If you’ve logged onto a popular social media account, the first thing you get asked is: What’s on your mind? It’s such a great question because it’s so open-ended. There’s no judgment, no general direction, no expectation. We just get to share what we’re thinking about.
Well, we’re three months into 2023, and wrapping up our first quarter. So, as a PCB fabricator, what’s on your mind? Is it time to assess, and perhaps reassess, your expectations for the year and whether your reality is meeting your predictions? What are you hopeful about? What has you nervous? What are the opportunities and obstacles to your business right now?
Several trends and challenges seem to be prevalent today: reshoring, high reliability, increased capacity, staffing, new capabilities, and the CHIPS Act. As you’ll see in this issue, we touch on all those topics, as well as a few surprises.
It was clear at IPC APEX EXPO that you have plenty on your mind. A walk through the Technical Conference uncovered that of the 28 technical tracks, 16 were related to printed circuit board fabrication; that’s nearly 60% of the sessions devoted to fabrication issues. Interestingly, my impression of the show floor (based on booth presence) was that it was weighted much more in favor of assembly services than fabrication.
Thus, as we strategized content for this issue, we encountered an interesting dynamic: Suggest a specific topic to a subject matter expert and they can usually deliver an essay, or produce a white paper already tucked away in their proverbial desk drawer. Sometimes they might refer to a technical paper presented at a recent conference or symposium which we can publish. But this required a different approach. It was called, “Let’s talk.”
One of the best and most interesting aspects of being the editor of PCB007 Magazine is the opportunity to get inside someone’s head. What do they know? How do they know it? How can their knowledge help you? Everybody is different; everybody has their own story. It’s these exact nuanced conversations that set this issue apart. We spent a lot of time talking to fabricators, and while each has a specific set of needs, you’re going to find some common themes. It’s definitely must-read content.
One side note: I want to discuss the rapidly-evolving CHIPS Act, legislation that passed last year. The U.S. Department of Commerce is now communicating the process it will use to allocate funds. The department has made several announcements about its intentions, each worded slightly differently, but with the same intentions. Five main priorities will guide the CHIPS for America program: catalyzing private investment, protecting taxpayer dollars, building a skilled and diverse workforce, engaging with U.S. partners, and driving economic opportunity and inclusive economic growth.1
Hillsboro, Oregon, (my hometown) is the base of operations for Intel’s microprocessor development teams, and the CHIPS Act programs could have a significant impact on the local economy. Understandably, several local/state policy watchdog groups are reporting on the state’s activities with the CHIPS Act. In citing the Commerce Department’s announcement, the Oregon Center for Public Policy recently shared2:
"The Department encourages projects that include state and local incentive packages capable of creating spillover benefits that improve regional economic resilience and support a robust semiconductor ecosystem, beyond assisting a single company. Such incentives might include investments in workforce, education, site preparation, or infrastructure (including transit or utilities) that are not limited to the applicant, but designed to benefit both the applicant and the broader community. Likewise, the Department will place less weight on incentives (such as direct tax abatements) with less potential for spillover benefits." (Emphasis added.)
The center’s reporting is consistent with the priorities that the CHIPS program has established. The Commerce Department seems to be saying that while state and local governments are required to offer applicants incentives, in order for those incentives to meet the program’s priorities, they must be structured in such a way as to directly improve manufacturing infrastructure. Taking the easy route by providing a state/local tax abatement, for example, could be used by the recipient simply to improve the corporate bottom line, not build out infrastructure. Commerce is looking for infrastructure, site, or workforce improvements from these incentives—meaningful change, in other words. This sort of prioritization by the Commerce Department should be encouraging to smaller shops in working with local and state governments to effect some real change in their own businesses.
We found the March 2023 issue of PCB007 Magazine to be quite interesting to compile. As you read the interviews, look for the larger themes that are suggested or implied in each conversation, which become clearer as you move from interview to interview. As always, we encourage you to contact us with your feedback.
References
This column originally appeared in the March 2023 issue of PCB007 Magazine.
03-16-2023
We’re three months into 2023, and wrapping up our first quarter. So, as a PCB fabricator, what’s on your mind? Is it time to assess, and perhaps reassess, what your expectations are for the year and whether your reality is meeting your projections? What are you hopeful about? What has you nervous? What are the opportunities and obstacles to your business right now?
View Story03-02-2023
It’s the ongoing balance of the four forces of flight—thrust, drag, weight, and lift—that keeps any flying object aloft. To gain altitude, the pilot adds lift, which usually requires more thrust. To descend safely, there must be less thrust, allowing weight to exert more force on the trajectory. In the business world, thrust is revenue, lift is manufacturing capacity, weight represents various business obstacles, and drag stands in for the operating costs and other financial burdens on your business. Just as the bird or pilot must balance their four forces, you must balance yours to climb upward.
View Story02-02-2023
When you’re new to your career, your role, or even new to the industry, the pressure can be immense. Then you find yourself at a trade show representing your company, tasked with bringing information back to your organization. But take heart, at least you’re not Harrison “Jack” Schmitt. Jack really understood pressure. Schmitt is a retired NASA astronaut from the Apollo, era but let me take a step back and explain some of the history. The U.S. space program, as you may recall, went to the moon with a science-based agenda; astronauts brought back lunar samples to study.
View Story01-18-2023
This month, PCB007 Magazine looks at the evolution of advanced packaging from the fabricator’s perspective. This is, as you’re aware, a global topic. Asia harbors nearly all the manufacturing capabilities for the packaging and interposer substrates required for the latest packaging technologies. North America and Europe, buoyed by their respective chip technologies legislation, are working to bring packaging capability back to their home shores. How this plays out remains to be seen.
View Story01-04-2023
Advanced packaging is not new to our coverage. Over the past two years, we’ve written about the heterogenous integration roadmap, as well as reported on the October 2022 IPC Advanced Packaging Symposium in Washington, D.C. This is a topic wherein printed circuit manufacturing and semiconductor manufacturing begin to converge. For this issue of SMT007 Magazine, we contacted industry experts on packaging technologies to get their perspective on advanced packaging, and followed up with many of the participants in the IPC symposium, seeking a deeper dive into their presentations. We found enthusiastic voices willing to share their concerns, solutions, and R&D work with you.
View Story12-05-2022
December is a month full of traditions. They may be religious, spiritual, family, or entirely personal. They may be related to the calendar or business cycles, but whatever the reason, December certainly seems to be driven by tradition. While traditions often get a bad reputation as stodgy and tired, they aren’t all bad. For example, we use this last month of the year to prepare you for IPC APEX EXPO. The upcoming conference and trade show is scheduled for Jan. 21–26, 2023, at the San Diego Convention Center. As we prepare this issue for publication, the show floor boasts 366 exhibitors.
View Story11-17-2022
It was over lunch on the second day of the recent IPC Symposium on Advanced Packaging when I asked a question that triggered an interesting discussion about advanced packaging and ultra high density interconnect. While these two technologies are distinct, they are also symbiotic; it takes both to make either successful. As the symposium delivered on its agenda, the inter-relationship between those two technologies became crystal clear.
View Story11-02-2022
How many times have you watched a conveyor belt in a movie played out for comedic effect? It’s a familiar trope: The belt starts out slowly, then increases its speed, until chaos ensues. Think “I Love Lucy,” “Star Wars,” and Charlie Chaplin in “City Lights.” These are perfect metaphors for this issue on workflow management, where planning your workflow on the manufacturing floor in these challenging times sometimes feels like being just one step away from disaster—or safety.
View Story10-04-2022
Technical conferences, expos, symposia, and trade gatherings of all kinds are back and in a big way. Maybe it’s just because we’ve been quiet for a while, followed by a year of careful, tentative restarts to the event schedules, but this upcoming year’s calendar of events seems to be full steam ahead. I’m excited to get back into the convention centers and hotel ballrooms; that is where some of our best news and reporting originates. That comes at a price, however, as my travel schedule looks pretty brutal between now and Thanksgiving. Just between you and me, while it may feel brutal to my workload, I’m ready to dust off my passport, see some airports, and wear thin some shoe leather.
View Story09-19-2022
In a 2010 New York Times article titled “Failing Like a Buggy Whip Maker? Better Check Your Simile,” writer Randall Stross confronts the buggy whip analogy and unintentionally offers some perspective on our industry. PCB fabrication is thriving on a global scale. Innovations are occurring regularly, mostly in Asia. It’s not that the world has moved beyond needing printed circuits; the world is simply evolving its wants and needs from a circuit board fabricator. It makes sense that those who are leaning on the buggy whip analogy may have given up on the industry. Truth be told, however, we’re more like the carriage parts manufacturers than like the buggy whip makers. Here's why.
View Story09-02-2022
The development of an issue of SMT007 Magazine can take two to four months of planning, research, content gathering, editing, and production. Under normal conditions (are they ever normal?) the stories we identify at the start of the planning process are still accurate at the time of publication. We move fast in this industry, but sometimes, just like the rest of our industry, things evolve.
View Story08-02-2022
We’re all feeling the discomfort, aren’t we? Things are getting squeezed and stretched. While the correct amount of that “something” is hard to put your finger on, there’s stress in the PCB manufacturing and assembly process. It reminds me of coming home from the hospital with my first born. He was 28 days early, and naturally, his early arrival threw off all our birth preparations. For example, we attended the last session of our Lamaze class with a newborn in a baby carrier. Never have I seen sharper, dagger-eyed stares than from that class full of moms-to-be.
View Story07-19-2022
The gears of the economy worked like clockwork for quite a long time, at least in North America, Europe, and Asia. Overall, that smooth operation is no longer the case, for several reasons. It’s as if the watchmaker has upended the clockworks onto the worktable and is rearranging the mechanism to work differently—to tell a different time, if you will. In the overall economy, there are bearish signs (9.1% inflation year-over-year in the U.S. in mid-July). But in electronics manufacturing, the market looks quite bullish on the demand side. This month’s cover reflects that dynamic—a bullish industry within what seems to be an emerging bearish economy.
View Story07-05-2022
In May 2022, the news broke in Portland, Oregon that the city government had suffered a “cybersecurity breach” and lost $1.4 million in city funds. As reported by numerous news sources, a city-issued press release stated that “preliminary evidence indicates that an unauthorized, outside entity gained access to a City of Portland email account to conduct illegal activity.” Incidents like these are more common than we realize, and must be addressed in our industry as well.
View Story06-01-2022
When we first started planning this issue, we used the word “partnership” in our working title. Partnership certainly is one way to collaborate. Creating close working relationships with manufacturing specialists who can extend your capabilities for your customers is one obvious way to collaborate. But there are others, for example, collaboration can also look like proactive communication with customers as well as vendors.
View Story
