Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/1534385
APRIL 2025 I PCB007 MAGAZINE 49 Yes, I believe so. Let's face it: Today's real- ity is that all things, especially technology, are changing by the minute. In the past two years, I've seen more change than I've seen in the previous eight years. Technology, so- ware, and hardware are all changing so rapidly. It's not possible to say, "Do this, and everyone will be safe." With CMMC changing so much, it's irritating and surprising, but it's neces- sary because every day we're discovering new things that could endanger us. Look at the Chinese AI systems that have recently popped up. ey are so much less costly to train than our onshore products. I wonder how many people are picking that up and if there's not a backdoor. We can talk about AI technology growing so rapidly in other countries as well as the United States, but it's not a good idea for ACE to bring AI into our processes. So, part of your cybersecurity plan is not engaging in AI, thereby providing one less door for someone to find and open and do something harmful. Have you had to change your staffing to accommodate that? Not yet. When you do something for 40 years, you get pretty good at knowing what you need in terms of staffing, which also somewhat addresses cybersecurity. Ours is a never-end- ing, always-growing system. We do what we do on every front, which is constantly improve and reevaluate our operations, including the personnel, training, and passion of our staff. James, what is the most pressing issue for PCB manufacturers? For the industry, the biggest thing is being nim- ble on our feet. We have to capitalize on and be open to change, accepting the change and not waiting for change to be pushed on us or to be a requirement. Instead, be eager and push for change, and look for opportunities to flex and grow. It's very much like going to the gym. If you work out the same muscle the same way all the time, you get one big muscle, and that's it. We want to be on the leading edge of proto- type technology, so we must aggressively look for new technologies and new ways to fit into our ever-changing market and do it quickly. e biggest change for North American PCB manufacturers is just that Asia will exhibit a slowdown. Many Chinese companies are mov- ing to India so they don't have to face tariffs. ey will adapt to whatever we do. Our trick is just to keep changing before they adapt so that they start adapting to what we did yesterday, not to what we're doing today or tomorrow. That's a very good point. Any closing thoughts on your experience in the industry? I love what we do and what we do for the United States. It excites and thrills me, and makes the entire team at ACE proud. In this business, it's all about being nimble, and adapting and grow- ing with the needs of your customers. I just found an email from February 2024 from Southwest Microwave, a company that makes RF connectors. We have built all their boards for the past 15 years. In the email, they were asking for design guidelines because they were trying to do a 120-gigahertz board that they didn't think was possible to build. When I read it, I said, "Oh my gosh, that's got to be that project we did so well." e engineer said that we had talked at IMS earlier this year about their desire for an ambitious 120-gigahertz stripline board that I said was likely doable. He asked me to help him with the design rules. Today I sent him his original email and said, "I was just looking at this email from last year, and this is the project we killed it on. Correct?" He said, "Yes, sir, it was, and there is more to come." When Southwest Microwave got the boards, they put their connectors on and sent me a screenshot of the results on the VNA. ey told me, "We didn't even think this was possi- ble in today's technology." It's testimonials like that that make us love what we do. Thank you, James. PCB007