Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/1253723
62 SMT007 MAGAZINE I JUNE 2020 The I-Connect007 editorial team spoke with Dr. Ron Lasky about what's stopping compa- nies from improving their processes, especially regarding productivity. Nolan Johnson: Ron, thanks for joining us in this conversation. What's your role in the industry? Dr. Ron Lasky: My day job is as a professor of engineering at Dartmouth, and I also work with Indium Corporation as a senior technologist. Barry Matties: What do you teach? Lasky: I teach engineering statistics, optimiza- tion, technical project management, and topics in manufacturing and design. At Dartmouth, we have a program called a Master of Engineering Management (MEM). It's a graduate program for students that are engineers but would like to get into management. Most of the courses I teach are in this program. Half of the MEM program is taught by the MBA Tuck School of Management, and the other half is taught by the engineering department. The topics that I focus on—and I have an additional program at Dartmouth on this—are Lean Six Sigma top- ics like process optimization, design of exper- iments, and statistical process control. In my class on topics in manufacturing and design, I focus on one manufacturing process mostly, and that's electronic assembly because that's what I know the best. The optimization work I do is quite gen- eral; it's not specific to solder paste or elec- tronic assembly. Our Lean Six Sigma program at Dartmouth has become quite successful; since Dartmouth is part of the Ivy league, peo- ple like the fact that they get a certificate in a yellow belt through master black belt that was granted by the school of engineering at Dart- mouth College, but it isn't specific to electronic assembly. Matties: This is an industry that has com- plained—especially on the bare board side— that there's no profit left, and we're making the argument that there's plenty of profit; you're spending your profit on a lot of waste in your process. Lasky: I can definitely address that. That's something I teach. I've been kind of frustrated TQM: The Tyranny of the Urgent Dr. Ron Lasky