Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/1163814
30 DESIGN007 MAGAZINE I SEPTEMBER 2019 Shaughnessy: We also have 5G and all the smart manufacturing and Industry 4.0 coming online. Hudson: 5G was a big topic at the EIPC confer- ence last week when we were in Austria. Er- icsson presented a paper on 5G and all of the challenges we have in the industry and mak- ing sure the right materials are there. 5G is something the industry needs to be switching to because it's coming quickly and has been building for a while. Shaughnessy: We need to straighten out that Huawei issue. Is the U.K. wary of them? In the U.S., the attitude is that Huawei cannot be in- volved in our 5G. Hudson: It has been interesting in the U.K. There have been some discussions about al- lowing Huawei to be involved in certain as- pects of 5G. There have also been some po- litical conversations and clarifications with Trump's visit to see Theresa May recently. It came up in the standards meeting. We have to be careful about sharing information with people on the U.S. Entity List as it may break your government export ITAR-type rules. It's all goal posts at the moment, and they seem to keep moving. As an electronics industry, we are a global industry. And to now have to let politics come in and stop things is another rea- son we need to harmonize standards. In Europe, we are lucky in the sense that if you buy a product in Europe, essential- ly, you know it is going to meet those same standards. And harmonization says that if we can have those single international stan- dards, at least we know when we buy a product that it is going to meet certain qual- ity, reliability, and safety levels; that has to be fundamental. Shaughnessy: I cannot believe we have not standardized on metric or imperial. Hudson: The U.K. is awful on this because we sometimes use both. I was taught in metric, but we still use miles with things related to au- tomotive; for example, all of the road signs are still in miles, but when you go to Europe, it is all in kilometers. The U.K. is still in that tran- sition zone of whether it should use metric or imperial, it often depends on your age with which way you want it to be. I have to ask people what units they're using when I talk to them. But we still talk in ounces of copper for weight but microns for thickness. We'll get there in the end. Shaughnessy: It sounds like you have a fun job. Hudson: I do, I love it. I am very lucky. It's been great working for Gen3 in this new role. I love that they support standards work; it keeps my brain active and challenges me. At- tending industry events is great for network- ing as well. Shaughnessy: How many people are in the company? Hudson: We're growing and have over 20 in the U.K. now, which sounds quite small, but we have an international customer base, includ- ing many large companies. Shaughnessy: It has been great talking with you, Emma. Thank you. Hudson: Thank you, Andy. DESIGN007 As an electronics industry, we are a global industry. And to now have to let politics come in and stop things is another reason we need to harmonize standards.