Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/1269815
38 PCB007 MAGAZINE I JUNE 2020 Matties: What kind of engineering? Stepinski: In process engineering, we make our own equipment, so we have to ask how much process engineering we can do with either ours or third-party equipment to develop the process and only do what needs to be done. The only thing that needs to be done here is product- related stuff. But general process-related op- timization should be done in Europe because we tend to have a much easier time finding technical talent in the European market than in the U.S. market—Germany manufactures a lot more than the U.S., as a percentage. Our factory in Poland, which is close to the German border, is in a region that's very influenced by this mentality because a lot of companies have manufacturing operations near our equipment factory. It's been very easy to find very compe- tent people there, so we're leveraging that to improve our capabilities as well. Matties: You have to go where the talent is. Stepinski: Right. And you keep the local talent focused only on what needs to be local. I might have a complex project where I want to figure out how to reduce drill deflection by X amount with these different types of materials and go build a model that says, "I know hot material X, Y, and Z drill. I know the parameters. I know how much variation I have." Then, I take the raw materials and build a model. The deliver- able I want is a model for drills, but deliverable isn't how I build part X, Y, and Z. The deliverable is I want a model so that I don't have to worry about that. I do a study, determine the material drills this way, and then build a model. We're missing modeling in our market. We do a terrible job at this, in gener- al. Plating easily could have a model. Drilling can easily have a model where all the parame- ters are calculated by algorithms. You do some standard empirical testing, incorporate it, and there you go; you're all set. We've focused on this on our European side, building the models, and we've found you can even sell this as well. You can go to the market and say, "We have a general model for drill- ing, so you don't have to do any more of the drill studies." To me, this is something that's missing, but don't ask me why. A lot of other industries are decades ahead in this area. Matties: Do you think it's because they rely on the manufacturers to understand this? For example, "Here's my design, build the board, and don't trouble me with it." Stepinski: Why is it that way? I don't think peo- ple step back and look at the big picture. If you step back and look at the big picture, you don't need to add too many resources. You get a couple of engineers focused on a project—and even potentially partner with a university— have students assigned to do your modeling for you, and it's pretty straightforward. For some reason, people don't ask about things like this. Matties: The other side of what you're doing for your factory, though, is that it's becoming aggressively driven manufacturing, where your engineering on the front end was important, getting work into your production. And how do you see that? Is there a mindset? We have an issue coming up on documentation, for ex- ample, with manufacturing notes because we always hear about that when a designer sends a board over for fabrication. There are always deficiencies. And in your shop, it has to be 100% to go through your line. It doesn't go