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I spent some time with my friend and former colleague Renee Michalkiewicz, vice president and general manager at NTS Baltimore, formerly Trace Laboratories. I was interested in Renee’s views on IPC and the Technical Activities Executive Council, of which she is currently the chairman, a position I held some years ago.
Patty Goldman: Hi Renee. It’s good to see you again. Please fill me in on you and your company.
Renee Michalkiewicz: William McGinley, one of the founders of our previous parent company, Methode Electronics, was one of the original IPC founding members more than 50 years ago and was the first recipient of the IPC Hall of Fame award. When he started Trace Laboratories in 1980, there was no question that we would continue this IPC involvement. George Smith, another Hall of Famer, became president of Trace and was part of the small group that wrote the original IPC-TM-650 [test methods] document.
In February of this year we joined National Technical Systems and are now part of the largest test lab in the United States. Our Baltimore lab specializes in root cause failure analysis and electronics and materials testing. NTS as a whole is the leading independent provider of environmental simulation testing, inspection, and certification in the United States. It was really nice to join a lab that’s so large with such expansive capabilities. We’ve really enjoyed the acquisition; it’s been a great learning experience so far.
Editor's Note: This article originally appeared in the December 2015 issue of The PCB Magazine.
