Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/1330321
18 PCB007 MAGAZINE I JANUARY 2021 ply chain is—the United States needs innovation. We once were an innova- tion leader. It's debatable where the United States is today. To innovate, we need intelligence—the humans. The humans have to work in concert with advanced manufacturing equip- ment to develop robust technological solutions that surpass the technology of other countries for DoD and com- mercial market segments. We need people in the factory who are watching and learning the pro- cess, understanding how to iterate through that process, and then under- standing the process control to make the adjustments for reliable and ro- bust product or inventing that next generation technology. We fundamen- tally believe that humans are the future, cou- pled with great machinery. Brassard: Obviously, there is a space where in- novative automation techniques are necessary, say when manufacturing 500,000 iPhones a day—an easy example. Once a product design is stable and released to mass production, the art and profits are in the manufacturing tech- niques. But the demand from defense OEMs for domestically manufactured circuit boards are designs rich in complexity at very low vol- ume, 250 to 500 boards a year per design. Is the value of enterprise automation the same in this scenario? Less so. Again, to solve the immediate problems for the U.S. OEMs with plans to manufacture leading edge electronic systems domestically, we're right back to high- ly motivated and capable people who are us- ing advanced equipment and dynamic pro- cesses, but not necessarily striving just yet for the smart factory ethos. Johnson: Let's talk about innovation within Calumet. How do you approach innovation? You've changed what you've done. You're much more sophisticated and doing higher tech work than you were before. How did you get there? How did looking at your processes and making them smarter help you get there? LaBeau: We are not a company that requires engineers operating within a tight manage- ment structure. We say, "Here's the process, how are you going to control it? How are you going to innovate it for greater tolerances and advancing product?" Challenge yourself. The engineers and technicians are allowed freedom to make process choices. They're allowed to fail, too. Failure is the best teacher. Of course, we try to limit their failures, but if they don't fail, they will never understand the full pro- cess. We have a culture where failure is ac- ceptable, if you ultimately learn and advance from it. In addition, we include these young engineers in business conversations, so they understand the need to advance and innovate daily, not just accept the mediocrity that exists across a lot of manufacturing. Thurston: To Meredith's point, it's not only the engineers, but also our managers on the floor. A great example is our soldermask depart- ment. A few years ago, the previous manag- er of the LPI department retired and the com- pany promoted a relatively young supervisor to fill the role. Encouraged to get out of the box, he started making changes and improve- ments to make the workflow more consistent, drawing on world class manufacturing tech- niques. That department went from working Don Nicely, factory manager, works with an ALTIX Adix SA UV LED direct imaging machine in the solder mask department.