Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/1443477
12 PCB007 MAGAZINE I JANUARY 2022 Johnson: And automotive plays an increasingly large part in the global market when it comes to electronics manufacturing. It seems like the requirements for automotive are quickly becoming the requirements for the industry overall. Rapala-Virtanen: For me, the telecom side, like 5G and automotive, are moving toward similar types of products. e new autonomous vehi- cles are like a small base station because they need to communicate with the network. ere is a huge amount of information and data from the vehicle which must be connected to the network all the time. For automotive, as you know, the reliability requirements are strin- gent. Johnson: Right. It's an interesting situation in automotive. e automobile is a base station, but it must be very environmentally rugged. Rapala-Virtanen: It has to be very reliable because the connection must be working all the time, without latency or dropouts. Johnson: So, is there enough pressure from the market to retool the factories in Europe? Are they retooling for this? Rapala-Virtanen: Yes, they have, but nobody really knows exactly what the automotive product will be, if they use the same etching and lamination processes, or if they should be ready to implement some of the new manufac- turing technologies. But it will be very interesting to watch. I don't know if it will be the telecom or automo- tive that will be first to implement some of the new ways of manufacturing. Johnson: It sounds like it can be described as cautious investment and movement toward new technologies that are bringing smaller, finer capabilities. at includes things like additive and semi-additive, and a focus on the goal of being sustainable and green, which, of course, points to those same technologies. I suppose there also is more of a push into a smart or automated factory technology to help with those same goals of getting to be more sustainable, better margins. Rapala-Virtanen: Yes, you are right, the chal- lenge is to make the decision and select the cor- rect technology supporting the product needs. Johnson: And you need more data for trac- ing and better reliability, not to mention sus- tainability, because you have a better sense for everything in the process. Rapala-Virtanen: I must say that all the PCB fac- tories—the new ones making these very high density HDIs—are collecting a lot of data, but maybe they are not using it for anything. Johnson: Making use of that data seems to be a challenge, doesn't it? Rapala-Virtanen: Yes, and I don't think PCB manufacturing is the only one with that chal- Tarja Rapala-Virtanen