Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/1248324
8 PCB007 MAGAZINE I MAY 2020 In Tom Kastner's most recent column, "Punching Out! Pivot Like MJ," he discussed making rapid shifts to changing conditions. Kastner's column may not be in this issue, but I argue it makes a good companion. I encourage you to read his column if you haven't already. I won't go into too much of the details for our magazine planning process, but the I- Connect007 editorial team had settled on this month's theme, "What Are Your Priorities Now?" back in January as we were ramping up for IPC APEX EXPO. Had you asked us then what we thought the content would be for this issue, we would have told you it would like- ly be centered around transitions: shifting to smarter manufacturing, building your custom- er list, adding profitability, and perhaps even mergers and acquisitions. The industry had been on a sustained growth path, and every economic indicator showed that the growth would continue. But that was a very different 2020 than the one we live in today. Just as the world changed direction, the content in this issue also pivoted. No longer were we thinking about strategic planning priorities; now, we were looking at survival. We were talking about saving lives: ours and those of our staff, families, custom- ers, and the tens of thousands of people we don't even know who are sick and fighting for their lives. In light of this, what are your priorities? Around the industry, companies, associa- tions, and talented individuals shifted attention to respond to the outbreak. Qualified fabricators shifted to ventilator orders. Less stringent work, it has been reported, shifted to other fabs capa- ble of that work, and—in the U.S., at least—vir- tually all of us found our businesses deemed to be essential and allowed to remain open. But, it seems, that is where the hard work only began. Protecting staff became an entirely new supply chain to develop and monitor. With office supply sources sold out of hand Nolan's Notes by Nolan Johnson, I-CONNECT007 What Are Your Priorities Now?