Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/1193979
32 PCB007 MAGAZINE I DECEMBER 2019 Matties: The digital factory makes sense. The lack of employees adds to that along with the flexibility of a lights-out factory. I was recently at an Austrian PCB facility, and they said they turn on their single-spindle machines at night, everybody goes home, and in the morning, the work is ready to go, and it's all automated. Palmer: Yes, and they run 24/7 without the labor. Matties: The other thing we have heard some- times is that there's not much profit left in cir- cuit boards. But what we find is people keep throwing that money at waste, which Alex at GreenSource Fabrication has proven quite well. The longer we continue to use old and inflex- ible technology that's not digital and doesn't eliminate human costs, we're throwing money away. Palmer: Right, and that's why customers have to invest. We've had some strong recent years because customers in North America continue to invest to keep up with the technology and be profitable. As you said, with the old equip- ment, there is so much waste, and they can't afford to keep making products with them. Matties: And it's not just about selling; it's about relationships and educating the market- place to help them realize these benefits that you're talking about. When you talk to com- panies about this, what do you point out to them? Palmer: When you talk to people at produc- tronica, for example, everybody's already there in their mindset, so it seems easy. You forget about the fact that there are people who don't think they can afford to come to the show, so they don't. That's more than half of our mar- ket. When you see those customers, they say, "I don't have the funding, and I can't afford to do it. I'm going to milk this equipment," so to speak. It's a tough sell, but you have to talk about the ROI and talk about if you want to be around for years to come, you have to make some investments. It doesn't have to be with us; there are a lot of great equipment manu- facturers out there, but you have to invest in technology. Matties: What we've described is island man- ufacturing, which is what we have in North America: drilling in this room, imaging in an- other, and plating in a different building, for instance. You have to be able to start some- where, as you're pointing out. Any incremen- tal changes that we make are important, but there are areas that are going to reward you a lot faster, and those are the areas we should focus on. Palmer: And the challenge for our customers is trying to figure out which areas those are and where your biggest ROI is going to be. We try to help there, but we're selling our own equip- ment, so that's where we start. Matties: In the lamination cycle, there's a lot of sequential lamination going on; what innova- tions or considerations should someone have right now in the lamination sector? Palmer: With multiple lamination cycles, pro- cess control is more important than ever. Many of the old presses still in operation today open and close and heat up just fine, but control- ling the pressure and temperature inside the board is a challenge. With new systems today, the operator can program precise lamination recipes. In addition, once the cycle begins, it's monitored and can be adjusted as necessary. And we are also seeing a migration towards high-temperature lamination. Specific materi- als that need to be laminated at 750°F push the envelope in terms of the materials and the heating systems used. It's a whole different game once you get to these temperatures. Matties: We've talked about the Schmoll lines of Burkle. What other product offerings do they have in the PCB sector? Palmer: Besides Schmoll, we also offer Impex high-precision and scanning machines. Impex is a sister company of Schmoll located in Aus- tria. The machines quickly scan your boards