Estimated reading time: 3 minutes

It's Only Common Sense: Shame on You

Editor's Note: To listen to Dan's weekly column, as you've always done in the past, click here. For the written transcript, keep reading...What follows is an e-mail solicitation that a friend of mine received recently from a Chinese board fabricator. Now there is nothing new about getting e-mails from Asian companies--we're all getting them, sometimes two or three a day. The e-mails are basically the same: All are poorly written and all promise they can meet all of our PCB needs. But this one is different than the others. Just read it and see for yourself:Dear PCB user,

We supply PCB with highest quality and lowest price, and I want to take this opportunity to see whether we can be your PCB supplier in china.You can see our capabilities as follows: Layer count: 1-20 layers; Material: FR4, Aluminium board, Thick copper board, High TG board, Mix-material board, HDI Board, Stencil, etc. Maximum panel dimension: 600*770mmmm, 500*1200mm; Copper thickness: 0.5OZ to 6OZ; Surface Finish (Lead Free): HAL, Lead-free HAL, Immersion Gold, Immersion Silver, Gold Plated, Immersion Tin, OSP etc. Minimum trace width/distance: 3mil/3mil Application field: Power, Lighting, Automotive, Computer, Communications, Industrial control, Medical, Aviation and Military・etc Should you have any projects in your hand, please kindly send me the GERBER files, I will quote you quickly.  Did you catch that? Let me look at that application field again: "Power, Lighting, Automotive, Computer, Communications, Industrial control, Medical, Aviation and Military・etc." Military? Really? What this tells me is that they are so blasé about building military boards that they no longer even try to hide it, in fact they are advertising it in their e-mail solicitations. How did we get to this? How did a company in China even get to the point where they can offer military boards?Someone in this country had to get them the prints to quote and, worse yet, give them orders to build. Who did this? Is it you? Are you one of the companies playing it fast and loose with our military and national security products?When is this going to end? Are we so concerned about building things as cheaply as we can that we are ready to throw out everything we believe in?Look, I don’t blame the Chinese; this is not their fault. They are just good business people taking advantage of unscrupulous American companies willing to sacrifice everything for profit. The Chinese did not come over here and steal our business; we gave it to them. We just handed it over because we could save a buck.And now, as much as we want to ignore it, some companies are handing them our military products to build. Somebody--an American, by the way, who does not buy into ITAR--does not believe in national security and obviously does not believe in protecting American proprietary technology. I ask again, who is doing this? Is it you? Have you no shame? Have you no decency?This is just plain wrong on so many levels that it's difficult to comprehend. First, there's the whole national security issue. Then there is the fact that we are not really sure where China stands vis-à-vis the U.S.: Are they our friends or are they our enemies? They are, after all, communists. We hated the Russian communists, and we really hate the Cuban communists, but the Chinese communists? Not so much.

Then there is the whole idea of taking American jobs. Oh, I know, I know, relax...I am not for protectionism, but I am for fairness. And military PCBs are supposed to be built in this country by American workers. The last time I checked, it’s the law. But apparently, where money is concerned, the law doesn’t matter that much anymore. I guess it’s just too inconvenient.I am pleased to say that the Department of Defense is beginning to go after companies that break ITAR laws and prosecute the infringers. I just hope that they continue to do so and I really hope they put those people out of business. No slap on the wrist--put them out of business.And, if any of you reading or hearing this are guilty of sending military products to China or any other non-authorized country, how do you sleep at night? How can you stand to be who you are? How can you call yourself an American? Shame on you. It’s only common sense.