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80 PCB007 MAGAZINE I SEPTEMBER 2019 number of locations certified to build military products? If such consolidations closed sites, it may have. However, in general, such consoli- dation changed the site names and ownership but did not result in any significant number of closures. Note: Viasystems closures happened before 2003. 6. Effects of the Closed PWB Manufacturing Sites A review of the U.S. PCB suppliers from 2003 to 2018 shows a decline from 567 to 226 com- panies (Figure 4). This 60% decline is higher than the 49% drop in MIL-PRF-31032 certified facilities in this same 15 year period. Losing these 341 U.S. bare board suppliers is the main factor for the decline in military-certified com- panies. It's almost certain that of the 226 re- maining U.S. PWB fabricators in 2018, a dozen or more are still in business because they were military-certified. If this loss of U.S. PWB fabricators was ran- dom and truly the root cause of reduced certi- fied sites, we should expect the percentage of all U.S. PWB manufacturers military-certified to be about the same in 2003 and 2018. In 2013, that percentage was 18% (102/577). In 2018, that percentage increases to 25% (57/226) but nearly the same. Note: The actual number of companies to make 2018 the same percentage as 2003 would be the removal of 16 certified from 2018 (Figure 5). Perhaps military certifi- cation saved all 16 from closing. Summary Hence, with the growth in the U.S. Military spending up 36%, no change in the cost of certification, the increased percentage of the U.S. Military/aerospace PWB market to over 40%, a 40–50% reduction in the in number of certified PWB manufacturing sites, and con- tinued increasing use of electronics for war- fare, the remaining certified fabricators now share in a bigger and bigger total military mar- ket. All of this has made the opportunity for new PWB fabrication sites to be military-cer- tified extremely positive and better than it has ever been. Policy Implications and Future Considerations Here are three questions for the remaining 226 U.S. PCB fabricators: 1. Is the reduction in certified suppliers a problem for DLA, or is it a benefit because of more stable profitable remaining play- ers and more efficient management of their resources? 2. DLA has never pushed to certify anyone. Should they change and push to certify more? Perhaps if the present capacity is hampering the DoD's ability? Is it even possible? Are there enough fabrication sites out there to matter? Are there any non-military certified suppliers today that need/want a new market segment? 3. Do defense contractors desire more certi- fied sources? Perhaps for more competi- tion or perhaps not for the added cost of supplier management? Figure 4: Decline in North American PCB facilities, 2003–2013. (Source: Electronics 360, Semiconductor Supply Chain, James Carbone, IPC 2018) Figure 5: PWB military certification 15-year overall summary (2003–2018).