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At CPCA in Shanghai recently, I had the opportunity to sit down for a one-on-one with Tony Searle, business manager for Sun Chemical. The focus of our discussion was Sun Chemical’s recent expansion of its range of offerings and manufacturing capabilities in China, and what the future of the PCB market is in China, from his point of view.
Pete Starkey: Tony, what a pleasure it is to see you here in China. Tell me what's going on at Sun Chemical in China, and how the show is going for you?
Tony Searle: Thanks, Pete. The CPCA show is very busy, which is good. It's always nice to see. There's a quite a bit of activity here from a lot of customers. We continue to support the CPCA. We do this event every year and plan to continue that in the future.
A little bit about Sun Chemical: We have formed a new division within Sun Chemical, called Advanced Materials. Our PCB business currently falls under Electronic Materials, which is under Advanced Materials. So we are part of a bigger division now. In Advanced Materials, we look after several different markets beside PCB. We operate in the printed electronics arena and also in the photovoltaic (PV) area.
The CPCA show is good for us because it's expanding within these markets as well. It's a great opportunity to demonstrate our complete portfolio of products that we have for electronic materials for the market.
Starkey: You mentioned printed electronics, what's your involvement in that?
Searle: We look at things like in-mold electronics, with things like nano silvers and inkjet nano silver, especially for antennas. There is a lot of activity around those areas. That's really what that's about. Obviously in the PV side, the majority of PV sales, as most people know, are made in China now so this is the place to be if you want to be involved in the photovoltaic market.
Starkey: If we turn back to PCB, what is the PCB market looking for? What developments have you got towards the future of the industry?
Searle: In PCB, we still stay very active around the automotive side, working with OEMs, looking at new approvals that are required and processes that make sure our products meet today’s market needs. This can be a challenge, especially when people don't necessarily want changes in technology. Unfortunately, sometimes you have to make changes to your products to meet these specifications.
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