iNEMI: Leading the Way to Successful Electronics Manufacturing

Estimated reading time: 2 minutes

Bill Bader, CEO of the International Electronics Manufacturing Initiative (iNEMI), talks about the consortium’s goals and mission, its collaborative projects, as well as its roadmap for the electronics manufacturing industry. Bader also highlights iNEMI’s milestones in line with the major trends that have happened in the electronics industry, including the transition to lead-free, addressing tin whisker growth, and the move towards HFR (halogenated flame retardant)-free PCB materials.

Stephen Las Marias: What is iNEMI’s basic mission?

Bill Bader: iNEMI is a non-profit consortium comprised of companies that represent all aspects of the electronics manufacturing supply chain, along with government agencies, university research centers and independent research institutes. Our mission is to forecast and accelerate improvements in the electronics manufacturing industry for a sustainable future.

Las Marias: What are your membership stats?

Bader: iNEMI is a corporate membership organization. We have close to 100 members, including OEMs (13%), ODM/EMS firms (7%), material suppliers (37%), equipment providers (13%), research institutes (12%) and other consortia and associations (15%). A little more than half of our members are based in North America, with an additional 22% in Asia and 20% in Europe.

Las Marias: Does iNEMI host any events?

Bader: Each year, iNEMI holds 2–4 workshops, which are scheduled according to member/industry needs and opportunities. These meetings are often held in conjunction with industry conferences. Public workshops provide a platform for sharing solutions and best practices as identified by participants. These events spend a significant portion of time exchanging ideas through small break-out groups, and a key result, or output, of each workshop is a set of prioritized challenges to be addressed by industry and/or individual firms in follow-up activities. We also regularly schedule webinars to discuss project outcomes, roadmap results and research initiatives. Some of these are members-only, and others are open to the industry.

Las Marias: How do you best serve your membership?

Bader: iNEMI’s greatest advantage is the opportunities we provide our members for collaboration. We have two primary areas of activities: technology roadmapping and collaborative R&D. Through our biennual roadmap, we look 10 years into the future to identify the key issues and challenges for various market segments as well as technology sectors. We then conduct gap analyses to define research priorities and form collaborative projects in these areas. With more than 20 years of experience, iNEMI has developed a well-proven methodology for managing collaborative R&D. Our projects give members the opportunity to work with many of their peers in the supply chain to address some of the tough challenges that one company cannot solve on its own.

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Editor's Note: This article originally appeared in the December 2015 issue of SMT Magazine.