Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/1267313
JULY 2020 I DESIGN007 MAGAZINE 71 Dack: It's something for our design community and membership to look forward to. As you know, our PCEA membership is not limited to PCB engineers and designers. Tell us how PCEA membership is relevant to other elec- tronics industry stakeholders from the manu- facturing side. Hartley: What is the PCEA going to do for man- ufacturing and test engineers and many of the other professionals involved in getting a PCBA to market? This whole spectrum of people needs to be involved with the PCEA because it will give them a better ability to share their knowledge with one another and make each other better at what they do. The PCEA exists to facilitate collaboration between all of these disciplines. You may remember the story of when I first got into board design. I thought that because I had just obtained my EE that I was going to be the best board designer in the world. Nobody could tell me anything. The very first board I designed caused the board shop to show up at our company for an important meeting in the conference room with me and my boss. The DFM reps from the PCB supplier sat us down and said, "The other EEs at your com- pany may think you are a great designer, but we think you are an idiot (laughs)! This thing you have designed is completely non-produc- ible." And I admit that it was. While I put all of my design efforts on electrical perfor- mance, I did not know how important manu- facturability or DFM was to the overall pro- cess of getting a design to market. One of the things the PCEA needs to do is focus heavily on getting manufacturing engineers involved for that reason. Dack: Amen! The PCEA is on its way to attract- ing all of the cross-sections of the electronics industry. It's going to make the electronics world a better place. I look forward to hearing your presentation, and I appreciate you giving us a preview of what you are going to be share. I'll see you at the webinar! Hartley: Thank you. It has been my pleasure. In addition to this upcoming webinar, there are so many ways to get involved! Join the PCEA by visiting our website (pce-a.org) and registering as a member to become part of the PCEA collective, which is more than 1,000 members strong. You can always reach out to me (kelly.dack.pcea@gmail.com) or PCEA's Chairman Stephen Chavez (stephen.chavez. pcea@gmail.com) for more information. Message From the Chairman by Stephen Chavez, MIT, CID+ Another month has gone by, and many of us continue to work remotely from our homes. It has been a challenge to get the foundation of the PCEA set in place. The exec- utive board members have done an amazing job juggling their day jobs while putting in so much extra personal time to help the PCEA succeed. We are extremely excited about the release of our official website that took place on June 1. All the hard work has paid off so far with lots of activity coming from our website, including new members joining, webinar col- laborations with SMTA, and our grand opening webinar. Stay tuned for more activities coming your way now that the PCEA is up and running! Now, the "new normal" has become our new way of life. I, like many, have been working remotely for about three months, if not more. I don't see an end to this remote isolation any time in the near future as the world battles COVID-19. With the constant barrage of meet- ings through WebEx, Zoom, GoToMeeting, and other platforms—as well as virtual seminars— it seems to be getting a bit tiresome and over- loaded when you add in isolation, constant sanitation, and wearing face masks in public. As we have adapted, we continue to push on successfully. Work has not stopped for many of us, and in many cases, we are busier than ever. The industry had already made the jump many years ago to the ability to work remotely. For the most part, the toughest challenges today are usually network connections and remote access onto VPNs, Mobil Pass, or Duo Mobile. Stephen Chavez