Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/1088168
12 SMT007 MAGAZINE I MARCH 2019 DSG: Breaking Ground on the Smart Factory Revolution Feature by Barry Matties I-CONNECT007 Mauro Dallora leads the I-Connect007 team through the Dongguan Somacis Graphic (DSG) PCB Co. Ltd. facility in China, lays out the company's strategy for becoming an Industry 4.0 smart factory, and explains the current on- going major expansion. Read about various topics in this factory tour and interview. I-Connect007 first visited DSG about eight years ago. At that time, DSG was four years into taking on the challenge of building a PCB manufacturing factory from the ground up in Dongguan, China. As a joint venture between SOMACIS SpA and Graphic Plc, Mauro was charged to handle the enormous project, and he did just that. Mr. Giovanni Tridenti, Mauro, and a few young guys arrived at the dirt lot in Dong- guan with a suitcase, a checkbook, and a lot of ideas. Then, they got started. Two years and a million decisions later, the showcase factory was tooled with state-of-the-art equip- ment, well-thought-out systems, and an entire team of exclusively Chinese workers producing world-class PCBs. At that time, most of the employees lived at the company's newly constructed on-site dor- mitories. Mauro was also responsible for train- ing his team on not just the process of building a board but also how to take care of custom- ers, the facility, and process equipment. Aside from all of that, he also had to build a cafete- ria to feed and nourish the workforce properly. Again, this was from the ground up in a China that was very different from today. China is a rapidly and ever-changing envi- ronment from business to social issues. It was not that many years back when a large seg- ment of the population relied on bicycles as their primary mode of transport. Today, the Mauro Dallora, COO