IPC’s Phil Carmichael on Asia, New Standards, and the Future

Estimated reading time: 12 minutes

Carmichael: Let me give you a couple of comments on that. First of all, with all the robotics and automation around here you would think that the days of hand soldering boards would be pretty much coming to an end. In class three, the highest and most complex level of board production, used in things like satellites or the control systems of high-speed trains, soldering is still done by hand. The quality is actually better than machines today. That's why companies are really thrilled that we have something like this competition because they can keep hammering on their employees about quality and why this is a good thing to do; it gives them a chance to shine in their factory.

In addition to the prizes we give out, most companies, if they have a person who's a winner or a champion, make a pretty good-sized deal out of it. One of the winners a couple of years ago in China met with one of the national leaders of the country, and had her picture in all the papers nationwide, and she was on TV, so it was a pretty big deal for her. Now she's actually a trainer within her facility and her position has increased as well, based upon her participation in this competition. A lot of people are, as you say, very serious about it.

One unique thing this year is that one of the judges is actually from the Korean Air Force, which is another big participant in the hand soldering competition in Korea. We have two judges from L3 and one from the Korean Air Force. We're continuing to strive to be more global as an organization. That's one of the ways that we show that.

I met with all of the participants last night. We have people from Indonesia. We have somebody from Singapore, Vietnam, Japan, two people from China, Korea and so on. We have a good representation from the Asian countries in the finals coming up here, starting today and then finishing tomorrow.

Las Marias: It really is like the Olympics of soldering competitions for them. It's not just the companies that they represent, but China. It's a pretty big deal and there’s real national pride.

Carmichael: We've had government officials at hand soldering competitions in China. It is a big deal. I think I'm the oldest person at this table, but when I grew up, ‘Made in China’ meant toys and games and gym shoes. No one thought about high-quality PCBs as coming from China that would be actually competitive with something from Japan or the U.S. They certainly are today. The Chinese government is quite pleased to support this type of activity because it does showcase China's continuing evolution in its production capability, which is a positive.

Matties: Very much so. Is there anything we haven't talked about that we should share with the readers?

Carmichael: In China, IPC has made a fairly significant investment in infrastructure. We have, as an example, 12 Ph.D.-level trainers who are actually really at the top of their game. Because of that investment in our infrastructure, IPC is the exclusive provider of IPC training in China. There are no other licensed search centers. Because it's done by IPC, we also offer it at a very competitive price. Certainly it's one of the most competitively priced in the industry and in the country. We always hope that people, if they have a need for training in China, check with IPC.

Just like any other business, if you participate in this show and the show in Hong Kong, you're going to get a better deal. Bundling is always a way to improve your competitiveness. I heard it happened here as well. You mentioned the equipment in the HKPCA/IPC show, a lot of that gets sold off the show floor at the end of the show. It's a way that companies can actually get even a further better deal because the exhibitors don't want to spend the money to send it somewhere else if they can sell it off the show floor.

Matties: That's an option.

Carmichael: That's a very common approach. I think it's more common in the Asian shows than it is here.

Matties: Phil, we certainly appreciate you taking time to spend with us today.

Carmichael: Good to see you as always. Congratulations to I-Connect007 for having a Hall of Famer now on your team. That's pretty amazing.

Matties: Thank you. Patty is amazing and what a great contributor to the industry she's been. And she's the first woman to win this, too.

Carmichael: For the Hall of Fame, she's the first. She's pretty inspirational to women in the industry. If you look around, there's not a lot of women in electronics. In China, more so, particularly at the operator level there's a lot of Chinese women who are making PCBs.

Matties: Phil, thank you so much.

Carmichael: Thank you.

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