A Salute to Process Engineers
April 14, 2016 | Patty Goldman, I-Connect007Estimated reading time: 1 minute
It seems very appropriate, coming on the heels of IPC APEX EXPO 2016, that the focus of our April issue is process engineering. I believe process engineers (and process engineer types) are the worker bees of IPC (and obviously of the companies they work for). If they don’t actually write the standards and specifications or present the technical papers, they most certainly are doing the work behind the scenes—running tests, gathering data, coming up with new ideas, developing new products, making existing products work better, and so forth.
The interesting thing about process engineering in our industry is that you don’t have to be a degreed engineer. You just have to be willing to take on the problem solving and troubleshooting that is involved in making things work—in this case, the PCB shop and its product. No easy task, believe me (I’ve been there), but the intrigue and the never-ending variety of problems, often brought on by the increasing complexity of PCBs, is probably what lured all of us in in the first place and keeps the job interesting and challenging—and makes it tough to leave. How many people do you know who have left the industry and found themselves drawn back in?
Getting back to the recent IPC conference and show, it was and is quite an event, as those in attendance can tell you. Between myriad subcommittee meetings, keynotes, a couple dozen technical paper sessions and the exhibition, one finds too much to do and way too little time to do it—and this year we had a lot of ground to cover. We certainly got plenty of walking in at the Las Vegas Convention Center; some people reached their 10,000 steps by noon!
In the meantime, though, there were more exhibitors than ever (though the PCB corner seemed smaller than ever) and there were many very interesting technical sessions where attendance was SRO. We hope to bring you some of those presentations in future issues of The PCB Magazine. The conference had special meaning to me, as I was inducted into IPC’s Hall of Fame at the Tuesday luncheon, a huge honor and one I am still trying to believe really happened. I am now an IPC Ambassador!
Read the full article here.
Editor's Note: This article originally appeared in the April 2016 issue of The PCB Magazine.
Suggested Items
Big Win for Defense Production Act Budget Allocation in FY24 Budget
04/23/2024 | I-Connect007 Editorial TeamOne year ago, President Biden issued a determination that chips and packaging are critical for national security. Since that time, much work has been done to continue the conversation in Washington, elevating the importance of the entire chips value chain, and including printed circuit boards and substrates, without which chips cannot operate.
Zentech’s Board of Directors Announces the Return of Matt Turpin as President and CEO
04/22/2024 | Zentech ManufacturingTurpin draws upon over 35 years of experience in the electronics industry and has an 18-year history with Zentech. He previously served as President and CEO from 2006 to 2019 after which time he has remained active in the EMS industry as an advisor to Zentech and other industry organizations.
Aaron Woolf, Dylan Peterson Join SIA Team
04/22/2024 | SIAThe Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA) announced Aaron Woolf and Dylan Peterson have joined the SIA team. Woolf will serve as director of global policy for economic security and Peterson will be a communications associate. SIA represents 99% of the U.S. semiconductor industry by revenue and nearly two-thirds of non-U.S. chip firms.
It’s Only Common Sense: OCCAM—the Time Is Now
04/22/2024 | Dan Beaulieu -- Column: It's Only Common SenseOne of my favorite books is a little tome called Who Moved My Cheese? Even those of you who don’t spend a lot of time reading books have at least heard of it and know that it refers to people, especially in business, who are so stuck in their ways that they get upset when something changes. In our business, we know this kind of thinking is especially true. In fact, it always makes me laugh when one of my innovative friends finds a new way to do something and is afraid that someone will steal his idea. I always tell him that no one in our business, especially a PCB engineer, has ever thought about someone else’s innovative idea enough to steal it.
Digitalisation and ESG
04/19/2024 | Marina Hornasek-Metzl, AT&SDigitalisation and ESG are prominent and high-priority topics in the global business community. The first focuses on applying technology throughout the value chain to produce faster, smarter, and more desirable business outcomes. The latter emphasises the broader value a business is expected to create for its stakeholders from an environmental, social, and governance perspective.