-
- News
- Books
Featured Books
- pcb007 Magazine
Latest Issues
Current IssueVoices of the Industry
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.
The Essential Guide to Surface Finishes
We go back to basics this month with a recount of a little history, and look forward to addressing the many challenges that high density, high frequency, adhesion, SI, and corrosion concerns for harsh environments bring to the fore. We compare and contrast surface finishes by type and application, take a hard look at the many iterations of gold plating, and address palladium as a surface finish.
It's Show Time!
In this month’s issue of PCB007 Magazine we reimagine the possibilities featuring stories all about IPC APEX EXPO 2025—covering what to look forward to, and what you don’t want to miss.
- Articles
- Columns
Search Console
- Links
- Media kit
||| MENU - pcb007 Magazine
A Day with Pete (Starkey)
August 9, 2016 | Barry Matties, I-Connect007Estimated reading time: 17 minutes

Usually the one conducting the interviews, I-Connect007’s own Pete Starkey recently found himself on the other side of the microphone when I spent time with him in his hometown of Market Bosworth, England. There, between hiking and gardening, we found time to discuss Pete’s rich history in the PCB industry and the many changes and surprises he’s seen in the manufacturing process over the years.
Barry Matties: Pete, here we are in your neck of the woods, literally.
Pete Starkey: Yeah, in the woods.
Matties: Why don't we just start with a little bit of your history in the industry.
Starkey: How long have you got?
Matties: Well, the trail's at least three miles long.
Starkey: Right. I studied chemistry at the local technical college and polytechnic and got a first class honors degree in Applied Chemistry. In my hometown of Coventry, a chemicals and textiles group called Courtaulds had big research facilities and I spent some happy years, and quite productive years, working in their research division.
Matties: What kind of research were you doing?
Starkey: At that time it was really into processes and chemistry related to manmade fiber production, but one of their lines was tire reinforcement. At the time they were very heavily into and very well known for their textile tire reinforcement, but it then became fashionable to reinforce tires with steel. They bought themselves into a joint venture that was making steel tire cord for automotive tires, and I'd done a lot of laboratory work and research work into the metal finishing processes that were involved. Although I would happily have stayed in the research division for the rest of my career, they saw the career path being through technical management.
I had a spell as a technical manager in a factory that was producing steel tire cord and the metal finishing processes involved, but I didn't see that as where I really wanted to be for the long term. So I took up a position with a small company in Coventry, called PMD Chemicals, which in fact had been the organization that had introduced a lot of big name brands into the electronics and PCB industry, probably the most notable one of which was Shipley.
They had been the distributors for Shipley until the Shipley guys started up on their own. I ran R&D there, and I was involved in process development and also equipment development. Came a time, I think everyone's ambition in those days was to work for Shipley. A position came open in Shipley in Coventry for a technical service engineer, which I took on, and that was a real introduction to the printed circuit board industry in the UK.
Matties: What year was that?
Starkey: This was mid '70s, and in the UK we had upwards of 400 PCB shops, from the very basic mom and pop shops to the big OEM shops like International Computers, Ferranti, and British Aerospace. I enjoyed my time as a tech service guy, but found I was spending far too long away from home. I took a job closer to home as the technical manager in a PCB shop here in the Midlands until I was invited to go back on the road for another supply company, which at that time was Dynachem, which later became known as Thiokol, which later became known as Morton, which later got absorbed into the same group as Shipley, which later got absorbed into the same group as Dow.
I stayed in that job for a while, and was then invited to join MacDermid where I took a technical sales job, although technical sales at that time was more about technical service. If you wanted to sell anything you sold it not on the basis of price, but on the basis that you could make it work and you would support it. I'd got a pretty good reputation as a service guy. I could make things work and fix things that had gone wrong, whether they were directly related to the product line that I was representing or not. In those days, if you were a good tech service guy, if a week went by without you being offered a position as a technical manager then it was a bad week. You turned down many, many, many offers. But there was a startup company called Forward Circuits that was here in the Midlands, and I joined them. I think I was probably number 12 on the payroll. I stayed with them through several generations until they became one of the most significant technology shops in the UK.
Matties: You were there for 15+ years?
Starkey: Yes, I was there for over 15 years. I started off as technical and quality manager, progressed through technical director and was managing director for seven years. I left shortly before the guys from Viasystems came in and took over the top end of the European PCB industry.
Matties: What were the circumstances of your leaving?
Starkey: There had been some re-structuring at the corporate level above my head, and it had come to a stage where my face no longer fitted as a hands-on, street level technical director/managing director. I was paid off and paid to stay out of the industry in the UK, so I took the opportunity to work as a technical consultant as far afield as I possibly could. I spent some happy times in Europe, some happy times in India, some happy times in South Africa, some happy times in the U.S., and generally made it up as I went along. I sort of fell into technical editorial, basically because during my previous generations I could write good technical reports. That's been my only real paid employment over the last 15 years or so.
Matties: In all that history you've seen a lot of changes to the industry. What strikes you as the thing, in terms of change, that may have most surprised you?
Starkey: Really I don't think anything surprised me, but I can recall a time back in the late ‘70s, early '80s when I was the technical director at Forward Circuits and someone brought to me a circuit board that he was having a problem with and said, "Can you take this to pieces and give me an opinion?" I looked at it and I took it to pieces and it wasn't very well made, or on very good substrate material, and the manufacturing processes didn't look to have been done that well. I asked the guy where it had come from. He said Taiwan. I said, "You're joking. That explains everything." I think probably that was the biggest surprise. You could parallel it with probably with the motorcycle industry in the UK. We were once the world leaders. Nobody could touch us. These people in Japan called Honda, Suzuki, Yamaha, and Kawasaki started making little motorcycles, and the British motorcycle industry looked at them and said, "They're no threat to us." They just carried on. They carried on with equipment and investment that, in most cases, was many years old. The general attitude of the industry was, "We've always done it this way and we always will," and really it was complacency. It was complacency in the motorcycle industry, apart from Triumph, which is the only remaining UK manufacturer, most of whose technology was borrowed from Suzuki and Kawasaki. The British circuit board industry went the same way. I think that people like the venture capital people, like Viasystems, did us no favors by taking out the leading manufacturers, certainly right around Europe. But whether it was a surprise or not? I think I could see it coming.
Matties: A lot of people didn't.Page 1 of 3
Suggested Items
ViTrox Marks 25 Years of Innovation with Cutting-Edge Solutions at NEPCON China 2025 in Shanghai
04/18/2025 | ViTrox TechnologiesViTrox, which aims to be the World’s Most Trusted Technology Company, is proud to announce its participation in NEPCON China 2025, taking place from April 22–24, 2025, at Booth #1E45, Shanghai World Expo Exhibition & Convention Centre (SWEECC).
Nortech Positioned to Serve Global Markets Amid Tariff Challenges
04/18/2025 | BUSINESS WIRENortech Systems, a global leader in digital connectivity solutions and data management engineering, is strategically positioned to serve customers in Europe and the Asia Pacific region while effectively mitigating the impact of global tariffs and trade challenges.
Can the Electronics Industry Balance Tariffs With Investment?
04/18/2025 | I-Connect007 Editorial TeamTo better understand the U.S. administration’s recent actions on global trade policies, Barry Matties and Nolan Johnson met with Richard Cappetto, IPC’s senior director of North American government relations, who highlighted both the challenges and opportunities available to U.S. companies in the recent trade activity. This could include increased domestic manufacturing and supply chain diversification.
University of Arizona Pioneering Technical Education Beyond Semiconductors
04/18/2025 | Marcy LaRont, PCB007 MagazineWhile many universities struggle to keep their curriculum up to date with the evolving needs of the electronics industry, the University of Arizona stands head and shoulders above the others. Its Center for Semiconductor Manufacturing incorporates five of the colleges at UA and emphasizes an interdisciplinary approach to prepare students for diverse careers in technology and manufacturing.
IPC President’s Award: Xaver Feiner
04/17/2025 | Nolan Johnson, SMT007 MagazineThroughout his career, Xaver Feiner, vice president of marketing and sales at Zollner Elektronik, has developed extensive expertise in account management and new business development with a strong focus on the semiconductor industry, aerospace, and industrial electronics. Xaver has cultivated a profound understanding of global markets and remains deeply engaged with the challenges and opportunities presented by digital transformation. Since 2020, he has been an active member of the IPC Europe Advocacy Group, where he is dedicated to advancing the position of the electronics industry and the EMS sector across Europe.