Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/1525368
32 PCB007 MAGAZINE I AUGUST 2024 handling. You create a better and safer work- ing environment. In the past, it was easier to hire someone to stand at the line in a smock with a drum pump and fill plating tanks from 55-gallon drums of chemicals. Some operators did this job for their entire careers. Today, our indus- try has contracted. We are bringing new tal- ent into the industry; they don't want that job. Engineers don't want to work the drum pump. Young workers expect to hit a button to control something like that. So, when you look at staff retention, chemical dosing in your wet process matters. You must create a bet- ter working environment that keeps the shop clean, and the more you can can automate this task, the more it helps with staff retention and safety and reduces the risks of mistakes when making up new process tanks. The fact that businesses should be looking at these elements in terms of getting and keep- ing a workforce, not just because of the pro- cess control element, is quite a commentary on where we are. If you think about chemical distribution and bulk handling of chemistry, you don't want to have blue drums sitting around or risk some- one getting hurt because a hose flew out or from a chemical spill. All that gets eliminated with a chemical management system. Your lab is not making up the bath for you anymore. You're doing that in a controlled and precise way. e lab is merely verifying its accuracy. You adjust your dosing to reduce that hystere- sis between tanks. Mike Brask