Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/1517668
32 PCB007 MAGAZINE I MARCH 2024 facturing processes and products. More prac- tically, this means we are paying attention to information that can increase resource effi- ciency and decrease unwanted impacts. I tend to think of sustainability as impacting three broad "Ps" of our environment: products, places, and people. Much of the effort at this point, likely because more of the regulatory information has been clarified here, has been focused on places: where and how we manu- facture our products. But for real progress to happen, all three Ps need to go through modi- fication at some point. What Are the Key Issues? Information In this issue, Charles Nehrig, TTM Technol- ogies Inc., calls attention to the critical uses of water in printed circuit board manufactur- ing processes. He highlights how his company has embedded water use reduction and water footprint goals into its operational and busi- ness goals. ey know how they're perform- ing against these goals because they use net- work-based tracking of water consumption in all manufacturing locations. Technological innovation Also within this issue, Dr. Marina Hor- nasek-Metzl, AT&S, explains how digitaliza- tion helps the industry achieve its sustainabil- ity goals. Automating data collection and anal- ysis helps to identify where impact reduction is possible. She also highlights that this industry presents a paradox: Electronics present sus- tainability solutions and challenges. Indeed, there are synergies between the circular econ- omy agenda and digital technologies and dig- italization. Electronics manufacturing pro- cesses require natural resources, chemicals and materials, and human workers; these pro- cesses present circularity challenges. At the same time, electronics products assure prog- ress toward reducing impacts. AT&S and dozens of other companies and research institutions are working in Europe to develop new technologies to make elec- tronics production more sustainable. Digita- lization and leveraging digital technologies will continue to improve what we make and how we make it. Technology solutions like ion exchange systems are less fancy but still elegant solutions, in particular for wastewa- ter treatment. We value processes paired with flexibility and innovation to solve sustainabil- ity challenges. is issue of PCB007 Magazine gives the industry examples of real solutions useful to them now and into the future. Addressing sus- tainability for electronics challenges takes a collaborative approach with free-flowing com- munication. PCB007 To learn more about IPC's own Sustainabil- ity for Electronics initiative, click here, or contact Kelly Scanlon, IPC's lead sustainability strategist, at KellyScanlon@ipc.org. Dr. John W. Mitchell is president and CEO of IPC. To read past columns, click here.