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Delivering on a Promise: Mid-America Taping and Reeling Outpacing the Competition
February 10, 2025 | Linda Stepanich, IPCEstimated reading time: 2 minutes

A motto on the conference wall at Mid-America Taping and Reeling, “Promise only what you can deliver and then deliver more than you promised,” has led Barbara Pauls from the has led from starting her business in her parent's basement to a thriving company with locations in Illinois and Florida and 75 employees.
IPC member Mid-America is a leader in supplying tape and reel services to the electronics industry. It specializes in surface mount, axial and radial taping, baking, dry packing, lead forming, and memory device programming.
Barbara was a college student in the mid-1980s, working for a printing broker who had set up his own business. As she watched him, she realized, “I could do this. I want to start my own business. I don’t want to depend on someone else for a living, and I want to forge my path.”
With that determination and an innate curiosity, she sought opportunities to realize her dream. Her first outreach was to her own family. “I went to my uncle, who had made himself a multimillionaire in eyeglass frames,” she says. “I told him I wanted to start my own business and asked him for ideas. He said he’d met someone who was selling an axial lead taping machine. I had no idea what that meant, but I learned that this was a growing industry.”
She shared that information with her father, an engineer at Navistar, “who told me that it was a way to sequence electronic components for automation and that I should investigate it,” Barbara says. “There was no internet back then, so I researched the Thomas Register of North American Manufacturers at the local college library to find out who was putting circuit boards together and who I could approach for a sale.”
Barbara and her father set up her first axial taping machine in her parents' basement, and she started cold-calling local businesses to build a client base. Her first client, Bally, agreed to give her their business only after an audit. “I was mortified when he said he would come to the basement of my parents' house since I didn’t have an office,” she says. “But I passed the audit with flying colors," and her business was born.
Read the rest of this article in the Winter 2025 issue of IPC Community.
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07/29/2025 | Dr. Jennie Hwang -- Column: SMT Perspectives and ProspectsOver the years, I have cherished the lessons by Warren Buffett and Charlie Munger at the Berkshire Hathaway annual shareholders meeting in Omaha, Nebraska. This year, I was among the more than 40,000 who attended the May 3 meeting. Millions more from around the world, including from the UK, Germany, Japan, China, Panama, and Guatemala, tuned in remotely and via CNBC’s livestream.
I-Connect007 Editor’s Choice: Five Must-Reads for the Week
07/18/2025 | Nolan Johnson, I-Connect007It may be the middle of the summer, but the news doesn’t quit, and there’s plenty to talk about this week, whether you’re talking technical or on a global scale. When I have to choose six items instead of my regular five, you know it’s good. I start by highlighting my interview with Martyn Gaudion on his latest book, share some concerning tariff news, follow that up with some promising (and not-so-promising) investments, and feature a paper from last January’s inaugural Pan-European Design Conference.
Report: Broadcom Scraps $1 Billion Chip Investment in Spain
07/15/2025 | I-Connect007 Editorial TeamAmerican chipmaker Broadcom has pulled out of plans to invest in a microchip plant in Spain. According to a July 14 Reuters report, Europa Press, quoting anonymous sources, stated the action followed collapsed government talks but gave no further information.
IPC Hall of Fame Spotlight Series: Highlighting Lionel Fullwood
07/15/2025 | Dan Feinberg, I-Connect007Many IPC members who have contributed significantly to IPC and our industry have been awarded the IPC Raymond E. Pritchard Hall of Fame (HOF) Award. Though many early HOF members have passed away and are unknown to today’s IPC membership, their contributions still resonate. This special series on IPC Hall of Fame members provides a reminder of who was honored and why. As a bonus, for those who are still around, we get to find out what these talented individuals are up to today.
I-Connect007 Observes U.S. Independence Day Holiday
07/04/2025 | Nolan Johnson, I-Connect007Today marks the 248th anniversary of the signing of the American Declaration of Independence by the Continental Congress. Known widely in the U.S. as Independence Day or “The Fourth of July,” this day also commemorates the declaration by the Congress that the American colonies are free and independent states.