Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/1419905
OCTOBER 2021 I PCB007 MAGAZINE 63 afford to lose time or create scrap. Sure, material handling is a big part, but it's also equip- ment development and how your spray system or flood chamber is designed, and how everything interacts. How much data can you automati- cally collect from your equip- ment? ese are all key to the whole system in modern day PCB manufacturing. Matties: When people are upgrading, are they looking at adding AI— some sort of 4.0 intelligence—into this? Is that a priority for them? Walsh: When you're dealing with sophisticated customers, the board shops need to have a proven piece of equipment, but they also need to have the data logging and everything that goes along with it. It's not very oen that we sell a piece of equipment anymore that doesn't require data logging. If something goes wrong, the circuit board's end-customer wants to be able to track the cause all the way back to man- ufacturing. What happened during processing? Matties: You guys were at Alex Stepinski's first shop, the Whelen factory. at was a fully automated system, so you have a lot of experi- ence with the role of automation and soware development. Are other customers looking for that level of sophistication? Walsh: It's surprising, but we're not seeing a lot of fully automated factories in the circuit board industry. Now, we are seeing more mate- rial handling, loading/unloading, accumula- tors, those types of things. Matties: at's more of the mechanization of a factory, rather than an automated AI approach. Walsh: You're absolutely right. Matties: It seems to me that fabricators may be missing market opportunity because they're handicapped with older equipment. Walsh: at's absolutely true. An ultra-thin core transpor- tation system can save you so much loss from handling dam- age, jamming, and time spent leadering. Matties: How can you tell that story to a fabricator when you're in your sales mode? Walsh: e number one growth industry in the circuit board market is military, space flight, and defense. Matties: Especially in the U.S. Walsh: Right. ose products are very hard to build on any kind of older technology. If you're used to dealing with 20-year-old technology then the new spray systems, flood modules, transportation systems—they're completely different. We innovate our systems yearly, not by the decade. ere's not a leading aerospace or defense company out there that's running product on a 20-year-old piece of equipment. ere isn't a single one. Matties: at's where you see market growth, right? Walsh: at is the growth, yes. Matties: If you're going to be a board fabrica- tor today, you really need to be thinking about your cutbacks in all areas, but is it driven pri- marily around material handling or are there other considerations? Walsh: To be successful today you cannot Travis Houchin