Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/1493443
FEBRUARY 2023 I PCB007 MAGAZINE 63 Is that when you reached out to Jeff's company? iel: How that happened is kind of interest- ing. Initially, I reached out to Technosystem directly, as neither Jeff nor Rich (Richard) Hegg, TFE's representative in the Midwest, represented them at the time. When I didn't get a response from the company, I contacted Orbotech, since they had their LDI paired with the automation at the IPC show. Fortunately, they were able to connect me with Eduardo at Technosystem to get the process started. Jeff, I'm surprised you weren't representing Technosystem at that time. Tell us that story. Did you start representing them after you heard from Mike? Brandman: It's a funny story. I started learning about Technosystem automation during Edu- ardo Benmayor's second visit to North Amer- ica for Aismalibar. Eduardo and I made a road trip and we drove in my Honda Element (Edu- ardo called it a "tractor") over 10 days to Mon- treal, Toronto, Detroit, and Chicago. In the context of Europe, this was a very long drive, but in terms of North America, it was all pretty close together. During this drive, Eduardo was going back and forth with Multicircuits on the first automation opportunity for their LDI. Eduardo asked if we could go visit them, but we had such a tight schedule and Multicircuits was a three-hour drive north of Chicago—each way. During this trip, Eduardo explained to me that he believed the future of sustainabil- ity for the PCB industry in North America and Europe was in automation. Once the Multicir- cuits line was installed and I saw how sophisti- cated automation could go beyond the simple loaders and loaders we've seen for decades, I became as passionate as Eduardo. To this day, Eduardo asks if I still have the "tractor" and when we're going on our next long road trip. Mike, exactly when did you decide to automate your company? iel: I've seen automation used in several industries and always thought that we would be able to achieve something similar, but I hadn't seen others in our industry using it until the IPC show in 2008. In the beginning, I was skeptical that we would even be able to imple- ment automated systems due to cost and the fact we were just a small PCB company, but I knew we had to start somewhere. Our plan was to start with the process that would give the most bang for our buck, and that was our primary imaging process. Wise system for inner and outer layer developing. Dry film strip unloading and outer layer loading.