Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/1520956
MAY 2024 I PCB007 MAGAZINE 9 Marcy LaRont is the editor of PCB007 Magazine. Marcy started her career in PCBs in 1993 and brings a wide array of business experience and perspective to I-Connect007. To contact Marcy, click here. Such is the crossroads at which many PCB fabricators find themselves when deciding whether to change their current processes and go additive or stay the course until something significant compels a change. But change is on the horizon, and it seems to be driven by sig- nificant technological advancements in chips and advanced packaging, offering PCB fabri- cators some additive manufacturing solutions to explore.. In this month's issue of PCB007 Magazine, we talk to several industry members about additive manufacturing technology for the PCB fabricator. ough modern semi-addi- tive and fully additive technologies are still emerging for PCB manufacturing, additive technology is not new. In its simplest defini- tion, additive manufacturing (AM) is the pro- cess of creating something by adding layers of material to achieve the desired end. is issue will discuss where it stands today, where the benefits truly lie, and where it seems to be headed. Kicking off our issue, I encourage you to take some time with Alex Stepinski of Smart Factory Design, our resident expert in sus- tainable manufacturing processes for high- technology products, who reviews areas in PCBs where additive technology is currently developing, and offers a solution for broader industry adoption of inkjet solder mask much sooner. He discusses this specific technology in detail, and it seems to tick all the ROI boxes: reductions in cycle time, waste, energy usage, the number of human operators required, and increased reliability, which translates to a reduced loaded cost to manufacture. is is explained well in my interview with Milena and Hans Fritz of German equipment distrib- utor SAT in how they address both technol- ogy development and moving customer part- ners forward on the journey to change. My discussion with PCB fabricator Win- onics answers this query in a different way as they share not only how they approach their business, but what they are doing in AM R&D. Also featured in this issue is additive pioneer Nano Dimension, whose CTO pro- vides a compelling overview of how ML and AI encapsulated in much of additive manu- facturing processes have the power to revo- lutionize PCB prototyping. Rounding out the issue, I had the pleasure of interviewing Anto- nio Schmidt and David Hahn of Notion Sys- tems at IPC APEX EXPO about their digital inkjet process, ROI, EHD, and more. As usual, our columnists come to the fore with much value-added information. Don Ball with Chemcut takes a counterpoint approach to the drive for moving toward inkjet and additive manufacturing, by asking, "Can the limits of subtractive etching be extended?" Paige Fiet explains the 8D problem-solving method she learned from her father, the best engineer she has ever known. Happy Holden provides his technical expertise in the next installment of Happy's Tech Talk on semi-flex FR-4. Travis Kelly of PCBAA discusses the most recent development in the 2025 bud- get allocation for the Defense Production Act and puts out a call to action for industry members. To move away from what has been our tried and true approach to fabricating boards with features that were considered small just 10 years ago and over 95% yields is tough, but will the decision be made for us over the next 10 years? What is certain is that PCB fabri- cators should be paying close attention to all things "additive manufacturing" as our part of the supply chain evolves to support next-gen- eration technology and packaging require- ments, whether or not fabricators decide to participate. PCB007