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Current IssueThe Hole Truth: Via Integrity in an HDI World
From the drilled hole to registration across multiple sequential lamination cycles, to the quality of your copper plating, via reliability in an HDI world is becoming an ever-greater challenge. This month we look at “The Hole Truth,” from creating the “perfect” via to how you can assure via quality and reliability, the first time, every time.
In Pursuit of Perfection: Defect Reduction
For bare PCB board fabrication, defect reduction is a critical aspect of a company's bottom line profitability. In this issue, we examine how imaging, etching, and plating processes can provide information and insight into reducing defects and increasing yields.
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We take the pulse of the PCB industry by sharing insights from leading fabricators and suppliers in this month's issue. We've gathered their thoughts on the new U.S. administration, spending, the war in Ukraine, and their most pressing needs. It’s an eye-opening and enlightening look behind the curtain.
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The 21st Century PCB Factory– Designed to Eliminate Offshore Cost Advantages
July 1, 2016 | Alex Stepinski, WHELEN ENGINEERINGEstimated reading time: Less than a minute

Over 15 years have passed since North America and Europe ceased being the center of worldwide PCB fabrication and were supplanted by a Chinese market with low-cost labor, lax environmental requirements, and strong government support. In just a few short years, the superior offshore cost advantages of this new dynamic put volume PCB production in the West out of business, aside from the military and specialty technology applications contained in the few shops that continue to exist today.
Recently, however, the conditions that created the current equilibrium appear to be shifting again. In this new dynamic, automation, innovative green wastewater technologies, and next generation process equipment innovations have combined to make new factories capable of achieving rapid ROI for PCB fabrication almost anywhere in the world. This paper means to illustrate this new dynamic, and provide case study examples from the new greenfield installation at our captive facility in New Hampshire.
Read the full article here.
Editor's Note: This article originally appeared in the June 2016 issue of The PCB Magazine.
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Beyond the Board: Orbital High Ground—Why Space Superiority Is Slipping Away
06/17/2025 | Jesse Vaughan -- Column: Beyond the Board“The next war might be won—or lost—22,000 miles above Earth.” That’s not science fiction. It’s the stark reality defense planners are beginning to confront as space transitions from a support domain to a full-spectrum warfighting environment. For decades, the United States held an uncontested advantage in space, relying on exquisite, few, and highly capable systems to enable precision warfare, real-time intelligence, and global communications. Today, that edge is under siege.