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I-Connect007 Editor’s Choice: Five Must-Reads for the Week
February 23, 2024 | Andy Shaughnessy, Design007 MagazineEstimated reading time: 2 minutes

It’s not spring, but we must be getting close. It was 70 yesterday here in Atlanta, and I was able to wear a Hawaiian shirt, shorts, and sandals for the first time this year. If you’re wearing a Hawaiian shirt, you know it’s going to be a good day.
It was a good week in PCB design and manufacturing as well. In this week’s wrap-up, we have news about an uptick in EMS shipments in January, a look at the current M&A climate, some guidance on investing in your company in order to stay competitive, a primer on designing with embedded capacitance materials, and a roadmap for the industry to embrace sustainable PCBs in the future.
As many of you have told me at recent trade shows, it's a good time to be in this industry. Have a good weekend!
Catching Up With Industry M&A Expert Tom Kastner of GP Ventures
Published February 21
Dan Beaulieu recently interviewed Tom Kastner, our resident mergers and acquisitions expert. Here they discuss the current M&A climate, and whether CFIUS (the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States) regulations prohibit Chinese companies from acquiring U.S. tech companies. (Apparently, yes.) Check it out.
Standard of Excellence: Moving Into the Future by Growing Your Technology
Published February 21
Is your company growing every day? As columnist Anaya Vardya points out here, in this industry, if you’re not growing, you’re dying. In this column, Anaya discusses the need for fabricators to invest in their businesses, and he lays out a roadmap for this investment as well.
Beyond Design: Embedded Capacitance Material
Published February 22
More and more designers are working with embedded components. If you’re considering moving into this arena, you probably have a lot of questions. In this column, Barry Olney addresses many of your concerns about embedded, particularly regarding signal integrity and embedded capacitance materials. On the plus side, embedding components often provides better signal integrity.
North American EMS Industry Up 2.6% in January 2024
Published February 23
Our industry seems to be in a pretty good spot right now. At trade shows, company managers from all sectors tell me that they’re optimistic about the rest of 2024, and this news backs up that confidence. With North American EMS shipments up 2.6% over the same period last year, things are looking good.
Recycling PCBs: How NCAB is Navigating Challenges and Embracing Opportunities
Published February 22
There’s been a lot of talk about sustainability in this industry, and each year we see more environmental regulations designed to steer manufacturers into producing sustainable PCBs. But as Jan Pedersen points out, regulations alone won’t get the job done. In this article, Jan discusses some of the technologies that he believes will lead us into a world of fully recyclable PCBs.
Suggested Items
INEMI Launches Study of AOI Inspection for Fine Pitch Substrates Seeking Industry Participation
03/11/2025 | iNEMIThe fine lines and spaces of increasingly popular heterogeneous SiP packages, coupled with larger panel sizes and more substrate layers, demand increased capabilities from automated optical inspection (AOI) equipment to accurately detect, characterize and reject true defects without over-rejections.
Critical Manufacturing to Show You Might Need a New MES for Making Industry 4.0 A Reality at IPC APEX EXPO 2025
03/10/2025 | Critical ManufacturingCritical Manufacturing, a leader in advanced Manufacturing Execution Systems (MES) and a subsidiary of ASMPT, will show visitors to IPC APEX EXPO 2025 that the company’s MES - complete with extensive features specific to the electronics industry - can serve as a true Industry 4.0 platform. Any electronics manufacturer looking to turn its vision of digital transformation from concept into reality should prioritize visiting Critical Manufacturing at ASMPT SMT Booth 1813.
Gathering Around the EMS Table
03/11/2025 | Mark Wolfe, IPCWhen I entered the EMS provider industry 30 years ago, I attended some early IPC EMS management meetings. While I enjoyed the planned presentations, I especially valued the roundtable discussions with other industry peers. They not only provided an excellent opportunity to foster new relationships but also allowed me to listen to others facing similar challenges, who often addressed them in innovative ways that I could benefit from.
Koh Young Showcases Inspection Innovations at IPC APEX EXPO 2025 in Anaheim, California during March 18-20, 2025
03/10/2025 | Koh YoungKoh Young, the global leader in True3D measurement-based inspection solutions and the exclusive Premier Sponsor of IPC APEX EXPO 2025, invites electronics manufacturers to Booth 2130 for an in-depth look at its cutting-edge inspection technologies. Taking place at the Anaheim Convention Center from March 18–20, 2025, this year’s event highlights Koh Young’s continued advancements in AI-powered process optimization and quality assurance.
European Chips Diversity Alliance Hosts Future Proofing Access to Diverse Talent Event to Strengthen Semiconductor Workforce
03/10/2025 | SEMIThe European Chips Diversity Alliance (ECDA), a European Union-funded initiative coordinated by SEMI Europe, today announced a full-day event on March 27 dedicated to advancing underrepresented groups in the semiconductor industry in collaboration with Learnovate, MIDAS Ireland, and EudaOrg.