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Creating a Golden Gnome: 3D Printers and a Little Ingenuity

A-Teams play such a crucial role in helping standards committees accomplish their goals that IPC established the Golden Gnome Awards Ceremony in 2021 to recognize their contributions. As part of the event, IPC wanted to provide a tangible and meaningful keepsake for award winners to take home. IPC invested in 3D printers and leveraged their capabilities to create unique and personalized gnome trophies. Here's how I did it.

Discussing SEL’s Strategy

The Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories (SEL) leadership team made some far-reaching decisions in the past decade: They opted to build their own captive PCB fabrication facility in Moscow, Idaho, and they decided to utilize zero-discharge processes. Now the facility is up and running and the state and local officials are firmly on SEL’s side, thanks in large part to the green processing, not to mention the employment opportunities.

I-Connect007 Editor’s Choice: Five Must-Reads for the Week

This week’s editor’s picks come from the top end of reader interest, so I don’t think it’s just me who’s sensing this kind of momentum. For example, we bring you a site visit to one of the newest PCB fabs in North America, and a captive facility at that. Nokia is now manufacturing sophisticated telecom optical components in the United States, and iNEMI publishes a roadmap assisting in specifying the right low-loss material for your particular application, among other topics. To wrap it up, we get NASA news that reminds us that we need not be a big corporation to participate in space programs.

What’s Your Process for Developing a Strategy?

Dr. Tim Rodgers might not call himself a “business strategies guru,” but the moniker certainly fits. As an adjunct faculty instructor at the University of Colorado, Tim specializes in project management, problem-solving, and streamlining processes in engineering and manufacturing. Plus, Tim knows the business side of PCB fabrication. We asked Tim to discuss the process of developing a successful business strategy for PCB fabricators, why operational efficiency is not a strategy itself, and how smaller companies can differentiate themselves in an industry that’s becoming more and more commoditized.

Going Green at SEL

SEL is going green at its new 162,000-square-foot, environmentally friendly PCB manufacturing facility in Moscow, Idaho. As John Hendrickson explains, being a zero liquid discharge (ZLD) facility—a trend you are likely to hear more of in our industry—is not just a smart business decision, it’s driven by SEL’s core values.

A Look Inside SEL’s New PCB Factory

After years of planning, Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories is now manufacturing printed circuit boards in its new $100 million captive facility in Moscow, Idaho. I recently toured the facility with Engineering Director John Hendrickson, who managed the design and setup of the greenfield site, along with Mike Brask, president of Integrated Process Systems (IPS), a key supplier for the new Moscow facility.

Linkage Technologies Ready for ‘China Plus One’

I recently spoke with Mehul Davé and Michael Schumacher of Linkage Technologies. In this interview, they discuss their acquisition of a PCB facility in Malaysia, their global expansion plans, and how Linkage stands to benefit as companies begin pursuing the China Plus One sourcing strategy.

I-Connect007 Editor’s Choice: Five Must-Reads for the Week

This week, we have an article about flex-hybrid electronics, which the military and aerospace folks are following closely. We have an article about the digital twin and what it is—and what it’s not. We have 10 outside-the-box ideas for closing the deal—be sure to forward this to your sales team. John Perry brings us an interview with a father/son team of IPC volunteers. (Would you want your children to work in this industry?) Finally, John Watson discusses AI, simulation and SPICE, and what they have to offer for PCB designers.

TTM CEO Tom Edman on the Process of Strategy

For this issue on strategy development, we sought input from Tom Edman, CEO of TTM Technologies. He’s been at the helm for almost 10 years and has overseen quite a few major changes in that time. In this interview, we asked Tom to discuss what goes into planning a successful strategy, how to narrow down the perfect strategy for your company, and why the boss shouldn’t bear the entire responsibility for this strategy. It needs to be a team effort.

Hiring for Soft Skills in Technology

In the age of digital transformations and disruptions, many technology companies continue to amaze us with ever increasing capability and the breakneck speed of development. But beneath the surface, nearly every one of those organizations is made up of teams of employees who are tasked with delivering better results year after year. Technical capability is no longer enough to achieve long-term success. Soft skills are now a key factor in distinguishing high performing organizations from those that struggle, and their effect is far reaching.

Supporting the New Workforce: An Interview With Joe O'Neil

IPC Community celebrates member success while sharing the important work done within IPC to better serve its members and the entire global electronics manufacturing community. But who will take us into the future? How do we prepare the next generation of industry professionals for the needs of today’s consumer, industrial, and defense bases? Joe O’Neil, chair of the IPC Education Foundation, shares his vision for developing that pipeline of new talent entering the electronics industry.

TQM: So Much Larger Than Quality

Sit down to a conversation with industry pioneers like Happy Holden and Dan Feinberg, then add TQM proponent Barry Matties to the table, and continuous improvement eventually becomes the topic. In this roundtable discussion, the group turns to the subjects of legacy and the impact of TQM on quality, management, and business operations.

I-Connect007 Editor’s Choice: Five Must-Reads for the Week

In 1971, David Bowie released his album “Hunky Dory.” One obscure track (at the time, at least) on that album, “Changes,” would slowly evolve into a Bowie signature piece, stutter and all. As time went on, his admonition for us all to “turn and face the strange” carried more and more weight in popular music and popular culture. Of course, a cover of “Changes” which was featured in the movie “Shrek 2” caused the song to peak again in 2004, 33 years after it was first released. Just a little reminder that change is a constant.

Sunstone and American Standard: A Sum Greater Than Its Parts

American Standard Circuits’ CEO Anaya Vardya and Sunstone Circuits' vice president and general manager Matt Stevenson took a break from the company transition to talk with I-Connect007 about why the merging of these two leading industry brands is so important—for both customers and the two respective companies.

A 21st Century Perspective on Data, Analysis, and TQM

Chris Chapman is a Deming management method practitioner and consultant who publishes “The Digestible Deming” blog on Substack. Chris has been a student of Deming’s agile, Lean, and related methods since 2007. With his software and data background, he brings something of a 21st century perspective to quality. In this conversation, we explore how data and AI might be changing how we approach quality.

I-Connect007 Editor’s Choice: Five Must-Reads for the Week

This week, we have news about APCT’s acquisition of San Diego PCB Design, and PCBAA’s continued push to impress upon Congress the need to support electronics manufacturing in the U.S. Steve Williams breaks down the details behind Lean manufacturing, TQM and Six Sigma. Columnist Tim Haag explains how he learned to design advanced and complex PCBs. And Nolan Johnson has a great interview with Daniel Barish of Celanese, who discusses some of the company’s latest low-temperature co-fired ceramics and their advantages.

Celanese: Fired Up Over Ceramics

With the ever-increasing diversity of performance needs in printed circuits, substrates are an ongoing area of development and innovation. At IMS Microwave Week, we caught up with Daniel Barish, a global strategy and west commercial leader at Celanese, to discuss substrates, low temperature co-fired ceramics, in particular.

Lean vs. TQM vs. Six Sigma

Lean, Total Quality Management (TQM), and Six Sigma are three popular methodologies used in business and manufacturing sectors to improve processes, increase efficiency, and reduce waste. While they share some similarities, each approach has its unique focus and tools. Here's a comparison of Lean, TQM, and Six Sigma.

Recollections on Deming

In the early 1990s, I was working for EMD Associates, an EMS company (now a Benchmark Electronics operation in Winona, Minnesota), when I became familiar with Dr. W. Edwards Deming. EMD was an early entrant into the SMT provider world, and we were very focused on quality. Deming was one of several experts that we used as a guide for our company. As part of that journey, I was able to attend a live Deming seminar in Phoenix. There were several speakers as part of his team, but Deming, who was at least 90 years old at the time, spoke in very memorable fashion each day on key topics.

Team Players: A New Industry Leadership Council Seeks Sustainability Solutions

The work on sustainability in electronics at IPC continues and a new leadership council is one result of those efforts. In March 2023, IPC convened a Sustainability for Electronics Leadership Council to offer peer review and direction to IPC. The council is a response to the industry’s requests for more attention on environmental, social, and corporate sustainability in IPC’s industry standards, education, and advocacy.

I-Connect007 Editor’s Picks: Five Must-Reads for the Week

Holy mackerel, dear readers, you’ve been reading the good stuff this past week. I won’t need to steer you toward any of the must-read (but sometimes overlooked) content because your collective reading habits (as measured by clicks and reads) gravitated to the same things as I did. This week’s picks include an interview from IPC Community magazine on sustainability, two pieces on space travel technology, a new partnership between two well-known companies in our industry, and the July market report from IPC. Keep reading to see what I’m talking about.

How You Know You’re Working With a TQM Company

We spoke with Tim Rodgers, PhD, a senior faculty instructor at the University of Colorado (Boulder) and an expert in supply chain about a wide range of topics. In this excerpt, I ask Tim how to determine whether a company in your supply chain follows TQM practices. His well-informed reply leverages his years of experience in the electronics manufacturing industry.

Hiring With Leadership Style in Mind

Is your leadership style helping or hurting your hiring results? The influence of leadership style on hiring practices is often underestimated, yet it plays a significant role in the long-term success of any business. The costs associated with hiring and onboarding a new employee can easily exceed their annual salary, not to mention the future impact their performance can have on the organization. So, prioritizing the hiring process and approaching it with careful consideration is crucial.

Solving the Challenge of the Workforce Pipeline: A New Resource to Careers in Electronics

An aerospace engineer walks onto the job at $72,770 and can double their salary in just a few years. In fact, careers in the electronics industry can provide a sizable salary, but exactly how much will you make? A new resource from the IPC Education Foundation breaks down the most common career paths in electronics manufacturing, from operators to owners. What jobs are available? What does someone in the electronics industry even do?

Reduce Board Skyline With Solid Cavity Design

With the increasing shrinkage of modern electronics in both board size and product volume, it’s becoming more difficult to mount components to the PCB surface and still meet volumetric requirements. To avoid chip-on-board (COB) processing, board cavities can help mitigate the Z-axis skyline volumetric issues and allow for components that would otherwise not fit within the skyline to be used.
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