Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/1265351
24 SMT007 MAGAZINE I JULY 2020 they're state of the art. They do semiconduc- tor-sized geometries on PCBs. What's most interesting is they can do a lot quantity of one, which means that they can change the recipe in milliseconds. A human can't possibly mem- orize nor look up the details fast enough. I don't totally agree with you in this particular case for quality and productivity. Having no humans involved is their competitive advan- tage. That capability is not necessarily needed everywhere, but it's a different paradigm. Kelly: You bring up a good point that the fac- tory of the future is not just about a lack of lights or cool technology; there's a lot wrapped around it. I ask myself, "What do I want my factory of the future to look like 10 years from now?" It's about defining the kind of factory. Is it in silicon? Is it an EMS provider, where you're bolting metal to electronics? Is it a bare board shop? We can't apply this model to everything because it doesn't work; there are variations. Matties: From a financial point of view, there's a lot of acquisition opportunities. What do you see in that climate? DuBravac: A time like this opens up a lot of opportunities to acquire resources and capital. This was true even before the pandemic when you had supply chains that were reconfiguring themselves. You have people who are dispos- ing of assets and acquiring assets that make sense for their portfolio. We were already in a period where acquisitions made sense from the economics of what was happening in the envi- ronment and in the industry. Whether the cur- rent environment supports the financial needs to make acquisitions is another story. You see it in some sectors where compa- nies sitting on a lot of cash continue to acquire the pieces that they want for the products that they'll deliver in the future. Outside of core manufacturing, if you look at Microsoft, Google, and Apple, they have all announced recent acquisitions, and arguably do so on a weekly basis. They're sitting on billions in cash, so to make a $100 million investment doesn't change their financial position. One you're giving more power to the operators and engineers as well. You're improving produc- tivity, essentially. You are also able to upskill those employees. You're not paying that per- son to move a part from point A to B, or solder a particular device over and over again. Some of that can be automated, and now that per- son is a higher value in your operations. That's my response in terms of integrating technol- ogy with the workforce. By saying that, I'm not expecting to make up 70–80% reduction in labor; it might be 10–15%. Matties: It seems to me that the role of people will shift to more of the front end, making sure that the digital information is accurate and cor- rect to run it through a digital line because dig- ital manufacturing is in play and will continue to be in play. This is an opportunity for people to rethink that; the day of the operator mov- ing a panel from point A to B, B to C, etc., will come to an end. Especially from a finan- cial point of view, if you want to be competi- tive on the labor front, you have to reduce that cost of labor. Kelly: Agreed. That's how I always frame it, too. I was hired at IPC to drive the factory of the future implementation and work very closely with Shawn, John Mitchell, and the entire executive staff. This is a focus of IPC. We have today's standards and technology sets, but we are already working on these new elements. Matties: Most likely, you're familiar with Green- Source Fabrication out of New Hampshire; it's a bare board facility. They're not doing assem- bly yet in a digital factory, but they built a dig- ital factory with zero waste. They didn't even need a wastewater permit. Happy Holden can talk quite a bit about it because he has studied this model, which will be a gamechanger and drive the ability for OEMs to consider having captive facilities again. Happy Holden: The fact they have no produc- tion workers means that they have no training program or recruiting. They have engineers— maybe more than others would have—because