Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/1419905
64 PCB007 MAGAZINE I OCTOBER 2021 Matties: It seems like the board fabricators are going to be taking more of a smart process approach rather than a smart factory approach. ey may come in and isolate an island, if you will, and automate that with some AI. Walsh: Right. e thing is it's still a very high- mix market, so your defense guys aren't going to build 100,000 boards of one design. ey're going to build 50 of one design but they're going to build 20 different versions of those 50 offs. Some of that leads to the thought, "You can handle the material, but you can't auto- mate everything," because some things are a little more complicated. Matties: Didn't Whelen prove that you can? Houchin: With Whelen, one of the biggest factors was that we started out with an open building and an open project where every- thing was coming in new. We could plan for that and incorporate a lot of that automation. Most of these factories aren't starting with an open building, they have an existing building with existing equipment, and to do that type of automation they would have to replace every- thing and with a good layout plan to get to that level of automation, whereas they're probably going to piecemeal parts and see what they can fit into their existing line. Matties: at's a very good point. Some might say that it's better to shut it down and build it new than to try to come in and piecemeal it. Especially if you can bring in the latest technology and attract market that way. Walsh: Very true. Matties: It's still a big investment. Walsh: It's a huge investment. Matties: Maybe $50 million or more, right? Walsh: Right. Matties: Is IPS playing on the environmental recycling side at all? Walsh: We do a lot of water recycling and zero discharge. IPS has been working those kind of projects for years, especially for our California customers. That's becoming more and more popular. We have done several waste treatment projects and recycling sys- tems. This is probably the perfect time to announce that Trionetics and IPS have recently become strategic partners and we feel the fit is perfect for the industry. Both companies have superior support and work- manship and are designed, engineered, fab- ricated, and supported straight from our U.S. factories. Matties: Is there a growing demand for waste treatment? Walsh: ere is. Especially when you hear of a place starting up with a new line or a new pro- cess. As little discharge as possible and to recy- cle as much as possible. We're definitely seeing it more and Trionetics is the expert in the field. It's such a great addition to our offerings, we couldn't be happier.