Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/1503998
8 PCB007 MAGAZINE I JULY 2023 Nolan's Notes by Nolan Johnson, I-CONNECT007 TQM: Always in Style A new white paper from IPC titled "Elec- tronic Design and Manufacturing Sustain- ably" 1 recently caught my eye, particularly because I just completed a podcast series with Siemens on the topic of sustainability as well as our June issue of SMT007 Magazine on sus- tainability in automation. e white paper mentions common themes we see in discussions about sustainability, namely "leadership culture," "collabo- ration," and "industry-wide think- ing." The author maintains that there are many fac- ets to sustainability, all of which seem- i n g l y n e e d t o b e addressed simulta- neously. Further- more, sustainabil- ity work is not a one-and-done sor t of project. Have you heard of "greenwash- ing?" It's a term that means putting an envi- ronmentally conscious veneer on something that is other w ise unchanged. It's bad form to issue a press release just because you changed the type of light bulbs in your factory, for example. Sin- cere work in sustainability is an ongoing pro- cess, a prime example of continuous improve- ment within each of our companies, as well as across company (and political) boundaries. Recently, I saw a public service ad showing the before and aer photos of a trash-covered beach, with the tagline, "It's not my garbage, but it is my planet." at is the kind of transfor- mational thinking about our collective futures that sustainability will require. "So many of our electronics manufactur- ing industry colleagues are talking more and doing more about sustainability for electron- ics," says Kelly Scanlon, IPC's lead sustainabil- ity strategist, speaking of the Siemens white paper. "e engineers who participate in IPC's Industry Intelligence are perfect examples of industr y experts who saw a need to offer helpful resources. Expect to see more industr y insights— from industr y for i n d u s t r y — f r o m IPC's Sustainability Initiative as we con- tinue to build a com- munity for those who are engaging on sus- tainability for electron- ics." Sustainability is, and must be, an ongoing way of think ing . Su stainab i lit y has become a requirement, not an option. Continuous improvement is much the same—table stakes, not a differentiator. In Michael Porter's 1988 book, Competitive Strategy, he flat out states that operational effi- ciency is not a competitive strategy, and that you cannot optimize yourself into a dominant market position. Operational effectiveness is a requirement for being in business at all.