SMT007 Magazine

SMT007-Mar2022

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48 SMT007 MAGAZINE I MARCH 2022 Interview by Barry Matties I-CONNECT007 In this engaging retrospective conversa- tion with Barry Matties, Dave Hillman, a Fel- low, Materials and Process engineer at Col- lins Aerospace talks mentorship, pandemic changes, and solder. "Soldering is soldering," Dave says. "But how we do that keeps evolv- ing in response to the new technologies and smaller packages." What's the key to his suc- cess and longevity? "Find your passion." Here's how he's done it. Barry Matties: Dave, you have been in the same position with the same company for nearly 40 years. at type of thing doesn't even exist anymore. Dave Hillman: I've been really privileged to be able to do so. We have a co-op program at Col- lins, and I've been able to mentor. We get four co-ops a year, two for spring/summer, and then two for summer/fall. About 150 kids to date. A lot of them now are industry colleagues, both in and outside Collins. It's been fun to watch that transition, to watch them grow, to see the technology changing. I think it's interesting how my mentors have always talked about how big a shi it was from plated through-hole to surface mount and how that was revolutionary for the industry. Well, lead-free is doing the same thing. It's challeng- ing our material sets. What do you do? How do you get there? Collins is one of the few defense contractors that has been building lead-free for 10 years and it's been very successful. I think the real trick is that we're engineers. It's a prob- lem; go solve it. Matties: Your expertise was in soldering, cor- rect? Hillman: Correct. I attended Iowa State Uni- versity for my bachelor's, then went back 10 or 15 years later for my master's. I function as the soldering subject matter expert in terms of metallurgy, alloys and processes, trouble- shooting, that sort of thing. It's been a lot of Dave Hillman on Living Your Passion

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