Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/1278896
14 PCB007 MAGAZINE I AUGUST 2020 technologies at necessary volumes now or in the near future. Calumet is active in the fight to strengthen American manufacturing for elec- tronics because there are serious concerns about the domestic industry's ability to reliably pro- duce the most advanced technologies, technolo- gies that must otherwise be sourced offshore. Brassard: A couple of years ago, DoD prime OEMs would be asking for quotes and lead-times on their most advanced technologies, treating PCB manufacturers as build-to-print operations. It was reported to us by OEMs that many to most PCB manufacturers are no-bidding the most advanced technologies. To- day, the OEMs are asking different questions, "How close are you to having this capability?" or "What do you need to develop this capability more quickly?" Based on our direct activ- ity with several OEMs, it's clear there is great interest or pressure to build state- of-the-art boards in North America, often for secu- rity reasons. OEMs require a standard volume of very complex technologies, if not today, certainly within the next 2–3 years. From 2003 to 2015, off- shoring decimated the do- mestic PCB manufacturing industry. Although the industry has recovered to some extent since 2015, it wouldn't appear our industry is ready to provide the necessary combination of capability, capacity, lead-time, and price in- creasingly desired by OEMs. Over the past two years, we have experienced OEMs being much more interested in partnerships to develop or advance manufacturing capabilities and tech- nologies than ever in the past. Matties: That's a new model. We've talked about this partnership for years, but it's really taking root now. Brassard: There is an aerospace OEM that has been reaching out to us every six months over the last several years. Their inquiries evolved from "Can we place an order for this with you?" to "What would it take to develop this technology with your company?" Again, it was about going from build-to-print to being a so- lution provider. For example, manufacturing phased-array an- tenna boards was not on Calumet's technology roadmap until we were approached by an OEM with a proposal for partnership. This was af- ter they had done an exhaustive search of PCBs shops interested or capa- ble of partnering to devel- op this specific manufac- turing capability and left wanting. It was a challeng- ing technology to manu- facture—a large, 7-pound, ½-inch design with bur- ied resistance, back-drill, controlled depth routing, sequential lamination de- sign with a few additional proprietary elements—and must be manufactured on- shore. Happy Holden: When I had to build radar boards, we were flabbergasted that the design group would come back with eight more versions, each with a slight millimeter movement of certain geom- etries. We said, "What is this?" They had to ad- mit, "This is 80% trial-and-error engineering. We don't have modeling in these kinds of de- sign tools. And frankly, we can't predict it. We have to have all eight of these built to find out which one works better." The problem isn't building it; the real problem is engineering and designing it, and that's a lot of fun. Brassard: Exactly. Happy is right on. The de- sign asks for process and manufacturing engi- neers from all sides to come together and of- ten, through an iterative design process, to find Calumet Electronics is located in Michigan.