Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/1493016
REAL TIME WITH... IPC APEX EXPO 2023 SHOW & TELL MAGAZINE I I-CONNECT007 163 Please tell us about Zentech and what this award means to your company. You've made many contributions to the industry through Zentech. How does this benefit your corporation? When Blackburn Partners, myself, and a few others bought Zentech in 2019, one of the reasons the company was so attractive to us was its participation in IPC. This was obvi- ously very important to me personally since I've been involved and working with IPC since 1987. This award recognizes that not only does Zentech offer the various services, certifications, and other programs that show our customers that we have the skill set to do their work, but we've also contributed back to IPC through participation in the Government Relations Committee, standards com- mittees, Program Manage- ment Certification, the EMS Management Program, etc. Zentech members have always been involved, and we've added to that with the current manage- ment. Our customers see our participa- tion in IPC—both what we get out of it and what we put into it—as a very positive factor when they select us. That's good. Anything special that you recall over the years? Something that's important is we have three facilities, and two of them were the first two of nine total companies certified under the EMS QML program. We thought that was pretty unique at the time because for a com- pany our size to have two of those certifica- tions is a big investment on our part. Work- ing with Randy Cherry and the Validation Services group at IPC has helped us bring our game along, so to speak. Do you have any special memories you'd like to share? I'd say it's more of a personal issue vs. a com- pany issue. I think back to visiting Stan Plzak's facility when I spent two of my last 35+ years at a start-up and we were looking at companies in the U.S. to do our work; I got to spend some time with Stan and his Pensar management team. Working on many IPC and EMS pro- grams with Stan and having the opportunity to spend quality time with him as an industry peer makes this award much more special. That's nice. What do you see for the industry in the future? My perspective is as a long-term board mem- ber. I've spent 22 years on the IPC Board, and when we had the search committee about 10 years ago to fill the CEO role (now filled by John Mitchell), there was a theme that we wanted to see the orga- nization change—and changed for the better. We've always had a good set of roots in our standards and some of the industry programs. But today, we're an international force to be reckoned with. We have the opportunity to affect what happens with regulations and laws that affect the electronics industry. We have gone a lot further with our standards. We have a staff that's so professional. Under the cur- rent leadership, the electronics industry is in a much better direction and position than it ever has been, so I'm excited. The sky's the limit. Our board fabricators, suppliers, EMS companies, and OEMs around the world are better positioned to face their everyday prob- lems because of what IPC is doing. Working with Stan and having the opportunity to spend quality time with him as an industry peer makes this award much more special. IPC Stan Plzak Corporate Recognition Award