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Marcy’s Musings: The Relentless Pursuit of Perfection

"Perfection is not attainable, but if we chase perfection, we can catch excellence." —Vince Lombardi

Few things in this world are or will ever be perfect. For me, perfection might look like the vivid colors that only Mother Nature can create, the birth of a child, and the inner workings of the human brain. But all else in this physical, tangible world is, in one way or another, inherently flawed. Even the “flawless” diamond is more about the sheer awe and beauty of beholding near-perfection than perfection itself. In many ways, this truth provides great texture and diversity to our world. Yet, we still strive for perfection, and it’s in this that we learn and achieve higher heights than we otherwise would have.

In manufacturing, this pursuit of perfection first became widely evident when Japanese car manufacturers overtook their American counterparts and became the automobiles of choice in the U.S. market. The production methods used by the Japanese allowed them to achieve superior quality and reliability, which became something that American manufacturers wanted to emulate. Lean manufacturing became a guiding philosophy in the mid-1980s for manufacturing and management superiority and was soon applied widely to all manufacturing environments. The simplest explanation of Lean manufacturing (and Six Sigma) is the relentless pursuit of perfection, or manufacturing to achieve zero defects.

In bare board fabrication, defects aren't just a nuisance—they're a direct threat to profitability. Every scrap, rework, or latent failure adds cost and risk to a demanding process. Because each board passes through dozens of intricate steps—from material prep to imaging and copper etching to via formation and final finishes—there’s no shortage of opportunities for something to go wrong. As PCB designs shrink and tolerances tighten, even the smallest variation can ripple into field failures, despite appearing “passable” during inspection.

In this issue of PCB007 Magazine, we explore critical areas where precision makes all the difference: imaging, etching, plating, and traceability. We provide a practical guide for manufacturers on continuous improvement and defect reduction, sharing practical insights on minimizing defects and improving yields with expert perspectives from Kurt Palmer at Schmoll, and Josh Krick and Tim Blair of IEC, as well as from our talented columnists, Don Ball and Mike Carano, who tackle reducing defects and increasing yields head-on.

Like many of you, I’m on a personal and professional journey using AI tools to optimize my productivity and quality, another important step toward the pursuit of perfection. I’m just getting started and, so far, it has been both illuminating and enjoyable, yielding better-than-expected results. In this issue, with the help of AI and industry experts, we have articles on surface preparation and cleanliness toward the reduction of defects, especially when it comes to HDI/UHDI; and Lean and Six Sigma approaches toward continuous improvement and reduced defects, waste, and downtime in manufacturing.

Relevant to our daily news cycle recently, I want to highlight an important conversation I had recently with Rich Cappetto, a member of IPC’s government relations team, on the implications of tariffs and legislation on the electronics industry. This interview is timely and speaks to many of the issues we are all paying very close attention to.

I look forward to a continued discourse on these and other important topics and welcome your thoughts and comments. Do you have another PCB, business, or market-related topic that you’d like to see discussed? Please contact me at marcy@iconnect007.com.

Now, let’s dive into the May issue of PCB007 Magazine.