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It’s Only Common Sense: Time for Some Mind-blowing, Earth-shaking, Putting-a-dent-in-the-world Changes

The line it is drawn
The curse it is cast
The slow one now
Will later be fast
As the present now
Will later be past
The order is rapidly fadin'
And the first one now
Will later be last
For the times they are a-changin'

— Robert Zimmerman

I have spent a lot of time lately looking at the future of the world—and what’s most pertinent to this column—the future of our industry. Fasten your seat belts because second by second, minute by minute, hour by hour, whether we like it or not, our industry is on the threshold of some mind-blowing, earth-shaking, putting-a-dent-in-the-world changes right now.

Zero Footprint Fabrication Centers
Let’s start with the new PCB fabrication centers. You can kiss your old shop goodbye. Never again will anyone design and build a shop as it has been for the past 70 years. The era of the environmentally friendly zero footprint, zero emissions shop is here. As we speak, my friend and associate Alex Stepinski, has designed or built one in New Hampshire, two in Massachusetts, one in Idaho, and one in Texas—and he’s just getting started. Already, companies are lining up at his door to be the next PCB company to take advantage of Stepinski’s designer factory. Not to mention that he is already selling environmentally friendly systems to retrofit existing shops. That age is here and now and it’s our legacy to leave for future generations.

Automation
Let’s not forget that these factories are fully automated as well, with custom-made automation and AI-controlled and maintained equipment. We’re not totally there, but we are well on our way to completing “no-touch” PCB fabrication.

Solderless PCBs and Assembly
Admittedly, it has taken way too long for the OCCAM process to reach maturity, but we are getting there. Interest continues to grow as we realize what life without solder will mean to our industry and to the world. The time is now. I know that for many PCB engineers, the chunk of cheese was too big and the journey too far to be acceptable. But now the world is catching up. The DoD and other major corporations are seeing the need and their demand for this product is growing exponentially.

Respect for the Workforce
COVID and its aftermath taught us that we can no longer take our workforce for granted. Companies are finding ways to engage their workers by showing them the meaning of the products they are making, and a solid career path to success in our industry. We have finally figured out that our young people want to do work that matters. They want to work for companies that are doing good work for the industry and for mankind. They like that we are building devices that save lives, keep the peace, and make our lives safer and more sustainable.

Global Citizenship
Look, our industry is global, and as Tom Friedman has said repeatedly in his writings, when countries do business together, they become better acquainted. We’ve seen this happen with our partners in Europe and parts of Asia, including Taiwan, Thailand, India, and Japan. Stop listening to the politicians; don’t make this political. See for yourself that we can make the world a better place. Do your part, and the best place to start is with commerce. It’s so much more difficult to hate someone when you work with them personally than a faceless group of people you have never met, don’t know personally, and dislike because someone told you to. I know this might be hard for some of you to understand, but this is the way things are heading.

This is not a list of predictions or representations of wishful thinking. They’re happening right now, so we’d better get used to it.

It’s only common sense.

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