88 PCB007 MAGAZINE I JUNE 2025
TOP TEN
EDITOR'S
PICKS
Tariffs: Hope for the Best, Plan for the Worst
Paul Krugman
received the Nobel
Prize for Economics
in 2008 for his
work in economic
geography and
identifying international trade patterns. In April, he told
the Goldman Sachs Exchanges podcast, "The secret sauce
of the Trump tariffs is that they are extremely uncertain.
Nobody knows what they will be. Nobody knows what comes
next. Now, if you're a business trying to make plans, would
you want to invest under those conditions?"
Punching Out: Characteristics of
Successful Leaders in North American
PCB and EMS Sectors
I have worked in M&A in the PCB and EMS sectors for over
20 years and have met dozens of owners in these sectors. It
has not been an easy environment to survive and thrive in,
yet some companies have done well. Here are some charac-
teristics of our most
successful leaders in
the industry (names
withheld to protect
the innocent).
IPC Issues Call for
Participation for IPC
APEX EXPO 2026
IPC is now accepting abstracts
for technical papers, presen-
tations, posters, and profes-
sional development courses
at IPC APEX EXPO 2026. The
technical conference, reimag-
ined and renamed Advanced
Electronic Packaging Confer-
ence 2026 Component—to
System-Level Integration, will
take place March 17-19, and
professional development
courses will take place March
15-16 and 19, 2026, at the
Anaheim Convention Center.
Trouble in Your Tank:
Yield Improvement
and Reliability
There's a simple rule of busi-
ness in manufacturing: "It
is all about yields." Higher
yields for your products allow
for increased profits and sat-
isfied customers. When there
are lower yields, overall cost
to manufacture increases,
and the additional time and
strain on the factory floor
affect the entire operation.
The Chemical Connection: Reducing Defects
in Circuit Board Production
We all agree that in any manufacturing process, reducing
defects in your product induced during manufacture (aka
increasing yields) is a good thing. Doing so, however, can be
a source of contention and frustration. Here are some obser-
vations I made visiting quality shops where high production at
high yields was important. I witnessed common steps they all
used in their campaigns to reduce defects and increase yields.
