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Bill, we understand that you have a long history in the electronics manufacturing industry? Can you provide our readers with a brief description of your industry experience?

I have held numerous roles over my 36 years in the electronics industry. These roles include working for an electronic parts distributor, a raw board circuit tester, SMT line technician, SMT process engineer, SMT capital equipment project manager, and Subject Matter Expert in cleaning electronics. All my roles allowed personal growth and increased technical knowledge and love of the industry.

As a seasoned professional with more than three decades in the industry, what inspired you to run for the position of President of the Surface Mount Technology Association?

The SMTA has been one of the largest driving factors in my career. SMTA empowered my learning in all aspects of electronics manufacturing and allowed me to learn and grow from numerous industry experts who were my heroes when I started and now are friends. This empowerment allowed my love of this industry to grow and prosper. As President, I want to give back to the industry that has provided an amazing life for my family. My goal with running for President is to work with and empower as many newer individuals as possible to our amazing industry and allow them to grow and push the industry farther than we can imagine. This mentorship includes encouraging SMTA chapters to think outside the box when it comes to events and include mentor time during events.

You’ve mentioned a desire to mentor and guide the younger generation in the industry. How do you bridge the gap between experienced professionals like yourself and the newer engineers entering the field?

Bridging the gap is always a challenge. SMTA has done amazing things with developing training programs. These training programs could be used as mentor events. When I say mentorship events, I envision chapters taking the training and having their own members talk about the training and how in the real-world production atmosphere the tools in the training are just the start of the process. Another part of the bridging the gap is to allow multiple chapters to work together. SMTA has amazing teams throughout the globe. If chapters work together and host mentoring events, the end result will be sharing from both mentors and mentees. Sharing no longer needs to just be emails or standard in-person events. With today’s modern technology platforms, I would encourage those that want to present on non-standard topics. A perfect example is writing a business equipment justification. This is a very nonstandard topic and one that is not taught in the academic world. If you have someone who understands the mindset of buying capital equipment and wants to share, the SMTA chapters should think about allowing that kind of presentation. Outside the box thinking is what will encourage younger and more experienced professionals to work together.

In your opinion, what aspects of “common sense” do you feel are lacking in the current practices within SMT, and how do you propose to reintegrate these principles?

Common sense is not lacking, it has just changed form so members of SMTA need to be willing to adapt and understand that what we once thought of as common sense is not so common anymore. Today’s world has evolved from the social media mindset, which says everything can be solved via social media platforms and can be solved now. But, unfortunately, is more than likely not true. Many manufacturing problems can’t be solved using just social media platforms. SMTA needs to take the mindset of incorporating more with numerous social media platforms on manufacturing challenges and have members start conversations about problems. SMTA can record the conversations so that numerous chapters can grow technical knowledge. As president, I will discuss with each chapter the possibility of increasing their social platforms and ask the board to add this to chapters’ overall performance scores that chapters get graded on.

You’ve expressed a belief that the new generation of engineers may not be solving problems effectively. How do you plan to encourage and support problem-solving skills among younger professionals within the SMTA?

Problem solving is an art form. Artists practice their craft all the time so they can create masterpieces. We must teach younger professionals that they must practice the art of problem solving all the time to be successful. As president, I would encourage the development of a problem-solving certificate that younger professionals can earn by solving problems created by many of the industry experts who have dealt with challenges and developed skills needed to solve problems. SMTA needs to bring Six Sigma training mindset to all those interested in learning. Just because you attend one class does not mean you’re an expert. If you attend numerous classes, you’re an expert in training. SMTA has numerous leaders who have learned Six Sigma tools. We can ask if our members would be willing to present an hour training class with numerous teachers, explaining and using different methods.

If elected as president, you’ve mentioned returning to the grassroots of the SMTA. Can you elaborate on what this entails and how it aligns with your vision for the association’s future?

The grassroots mindset means we need to bring back the networking mindset (whether in person or virtual), and we need to encourage mentorship at the chapter level. SMTA has done amazingly with individual chapters hosting events. To keep pushing chapters to think outside the box, I would encourage the chapters to have a mentor be part of their events. I believe that having a mentor present will increase numbers, which will then increase networking and mentorship. SMTA was built on networking and sharing technical knowledge. We can keep that going strong to the next generations by giving chapters more tools for networking and technical sharing.

Congratulations on receiving the Outstanding Technical Engineering Professional Award from Honeywell. What other awards have you received and how have you leveraged your expertise and recognition within the industry to benefit the exchange of information to the new generation?

I have earned numerous awards when it comes to my work mindset, which is always to push for an answer that solves the problem. Some of these awards were based on working for companies in which English was not the first language for employees. This means that using standard English words don’t always work for employees who don’t speak English as their first language. To overcome the challenge of conveying information to these associates, I developed training that is picture-based and very specific in the order of steps and how to get there. I believe the SMTA can use this same approach when working with younger industry team members. Instead of trying to just use pictures to walk an associate through certain steps, SMTA can use social media platforms to encourage information sharing with the new generation of manufacturing and engineering.

You emphasize the importance of being judicious over commercial interests. Can you expand on how you plan to maintain this balance while leading the SMTA, especially in an industry where commercial pressures can be significant?

One of the hardest things professionally is to be fair and genuine. Numerous vendors can provide technology that solves problems. What matters is how companies test the technology and how data is created. Data is always going to drive smart business decisions. As SMTA president, I will ask that chapters provide guidance on how to properly test technology. If engineers are given a path forward testing-wise, they will generate data that makes strong business sense and makes products better and faster, which is always preferred in manufacturing technology. If a vendor’s technology truly is better than others, the data will show that. Competition drives success. As SMTA president, I will encourage vendors to let the data win. Vendors always try to make a sale, but if they help a newer engineer learn that even if the technology did not win today, it might win later. Encouraging vendors that success is measured in years not months will be my message to vendors.

Returning to the SMTA’s original chapter is part of your vision to impact the younger generation positively. How do you see this move fostering stronger connections between experienced professionals and newer members, and what tangible outcomes do you hope to achieve?

Getting back to the true chapter mindset is critical. True chapter mindset means engaging in technical meetings not only in person but also virtually. The pandemic showed that virtual meetings work. They also allow people to interact with others. Yes, virtual sessions have challenges but so do in-person sessions (finding a venue, speaker, getting people to attend). SMTA has always succeeded at in-person meetings. To the newer generation, in-person meetings can be stressful because they don’t know anyone, the venue is far away, or they just don’t want to meet people they don’t know. Unfortunately, COVID brought much stress to new engineering people and that stress needs to be acknowledged. To overcome this stress, I would encourage SMTA chapters to think of virtual meetings or meetings through social media platforms as alternatives to in-person meetings. The best meeting is a meeting that someone attends. The technology that is used today is much more powerful and can easily reach a large audience. SMTA already uses some social media and virtual meetings. As president, I would encourage more use of the technology and support the chapters using all available tools from the SMTA.

Is there anything else you would like our readers to know about you and your plans for the SMTA if elected?

SMTA has led the electronics industry for 40 years in networking and sharing the ideas needed for successful, modern manufacturing. As president I would encourage all SMTA members and chapters to start thinking outside the box when it comes to electronics manufacturing and how we mentor the next generation of engineers. When I started, cell phones were only seen in sci fi movies. Now cell phones are the heart and soul of our industry. The next generation of engineering will make it so we have technology within our brain. To make that happen I want all of SMTA to understand what we did in the past was great and laid the foundation for how amazing this organization is. To take the technical knowledge to the next level, we will have to be open minded when mentoring the next generation. We will also have to encourage networking on all levels, whether in-person or virtual. Networking will allow others to learn from the experienced professionals and mentor the next generation.

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According to their Vice President of Business Development, Bradley Turner, “the regional population base is not growing. Plus, the ability for a human to be right 100% of the time is just not feasible.” That is why Matric really made a push into more optical inspection and as Bradley says, “part of that plan was Koh Young with pre- and post-oven AOI, making sure that boards are inspected before they get flowed, so there’s no waste or scrap boards.”
Bradley explains that “more product, and more placement with less people working on the lines has been critical in simplifying our manufacturing steps, allowing us to remain competitive with the rest of the globe.”

“We don’t go into vendor relationships without it being a partnership”

The man driving this manufacturing revolution is Vice President of Operations Patrick Stimpert who states unequivocally “we don’t go into vendor relationships without it being a partnership. I will not do it. And if you’re going to have me take machine one or two and go out on a limb for you, you’re going to be right there and we’re going to fail together or we’re going to succeed together.” He adds, “it’s been really, really nice to see Koh Young and Panasonic, work in partnership and to be able to pull both parties into a room and say, ‘hey, this is our next step, and I need you guys onboard’ and for them to say, ‘yes, they’re going to do it’.”

Patrick looks at EMS with fresh eyes, he explains that, “coming into the industry, not knowing everything about the industry, I just wanted to use industrial management techniques and see what we’re going to get out of this, and so it’s really taken us down a path and I’m really excited about the future, not just the future for Matric, the future for this industry.”

The entire organization right to the top shares Patrick’s view. President and CEO, Richard Turner, explains, “We’re using Koh Young equipment on all our surface mount placement lines in three locations: solder paste inspection, pre- and post-reflow AOI. They are all networked together, and we have just one person monitoring all the production coming off all the machines at one location. It’s helped us immensely to make sure that the products that we’re producing are meeting the specifications and standards.”

Vice President, Bradley Turner adds, “we’ve had a particularly strong relationship with Koh Young. When we were walking around, I mentioned a challenge that they’re immediately ready to meet. And even some of the software challenges that we’ve presented to them, they’ve risen to the occasion. It’s really helpful to have that collaboration, because I understand we’re not the biggest contract manufacturer out there, there’s much larger, so it’s nice to know that even for a contract manufacturer of our size, when we want to have that open dialogue about what we’re looking to achieve and how we want to get there, Koh Young has is ready to take that step with us. Sometimes they must think a little bit outside of their normal parameters.”

Bradley concludes, “it’s a partnership that we’re looking for when we bring in customers, and we’re looking for partnerships when we are looking for new equipment, not just get this because it’s fancy and fast, is this going to work for us for the next five, ten, fifteen years as we continue to expand?”

Analytic, Analytics, Analytics

Patrick explains that analytics make or break everything to include margin control, pricing, and everything else. He explains, “once we rearranged the building to where I felt we finally have our flows correct and we really started performing, it was pretty apparent that the optical inspection would have to keep up, the Panasonic placement machines would have to keep up, all of our go-no-go checks, all had to keep up, the testing had to keep up! The one thing we knew we couldn’t do was take every PCB board and go through a visual inspection to look for exceptions. You cannot do that and think you’re going to keep up at the pace that we need to run at.”

Patrick came out of the Toyota production and knows that “you just don’t touch anything twice. Nothing good comes from that. And so, I put a lot of pressure on Koh Young to say, hey, we’re going to make these calls and I want to make that call before the post-reflow AOI, so we’re going to put pre-reflow AOI on everything.”

Vice President, Bradley Turner loves these analytics and says that it all “ties back into our weekly ops meeting and our reports. Then that further ties into our strategic goals when we’re looking at capital expenditure and seeing where we have scrap or job issues. Actually, it allows us to turn around if we’re having issues on a board and have that conversation with the customer that generates engineering revenue dollars, but also lets that customer know that we’re trying to build the best product possible.” The data and images that Matric is getting from the optical inspection equipment really helps with that conversation. Bradley adds, “that’s been extremely helpful and is part of the reason that we’ve been rolling it out across all of our lines, and why it’s going to be company-wide, so we’re excited about that.”

Pre-reflow AOI – Stop Buying Chairs!

Pre-reflow AOI means Matric is not sending anything they shouldn’t into the ovens. They can wipe a board and move on very cost-effectively, and then turn around and do something to make sure they fixed the root cause of the problem. Patrick is extremely proud that Matric is the first EMS in the industry to do this. Patrick adds, “we’re also one of the first ones in the industry to reduce to one person making all the calls across all our equipment, and so we’re setting up a war room. There’s going to be one person making those calls, a couple of highly skilled technicians that are going to have headsets and they’re just going to go take care of the identified problems, and we’re not going to have people sitting at the AOI. You just don’t buy chairs. Stop buying chairs. The human eye can’t do it anyway, so you might as well get your AOI process correct.

Learn more about Matric Group at www.matric.com.

You can watch the video case study as well as in-depth interviews with Richard, Bradley and Patrick at www.kohyoungamerica.com/Matric-group-delivers-breakthrough-operational-improvement-with-koh-young/.

Matric Group have Koh Young KY8030-3 SPI, Zenith Alpha pre-reflow AOI, and Zenith post-reflow AOIs. Product details and more information about Koh Young and its inspection solutions are available at www.kohyoungamerica.com.

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Delsys, as a trading and service company in the field of electronics and microelectronics, completes its portfolio with the high-quality kolb cleaning systems and cleaning media for the electronics production.

Luca Ryser, Managing Director of Delsys AG, explains: “With the kolb systems, we can now offer our customers a functioning, complete electronics production line with all the necessary steps from a single source.”

All services from consulting to installation to service & support are carried out nationwide by the staff around Ruedi and Luca Ryser, on behalf of kolb.

“We are pleased to have found a new partner for our sales in Switzerland in Delsys AG. It was important for us to be able to offer the best possible all-round service for our Swiss customers on site,” Christian Ortmann, CEO kolb Cleaning Technology, is pleased to say.

Delsys.ch

www.kolb-ct.com

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Due to its full-service capabilities, including all phases of electronic manufacturing and assembly work, many customers have been with Surf-Tech from the beginning. The new software takes the company’s customer service a step further. Stephen Eggart, President, “As we continue to grow, Calcuquote is going to be invaluable to allow us to handle additional sales inquiries.”

QuoteCQ simplifies and expedites the request-for-quote (RFQ) process, allowing Surf-Tech to be more responsive. The software is designed as a comprehensive solution for Electronic Manufacturing (EMS) and other customers in the electronics supply chain. Surf-Tech uses QuoteCQ to manage customer requests, capture assembly requirements, analyze customer BOM, source materials, estimate labor, define markups, and finally, sending a finished quote – all in one convenient solution.

Additionally, CalcuQuote’s ShopCQ is designed for the ever-changing electronics supply chain. From demand to delivery, ShopCQ reduces Surf-Tech’s cycle time, increases efficiency, and creates the seamless sharing of relevant data, allowing the company’s purchasing department to focus on what matters.

Surf-Tech is IPC, ITAR registered and ISO 9001 certified. Personnel are certified to various applicable standards including IPC-A-610 (Acceptability of Electronic Assemblies) and J-STD-001 (requirements for Soldered Electrical and Electronic Assemblies). For more information, visit www.surftechmfg.com.

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Essemtec is for the first time at Electronica Munich, and this immediately with a large number of new solutions. Here you can see what we show and what problems our customers solve with it.

The ground-breaking unique All-in-One combined processes solution for printed electronics.

With this 3D technology, developers can get rid of mechanical buttons and switches, complex multi-part electronics assemblies and replace them with one-piece solutions that are thin, light, beautiful, and strong, without compromising functionality. In addition to simplifying electronics integration and enabling new use cases, IMSE parts typically reduce weight by 70%, or more, and wall thickness can be as slim as 2 mm. Studies show that this new technology has huge growth potential across many industries, including automotive, appliances, IoT, and industrial solutions, to name a few.

The world’s only All-in-One combined processes solution for prototyping adhesive solder paste jetting and pick and place in one machine.

The advantages of this solution are essential to small and medium companies to survive in the dynamic electronics manufacturing ecosystem. Prototype, small series and large-scale production are increasingly subject to extreme time pressure. Time-to-market is a decisive success factor in today’s market. In addition to production time, the primary focus is on fast response times and rapid designs. Corrections, adjustments and process optimizations must be implemented immediately.

Experience Essemtec live pick & place and dispensing processes with FOX equipment on a revolutionary 3D design which combines full 3D-wiring and NFC functionality. This is a brilliant application to control the digital footprint!

AME is a worldwide new solution for creating innovative electronic circuits through the jet process of printed circuit boards and the integration of embedded components.

Nano Dimension pioneered Additively Manufactured Electronics (AME) with DragonFly, a multi-material 3D printing system able to craft functional circuit boards and electronic devices within hours.

Nano Dimension’s one-of-kind 3D electronics printing capability is made possible by inkjet deposition of both metal and polymer materials simultaneously.

Together, these breakthrough solutions are transforming the industry by removing the old constraints on design and production.

We will have experts steeped in knowledge of both divisions, at AME machines as well as at the latest dispensing technologies available at the show. See you soon!

For more information about Essemtec, please visit www.essemtec.com

Watch the below for more information about Nano Dimension or visit www.nano-di.com

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“We are honored to receive this generous grant from the Hearst Foundations,” said Michele Bennyhoff, Director of The Michael Ziegler PRIDE Industries Foundation. “The I AM ABLE Helpline is a valuable gateway for people with disabilities to get connected to essential employment support services and job opportunities. This grant will allow us to serve more people and positively impact their lives.”

PRIDE Industries is the nation’s leading employer of people with disabilities. Launched in 2021, the I AM ABLE Helpline—the only employment helpline of its kind—assists people with disabilities and other barriers to employment, including military veterans, former foster youth, and trafficking survivors. Free and available in both English and Spanish, the helpline connects people to support services, job training, and employment opportunities.

“We are proud to partner with outstanding nonprofits such as PRIDE Industries to help ensure people of all backgrounds have an opportunity to build healthy, productive and inspired lives,” said Paul “Dino” Dinovitz, Executive Director at Hearst Foundations. “The Foundations are pleased to support the I AM ABLE Helpline.”

Founded by William Randolph Hearst in the 1940s, the Hearst Foundations serve as a philanthropic resource for organizations working in the fields of culture, education, health and social services. Since inception, the foundations have made over 22,000 grants to nearly 6,000 organizations, totaling more than $1.3 billion in funds awarded.

PRIDE Industries employs an inclusive workforce to deliver essential business services—including facilities management, manufacturing, logistics, and supply chain management—to government entities and private businesses. The nonprofit social enterprise also provides recruitment, staffing, and disability inclusion support services to employers wishing to cultivate a more inclusive and productive workforce.

“At PRIDE Industries, we provide vocational training, and we can connect individuals with jobs—either with us or with one of our many employment partners,” said Bennyhoff. “And it all starts with that call to the helpline.”

About PRIDE Industries

PRIDE Industries delivers business excellence with a positive social impact. A social enterprise, we provide facilities operations and maintenance services, custodial services, contract manufacturing, supply chain management, packaging and fulfillment services, and staffing and recruitment services to private and public organizations nationwide. Founded in 1966, PRIDE Industries’ mission is to create employment for people with disabilities. Through personalized employment services, we help individuals realize their true potential and lead more independent lives. PRIDE Industries proves the value of its inclusive workforce model through operational success across multiple industries every day. Learn more at https://PRIDEIndustries.com.

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