Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/1259453
14 PCB007 MAGAZINE I JUNE 2020 good goals and continuously meet them, the power will come. For instance, we used to have raffles once a quarter in the cafeteria. I won once, and it was a nice high-end gift like a good set of golf clubs, but I said, "I can't take this." My sec- retary said, "Why not? You won it." I replied, "Because there will be some people who think that something was given to me as a special or it was a fix. I cannot take it." Is that TQM? Should I have accepted the prize? I'm not sure. It's one of those things that you're going to get blasted no matter whether you take it or not. Johnson: Interesting point. That brings up the concept of "manufacturing emotional intelli- gence." Where TQM has sometimes been mis- identified as a philosophy instead of a set of tools and processes, that doesn't mean that there isn't a philosophy to TQM. The philos- ophy, then, is in how you lead, what sort of a manager you are, and how you create that company culture. For PCB fabricators, they're in an industry inflection point right now. How does an industry—that has not been doing too much to change—navigate a transformational moment in their business? Feinberg: That's a good question, and it has a lot to do with the fact that the industry of mak- ing circuit boards has moved out of the U.S. In the '70s, the percentage of circuit boards made in the U.S. was at least in the mid-60% glob- ally and maybe even higher. But having non- selfish, focused quality carries through the company. If you go to the people that were my direct executive team—people like Walt Custer, Ed Reardon, Dick Chung, Elmer Hayes, and Ted Pauls—they were superb executives and extremely focused. Go down to a level below that to people who were at the management level, not at the vice president level, and there were people like Bob Ferguson and Ken Par- ent, who are now highly respected executives in the industry. Many of those people are now 20 years se- nior, and they're highly successful with other companies doing what they did for us then, but with more experience. I don't mean to leave out people, and I am leaving out people be- cause they're not popping into my head right now, but we had a huge number of people in middle-management who have gone on to be successful in the industry. We were also the only company to have three members of the IPC Hall of Fame at the same company; now, that's true of the I-Connect007 team (laughs). That's because those of us who didn't want to leave the industry have gotten involved with I-Connect007. For example, I got a lot of accolades from the Morton International Board of Directors for a specific decision. I had to put in a new VP of legal because ours had moved up and in- to another division. I appointed a woman for that position, Martha Vargas, and I received a round of applause when I came into a board meeting. I said, "What's this about?" They said, "You are the first one to appoint a female executive in Morton. What made you think to do that?" To me, she was the best choice. She was the best lawyer with M&A experience we had in the company—something we were do- ing more and more of—and she was ideal for the position. Was that TQM? Yes, but did we do it because it was TQM? No. It has to do with the qual- ity of the management of your company. It's about setting goals, staying focused on them, and not worrying so much about your reward because that will come. Johnson: A manufacturer, for example, might review changing customer demands and real- ize that the current facility needs to change. They need to change not only the company culture but also the equipment and skillsets to stay competitive. That's a lot to bite off. That takes some guts and character to lead a com- pany through something like that. Feinberg: One of the things about Dynachem and Morton Electronic Materials is that many of us were there when Mike Gilano started the company, and it was a case of trying to build the company and hold it together. In the early days, Mike told us, "I can't pay you for six months, and I understand if you're going