us (me, I-Connect007 China Managing editor Edy Yu and SMT Managing Editor Stephen Las Marias) stories from the early days at HP working with the founders to his time at Foxconn as their CTO. I say mostly listening because with Happy he shares such valuable insights and lessons, and you want to listen and learn.

"One thing that I did learn is that this man is dedicated to improving the industry. He will share with anyone who wants to learn important skills, concepts, and methods that are sure to improve your business. His curiosity and passion drives him. I can say that after our three day of marathon meetings I walked away inspired. Inspired to bring the tools and methods Happy is sharing to I-Connect007 to improve our business (a never ending process). I was also inspired to further improve the quality of content we provide you.

"Happy is a big believer in TQM. The success he has gained through TQM certainly is proof of how effective TQM can be with good leadership. In fact, he was the first person in manufacturing at HP to be offered stock options due to his TQM problem solving success. Happy's approach and tools for problem solving are unique and obviously effective. However, what Happy considers to be the most essential skill is...thinking. If you begin with that and good practices, you can solve problems and change the world. 

"Over the years, Happy's contributions to the industry are many and appear in many forms, books, videos, workshops, articles, columns and many others. Today, Happy is very still focused on learning more and sharing what he knows with the industry. He truly wants to help you be better. He has authored the HDI Handbook, a blueprint for producing HDI boards. He co-authored The PCB Handbook, and has several more in the pipeline. The next releases will focus on automation and the 25 essential skills for engineers. 

"Happy is Good for the Industry. Thank you, Happy."

Happy has given and continues to give a number of workshops and presentations at conferences—always sharing concepts, new ideas and facts. He is driven to help the industry produce the best products at the lowest cost…and he is always challenging the current paradigm. Happy Holden is good for the industry.

The award was presented during a recent visit to Whelen Engineering and Alex Stepinski, our first recipient of our Good for the Industry award, was on hand to participate in the presentation of this special recognition award to Happy.

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