Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/1525368
8 PCB007 MAGAZINE I AUGUST 2024 Marcy's Musings by Marcy LaRont, I-CONNECT007 Attaining Superior Wet Process Control e overarching truths of process control and quality management are immutable. We oen rely on philosophies such as Total Qual- ity Management, Lean Manufacturing, and Six Sigma, which focus on continuous improve- ment in manufacturing and management and illustrate the time and thought put into con- trolling and improving processes. ese ulti- mately lead to better products and higher customer satisfaction, and underscore that controlling processes and product quality is a necessary pathway to business success. With that in mind, our focus this month is on wet process control as a way to improve product quality, customer satis- faction, and ROI. "We all need to be laser-focused on precision," says expert Mike Carano in this issue. "We need to be better at what we do. Perfection may not be attainable, but we should strive for it and get as close as we can." Our goal is to help you obtain a bet- ter degree of control over wet processes, especially in ways that provide good, usable data that can guide your decisions and pro- duce consistently higher-quality products. We spend time discussing ROI because nothing is undertaken on the shop floor where ROI is not evident and hopefully soon realized. Mike complements our interview with his monthly column, where he breaks down the wet pro- cess and offers relatively simple ways in which fabricators can begin to achieve greater preci- sion. He ends with a cautionary note: "Ignore these best practices at one's peril." Barry Matties discusses control and consis- tency in his interview with Mark Skaer of Omron, particularly automation and "cobots," or collaborative robots, as one solution manufacturers are con- sidering today. In another interview, Mike Brask of IPS discusses the significant added value of automated chemi- cal dosing control, as well as the barriers that many fabricators face when looking to add this technology to their shop floors. In his column, Ha p p y Ho l d e n provides a detailed