Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/1339822
36 PCB007 MAGAZINE I FEBRUARY 2021 en we go down to the next step. And I kept hearing, "We're small. What can we do?" Our goal became aiming it at companies un- der $100 million in sales. Aer the IPC intro- duced its education programs, I ran into Nor- man Weiss, who founded a small EMS com- pany, connected with German Robotics, and founded the German Ondustry 4.0 Campus for upskilling workers in our industry. We said, "at takes care of the EMS guys. Now, what do they do?" Well, they've got to work with their fabricators. How are they going to do that? at led us to the presidents of two fabricators: Anaya Vardya [American Standard Circuits] and Brad Bourne [FTG]. Anaya is the author of all of these online books and does a great job working with new suppliers, testing new stuff, educating their customers. When you educate your customer, you're doing a service and you create value. At the same time, Brad agreed to sit on the panel comprised of compa- nies representing the entire supply chain. en we asked, "What about your suppli- ers?" Well, who is one of the largest suppli- ers in the world—supplying larger and small- er companies—and doing leading edge stuff ? Atotech. ey do over $1.1 billion from met- al finishing, semiconductors, and printed cir- cuits—everything from equipment to special- ty chemicals. How venturesome are they? Just look at Whelen Engineering and GreenSource Fabrication, and we see what they've done. en he [Alex Stepinski, GreenSource] actu- ally bought the company that supplied his wet processing equipment, improved it and took it international. Johnson: Right, AWP. Weiner: Yes, AWP. en Alex came up with this waste treatment process which eliminates haz- ardous waste, among other things. His custom- ers started asking for help designing a green- field factory for re-shoring. Alex made that a business. Next thing you know, he's got SEL and Vicor as customers—and all three par- ties agreed to present. ey'll talk about why they're doing it, how they're doing it, and what they expect from it. ey'll discuss the plan- ning process and how they choose their loca- tion, which will be Andover, Massachusetts, and Moscow, Idaho. en, we needed a materials expert on the panel. I contacted Jonathan Rowntree, group vice president of Rogers. He said, "Sure, I'd be happy to sit on the panel." I think we've put together the most com- plete program covering education, materials, specialty chemicals, fabrication, new re-shor- ing facilities, and so on. We've got EMS for the small guy, AI, factory of the future, and the OEM view. What more can you do in a day? Johnson: at many topics requires two hands worth of fingers to count them off (laughs). at's very comprehensive and the topics are very timely. I'm curious, is this year's program intentionally put together Gene Weiner