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It’s Only Common Sense: Our Time to Shine

This is our time. Some domestic PCB fab houses feel they got the short end of the stick for the past 30 plus years, believe their customers have sold them out to the cheap labor companies (and took their technology with them.), their time has come. For those who have been harmed by the sometimes less than stellar support from the IPC, and who feel abandoned by suppliers more interested in selling to Asia than to them, this is their time. This is for fabricators who, feeling shortchanged because even American proprietary business had been shipped to Asia by less than genuine PCBA customers, sensed that they were about to be washed down the drain of oblivion while no one cared. These are the firms that have felt lost and alone for decades.

Fear not, my friends, your time has come. The American electronics industry has finally realized the worth of buying PCB domestically; slapped in the face would be a better way to put it.

Once they realized that they could not count on Asia for all their needs, our customers have come to realize there is value in buying from the shop across the street, or across the country, if it is within our borders. Finally, our U.S. market has come to realize and appreciate the value of buying domestically on all fronts.

These past few years have shown everyone in America that the true value of buying those cheaply priced bargains (remember the $30 DVD player?) was to cost us in the long run.

The pandemic did nothing if not show us the danger of taking apart our own domestic infrastructure which made us—the country that takes prides in its independence—dependent on other economies and other countries who are, at best, our frenemies.

We learned the hard way that we could not even make life saving medical devices without relying on other countries. We realized that all this global supply chain management we had grown to love and take advantage of was truly just that: a chain that could be snapped by the vulnerability of its weakest link.

Now comes the good part, the learning moment we have all be waiting for. Now we are in the process of relearning the importance of being self-sufficient.

First, it looks like our government is coming to the rescue of the electronics industry by pledging to invest billions into the electronics industry—not just in our customers or in chips for components, but to the PCB shops in our country. As we speak, our government is working with IPC to determine the best approach for substantially boosting the PCB industry in our country. Can you just imagine what that means for us? Imagine the automation we could install in each PCB facility if we have the funding?

Our customers want us to build their boards. They are trying to buy domestically as much as possible. They now feel there is a distinct advantage in having a domestic PCB shop (or two or three). They not only want their new product introduction to be handled domestically, but they are also finding ways to help us to build their production as well. Stay tuned, this can only get better.

Our vendors and suppliers are looking for ways to help our shops become more efficient. They are realizing they must support the domestic shops if they are going to survive. Yes, they can make more money in Asia (short money at least), but the war in Ukraine has taught them a serious lesson of how vulnerable they are when working on a global stage without the benefit of U.S. structure and support.

In addition to working side by side with the federal government to ensure incoming funds will be used to beef up domestic PCB fab houses, IPC has also turned its attention to attracting young people to our industry by providing education and training programs and reaching out to universities and trade schools in a concerted attempt to help companies recruit younger generations (and by that, I mean younger than me).

There is an overall feeling of optimism and hope that the best is yet to come. The American PCB industry appears to be on the rise, not only to survive but to thrive as well. It is our time.

It’s only common sense.

Dan Beaulieu is president of D.B. Management Group.