Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/1098973
APRIL 2019 I SMT007 MAGAZINE 9 right behind is Barry Matties' conversation with Jeffrey Diament, a young engineer (and Princeton graduate) developing new sensors at startup Instrumems. If you think the youth of today aren't focused, motivated, and career- oriented, then you need to talk to these young people; they'll change your mind. Craig Reiselt, CEO at Octane Open Concepts, discusses Octane's innovative tools for CM floor optimization. Octane straddles both of our themes this month in that the products demonstrate a shift toward new manufacturing technology. Also, Craig's development team is young, fresh out of school, and unhampered in their thinking about how to solve problems. Turning our attention to emerging tech- nologies, we bring you two interviews on battery and sensor technology currently under development with help from the Nano and Advanced Materials Institute (NAMI) based out of Hong Kong. Tracy Liu and David Yeung discuss their work and the forthcoming rollout of their products. We're also delighted to premiere a brand- new column! Mike Fiorilla from Manncorp Inc. kicks it off with "When Is It the Right Time To Automate?" Look for insights on equipment from Mike monthly in SMT007 Magazine. Closing the latch on this issue is Vic Markarian from Cadence Systems. I caught up with Vic at CES in Las Vegas in January and learned why Cadence maintains a presence at a consumer electronics show. I hope you enjoy the insights and energy from these young people and the new technol- ogies that tend to come along with them. The I-Connect007 team had a delightful time bring- ing these stories to print. If you have feedback, suggestions, or would like to submit a story of your own, please contact us at editorial@icon- nect007.com. SMT007 facturing, you will be hiring truly digital think- ers, and those positions will not be the same as starter jobs were back in the 20 th century. Further, young technology takes time to be fully adopted. While we've become increas- ingly accustomed to new technology gain- ing critical mass adoption in years instead of generations, it often still takes a combination of events coming together to make adopting the new technology more valuable than simply leaving things the same. Corning's Gorilla Glass is an example. Corning developed an ion-exchange technology for strengthening glass back in the early 1960s. The chemically- strengthened glass found some specialty use in the 1990s—some 30-plus years later—but it broke out as a mainstream product in 2005 thanks to the iPhone. The dynamic is so common as to be a truism—people tend to criticize new ideas. Revolutionary thinking is met with disdain from the entrenched status quo. We all resist change and new thinking, some more than others. In our industry, the sheer number of new technologies in development will change not only what our industry builds but how we build it. And the youth coming up behind us are perfectly willing to make use of these new technologies. It's not a brave new world; it is a courageous new world. Apparently, no one told these young people that it couldn't be done. Our issue launches on a ballistic trajectory with coverage of the IEEE Rising Stars Confer- ence. I spent a weekend at the conference and brought back a pair of interviews with confer- ence organizers. Matt Smith leads us off. He started as a student attendee, and just a few years later, he's wrapping up a stint as event committee chair. We follow with an insightful talk with Mike Andrews, the elder statesman and founder of the conference. Next, columnist Eric Camden ponders the impact of "tribal knowledge" in the evolution from design concept to production in his aptly- titled "These Darn Kids/Back In My Day." Speaking of kids, our next piece takes us back to Rising Stars. In this article, I share perspec- tives from conference attendees. Following Nolan Johnson is managing editor of SMT007 Magazine. Nolan brings 30 years of career experience focused almost entirely on electron- ics design and manufacturing. To contact Johnson, click here.