Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/1475604
AUGUST 2022 I DESIGN007 MAGAZINE 13 it into the equation, and you don't know how much the board or the owners or the senior management of a particular company have included for profit, what percentage it is. at's a factor. It's one of the reasons why companies previously did their own circuit board fab: you didn't need to have two segments of the indus- try that you had to provide profit for. Now, the cost came down and there were all kinds of other reasons why you didn't continue to do that. But I just wonder if that will come back, to some degree. Holden: I think it motivated Schweitzer Engi- neering Laboratories (SEL) to vertically inte- grate. And Whelen said it was building boards at half the price of China in two days instead of 12 weeks. Matties: e so advantage was that their design team had an ability to improve product easily. ey could design it in the aernoon and build it the next day. Holden: at's one of the things that SEL con- tacted me about; they wanted to know about the dynamics of making your own printed cir- cuit boards. I told them that at Hewlett Pack- ard, the printed circuit fabrication guys were there with assembly from the very beginning of the project, to look at ideas and ways that we get higher performance, lower cost, or quicker delivery. In almost every one of HP's famous and hugely profitable products, there was a printed circuit board contribution that they couldn't have gotten from the outside market. Matties: If we circle back to the material con- servation side of things, is this the time for the OEMs to come in and say, "We're going to re- spin or redesign our electronics?" Holden: Well, that's who most of the designers work for. Matties: Right. But won't they just keep design- ing PCBs the same old way? Nolan Johnson: ey are being forced to do that somewhat, based on supply chain stuff. Emmalee Gagnon, who was a columnist for Manncorp, recently discussed having custom- ers who are reverting back to through-hole components because they can't get the sur- face-mount components. So, there are all sorts of pressures to redesign in order to keep ship- ping product right now. Matties: What I'm talking about is that it's time to redesign your products. is is where designers can consider HDI, additive, semi- additive, and VeCS. Happy, didn't you say you can oen go from 14 layers to eight layers with HDI?