-
- News
- Books
Featured Books
- smt007 Magazine
Latest Issues
Current IssueWhat's Your Sweet Spot?
Are you in a niche that’s growing or shrinking? Is it time to reassess and refocus? We spotlight companies thriving by redefining or reinforcing their niche. What are their insights?
Moving Forward With Confidence
In this issue, we focus on sales and quoting, workforce training, new IPC leadership in the U.S. and Canada, the effects of tariffs, CFX standards, and much more—all designed to provide perspective as you move through the cloud bank of today's shifting economic market.
Intelligent Test and Inspection
Are you ready to explore the cutting-edge advancements shaping the electronics manufacturing industry? The May 2025 issue of SMT007 Magazine is packed with insights, innovations, and expert perspectives that you won’t want to miss.
- Articles
- Columns
- Links
- Media kit
||| MENU - smt007 Magazine
Lessons Learned: Breaking Down the Four Types of Communication
October 11, 2022 | Nolan Johnson, PCB007 MagazineEstimated reading time: 3 minutes

Kelly Dack and Nolan Johnson explore the silver linings from the past two years, especially the importance of good communication. These skills are—as they have always been—key to the success of the project. But how do you define the best methods for communication? Kelly breaks down four personality types and why it’s important to recognize how one person differs from another. When you better understand how a person thinks, your level of effective communication increases exponentially.
Nolan Johnson: Kelly, as an industry veteran with a great deal of experience in OEM design and expertise in the early stages of specifying a design for manufacturing and production, what are some of the lessons learned for working with your EMS provider that you and your coworkers have developed over the past two years?
Kelly Dack: I talk often about the stakeholders involved in creating printed circuits or electronics for the world. It involves communication which, just like in any relationship, is probably the foremost attribute to establish. We need good communication, or systems, processes, and people do not work. In our industry, we have relationships with suppliers, customers, and coworkers, and we need to recognize the importance of how we communicate with them.
When I look at suppliers in the electronics industry, for example, something that’s worked for me is to get out and meet them. I like to shake their hands and make eye contact. Most designers are very tactile. We like to touch and feel the materials. We like the smells of the assembly and fabrication lines.
At Prototron, part of my role was to reach out and shake the hands of their customers, to help them understand design for manufacturability, and how to design so that their products would flow through the manufacturing floors of the prototype fabrication supplier. I was in an office that was right down the hall from those who were doing the work—the sales, the lamination, and selecting materials. It gave me a holistic overview of everyone involved in the PCB fabrication industry. I made dozens of lasting relationships and widened my network. I know I can call on any of them for reference or to have a question answered.
Then I worked for an EMS provider and that opened my eyes to everything required for design for manufacturability and design for assembly. As a designer, I was able to see not only how my designs—which were sent to this company—were being assembled, but also to see hundreds of other customers’ designs and how they were (or not) being assembled by this provider. The designs being sent to our suppliers are not often able to be produced because of certain DFM, DFA, or DFX reasons.
They say the best way to learn is to teach. Now that I have the knowledge of what can and will go wrong, I can communicate back to our customers. We’ve created specifications and documentations so our customers can produce data and documentation that will help their products flow through our lines. It’s another opportunity to communicate.
Right now, I do work for EPTAC Corporation, a company in New Hampshire that supplies IPC standards knowledge to our industry. They train and teach design, soldering, manufacturing, assembly—all the specifications that make our industry run. That has given me the opportunity to meet hundreds of designers, software engineers, and all walks of life in the electronics engineering industry. I’ve built many relationships in helping them to learn IPC and design standards. From a supplier standpoint, building closer relationships has to do with communication, the ability to share knowledge, and to recognize what needs to be shared.
To read this entire conversation, which appeared in the September 2022 issue of PCB007 Magazine, click here.
Testimonial
"Advertising in PCB007 Magazine has been a great way to showcase our bare board testers to the right audience. The I-Connect007 team makes the process smooth and professional. We’re proud to be featured in such a trusted publication."
Klaus Koziol - atgSuggested Items
Considering the Future of Impending Copper Tariffs
07/30/2025 | I-Connect007 Editorial TeamThe Global Electronics Association is alerting industry members that a potential 50% tariff on copper could hit U.S. electronics manufacturers where it hurts.
From Attraction to Action: Where Marketing Ends and Sales Begins
07/29/2025 | Brittany Martin, I-Connect007Before a PO hits the system, marketing has already done a lot of heavy lifting. Without strategic marketing, the PO might never arrive. At I-Connect007, we have been fortunate to help many companies achieve sales success through marketing. The key to success? Understanding how marketing leads to sales.
American Made Advocacy: A Growing Presence in Washington in Turbulent Times
07/29/2025 | Shane Whiteside -- Column: American Made AdvocacyLast month, PCBAA held its fourth annual meeting in Washington, D.C. It was our largest gathering to date and included speakers from the House and Senate, the Department of Commerce, and OEMs Lockheed Martin, RTX, and Northrop Grumman. We also spent a day on Capitol Hill educating lawmakers and their staff about the importance of a secure domestic microelectronics supply chain.
TSMC’s Dr. C.C. Wei and Dr. Mark Liu to Receive SIA’s Highest Honor
07/28/2025 | SIAThe Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA) announced Dr. C.C. Wei, TSMC’s Chairman and CEO, and Dr. Mark Liu, TSMC’s Former Chairman and Former President & Co-CEO, have been selected as the 2025 co-recipients of our industry’s highest honor, the Robert N. Noyce Award.
Beyond Recycling: Reshaping Sustainability in Electronics
07/24/2025 | Marcy LaRont, PCB007 MagazineEnvironmental sustainability, especially for carbon-intensive industries like electronics manufacturing, means businesses are often plagued with various reporting requirements that don’t necessarily address the root problem. To that end, SERI and the Global Electronics Association are teaming up to reshape sustainability in electronics.