Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/1116895
102 PCB007 MAGAZINE I MAY 2019 Feature Interview It has been over 15 years since Bob Neves started Microtek Laboratories China to service the local Chinese market. On a recent visit to Microtek's Changzhou facility, Barry Matties, publisher, and Edy Yu from the I-Connect007 China team spoke with Bob, who serves as the chairman and CTO. Bob discusses the changes he has seen living and doing business in China over the past 15 years, most notably the in- creased importance of standards and testing as China moves into manufacturing more high- reliability products. Barry Matties: First, we're here at your facility in Changzhou, and Microtek Labs has been at this facility for 12 years. Can you talk a little about Microtek? Bob Neves: Microtek is a laboratory that spe- cializes in testing for the supply end of the electronics industry. The primary companies that we do testing for are PCB manufacturers. We do testing and validation for the suppli- ers to the PCB industry, and people that buy PCBs and use them in assembly. The top end of our testing services for our customer base usually starts at the solder joint, and we do evaluations from the solder joint all the way through the raw materials, such as glass, ep- oxy, copper, and all of the other things that go into making a PCB. We become involved in the relationship between the supplier and cus- tomers as an independent source to determine whether the product does or doesn't meet the requirements. Sometimes, it's just routine, and we check on ongoing things, but other times, when there's an issue, a problem, or a discrep- ancy, we mediate. We test to IPC standards primarily, but we also test to local GB standards. We test to IEC standards and a variety of customer internal standards, the biggest of those being from the transportation industry right now. Transpor- tation is the fastest growing segment of the market because it's also the fastest changing. People in the transportation segment have to Microtek Labs: Providing Trusted Testing in the Chinese Market Bob Neves at Microtek's Changzhou facility.