Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/712650
August 2016 • The PCB Magazine 17 What is the cure? Establish a reliable base of suppliers (at least a second source in your own country). The cheap price could be the most expensive error when looking at total cost. A good relationship to a good, close-by supplier is more important because technical advice and help in design matters is easily available. This could help to save a lot of money—more than the cheap price. If you only use Asian suppliers, you throw your design over the wall and you get what you designed. A local supplier will give a helping hand in miniaturization and a more re- liable and longer lasting product. You will have fewer problems because of quality issues. (One of the largest problems in China is fluctuation. Labour turnover in the best case is 6–8%—per month! In the worst case it could happen to be 30% per month! Not very attractive to maintain a high quality level—or is it?) We should use more common sense— whether in the USA or in Europe, and we should have a better view on cost, rather than solely on price. Connie Herring Sales CARTEL ELECTRONICS, USA What I really like about the industry is… …that when it is slow, it gives greater op- portunity to sales people who work hard. Ev- eryone is a "good salesperson" when money is easy to grab. But in a down market, the "good sales people" are home complaining... Poor attitude = Poor actions = Poor results = Poor lifestyle. A slow market gives you time to develop relationships and learn the ever-changing per- sonality of the market and grab the lost oppor- tunities of the "good salespeople" who spend their time complaining instead of servicing and selling. Emma Hudson PCB Industry Lead EMEA+LA, UL, UK If they would just do this... If the laminate and coating manufacturers would just start UL recognizing their products using solder limits representative of real solder- ing processes, the PCB manufacturers would be much more likely to do the same (re: reduced and no-test programmes for adding materials to PCBs need solder limits to be at least the same or more severe) and then the SAFETY testing done on the PCBs would be much more real- istic of the real life situation, and in turn we in the industry would be doing our bit to make the world a safer place. Most companies still use solder limits that equate to the old solder float test, but we know that assemblers are typically using multiple SMT reflow operations when soldering the board; ev- eryone accepts that this influences the reliabil- ity of the PCB but very few seem to think about the influence on safety. What I really like about the industry is... This industry is full of wonderful people who are always willing to help you and do what they can to support you. I am very pleased to be a part of it and hopefully will be for many years to come. James Latham Chief Marketing Officer ESI, USA What I really like about the industry/ my company is... What I really like is the dynamic nature of the industry. PCB processors, contract manu- VOICES OF THE INDUSTRY X X X