Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/1269815
32 PCB007 MAGAZINE I JUNE 2020 Happy Holden: This has me reminiscing my days at Hewlett-Packard. One thing I experienced was that HP valued innovation. Whatever we came up with, it had to be 10 times better than what the industry thought they needed be- cause we were doing test equipment that had to be much more accurate than what it was testing. In the '70s, I was working with 30–60 gigahertz, which is what everybody is pulling their hair out about today not even realizing we had that mastered in the early '70s—some OEMs did, and even the board fabricators. When a project was started, they would col- lect all of the key players—including printed circuit fabrication and design and mechanical fab—and we would brainstorm innovations in which the product manager would describe the next generation of what he wanted. The man- ager would go around the circle, and each one of us would explain how we would contribute to that goal and what the obstacles would be. One person would say, "I can solve your prob- lem, but I have this problem." And then the next person would say, "I can solve that prob- lem for you, but it creates this problem." And in every single case, the PCB contributed a unique property that wasn't delivery cost or standard design rules, for some reason. What- ever the problems were, there was some unique thing about the PC board that it was going to contribute. And because of that, we always had R&D budgets and manpower, just like the product designers and semiconductor people. It was because we made a contribution that nev- er made its way down to a merchant or a job shop; our job was to contribute to the competi- tive advantage of the final product. Many peo- ple don't realize that HP was always on top and superior in profits because it didn't use standard PCBs. I don't know how many times I had to explain why we didn't plate tin-lead—never plated tin-lead or tin-lead reflow—because it was a dumb process to have. We had a far superior one, but we didn't always plate gold. We invented a replacement for gold for keyboards. The things you could do are almost endless. Because once you have a staff that's used to innovating and solving problems and knows how to do that through the scientific method, enormous contributions can be had there that result in OEM superior products. It wasn't just us. Our biggest competitor was the Tektronix PC shop since they were also in the test equipment business. It was particular- ly difficult for me, being from Oregon. All my classmates went to Tektronix, and I went to HP. An OEM printed circuit facility can deliver superior performance, in addition to cost and delivery. Stepinski: Especially now that we haven't had much of it for a while, people are interested in it because it's a breath of fresh air after all this commoditization. Holden: I never tried to fight this idea that PC boards are commodities, like soap. The biggest job I had in Taiwan was con- vincing the Nanya folks that there were not different grades of PCBs. If the computer board didn't work, you couldn't lower the price and sell it as a TV board. It had to be perfect, or it was junk. With plastics, you can have multiple grades. Even in the semiconductor industry, if you don't meet the specs, you can bin it, change the specification, and sell it at a different price with a different name. But the PCB is custom built to order, and that's not a definition of a commodity. Matties: You're bringing up a good point of col- laboration. The product advantage with Whel- en is you are captive. Your teams can now collaborate and bring in creative solutions.