Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/1236528
22 PCB007 MAGAZINE I APRIL 2020 we're in the condition that we are here today, and—obviously—a lot has changed in the last couple of weeks or so with the COVID-19 out- break. To help the IPC members have a better understanding of the financial impact on our industry, today Shawn conducted a financial focus webinar for members. Shawn, thanks for taking the time to talk with us today. And why don't we just get started, if we can, with a brief overview of today's webinar, please. Shawn DuBravac: Sure. So one of the things that I have started to do for IPC since join- ing them is to monitor both what's happen- ing within and around the industry, as well as what's happening more broadly in the econo- my. So leading up to the coronavirus outbreak and COVID-19, we were already monitoring a number of facets of the economy and looking at how the industry is performing in this econ- omy. And so a lot of what we covered in the webinar is just a quick look at where we are today and where we think things will progress over the next year. Matties: What sort of concerns or questions did the attendees have today in the webinar? DuBravac: I think if you look at what's happen- ing, this obviously started as a supply shock. And we saw facilities in Asia that normally On March 23, IPC Chief Economist Shawn DuBravac, Ph.D., CFA, spoke with I-Con- nect007 publisher Barry Matties in an exclu- sive phone interview immediately following DuBravac's online briefing to IPC member at- tendees. This interview presents a rather detailed look at Dr. DuBravac's situational analysis and projections with respect to the COVID-19 out- break's short-term and long-term effects on the global electronics manufacturing industry. Dr. DuBravac makes some comparisons to con- sumer economic pressures and also discusses some of the U.S.-based actions taken by the Federal Reserve to smooth the U.S. economy into, and out of, the economic impact of this outbreak. Before his role with IPC, Dr. DuBravac served as chief economist for the Consumer Technol- ogy Association, a U.S. trade association repre- senting more than 2,000 consumer tech com- panies. Dr. DuBravac is also the author of the New York Times bestseller, Digital Destiny: How the New Age of Data Will Transform the Way We Work, Live, and Communicate. Barry Matties: Today, I'm speaking with Shawn DuBravac. He's IPC's chief economist. Shawn is a global tech trends expert and joined the IPC in September of 2019. Of course, back in September, nobody would have predicted that Interview With IPC's Dr. Shawn DuBravac: COVID-19 Global Industry Update Interview by Barry Matties I-CONNECT007 Shawn DuBravac