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September 2015 • SMT Magazine 53 operating in Florida in July. In addition, the placement of electron- ics under the dashboard or hood of a car with all the moving parts, fluids and ex- posure to weather is a much harsher envi- ronment than most consumer electronics were originally designed to operate with- in. One way to deal with these challenges is to create heat sinks and additional cir- cuitry around the components, which keep their environment within the con- sumer component technical specification while providing a buffer zone to manage the harsher automotive environment. Las Marias: From a manufacturing/PCB as- sembly perspective, how do you ensure the accuracy and reliability of your products and processes? Enser: The short answer is keeping on top of all current certifications along with extensive in- ternal and external auditing. This includes the implementation of all the supporting elements such as FMEA, PPAP and APQP. The long answer is the time, investment and effort we put into ongoing monitoring. Sanmina has put in place IT systems, pro- cesses and infrastructure for manufacturing that are developed centrally and deployed glob- ally. Everything we produce in eight different industries is monitored at a product, customer program, plant, regional and global level on an ongoing basis. This means the lessons learned by our design and manufacturing engineers, customers and audit bodies are collected world- wide and evaluated. The system is highly mature and benefits from the best practice and contin- uous improvement activity based on thousands of new products introduced each year. The growth of electronics and technology in automobiles poses challenges for regulatory compliance and technical innovation. As a re- sult, we've taken a leadership role in trade or- ganizations such as ZVEI and SAE. These orga- nizations are critically important as they are at the forefront of developing the necessary stan- dards to safeguard consumers. With experience in other regulatory industries such as medical, aerospace and communications Sanmina is well positioned to contribute to the development of future solutions to the challenges new technol- ogy poses to critical safety requirements. Las Marias: how has the increase in automotive electronics impacted your business? Enser: The quantity and complexity of techni- cal challenges coupled with the increase of non- automotive components used in automotive applications have affected the business. Auto- motive OEMs are constantly seeking to shorten development lifecycles. We have built the ca- pability to drive down the time-to-market from what an OEM might traditionally plan would take years for the prototype and NPI phase to a few months. The increased complexity in automotive electronics is something we are al- ready very familiar with from technology and complexity increases in other markets such as communications, high-speed computing and storage. As the technical challenges grow with the need for more connectivity, bandwidth and speed, we expect automotive OEMs will need to leverage the advanced technology that San- mina provides in multi-layer high density PCBs, optical components and state-of-the-art manu- facturing automation. Traditionally, the automotive industry has experIeNCe Is Key continues FeAture