Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/1540425
54 PCB007 MAGAZINE I OCTOBER 2025 T H E C H E M I CA L C O N N ECT I O N Onshoring PCB Production: Daunting but Certainly Possible In the past year, several potential customers, con- cerned about the impending application of U.S. tar- iffs on incoming goods, have asked us what it would take to bring their circuit board production back to the U.S. While they also had other considerations, the threat of new tariffs was the tipping point that started them thinking about the economic advan- tages of bringing their manufacturing back onshore. It might be interesting to relate our experiences with two of those inquiries. Was This Venture All a 'Waste?' The first company has never produced its own cir- cuit boards, depending instead on outside suppli- ers, mostly from China, for several thousand square feet of boards per month. The pending tariffs would cut their profit levels significantly, and this, along with some problems incurred when using offshore providers, led them to think about starting their own PCB facility in the U.S. Inventory control has always been a problem—not knowing what was in China, in transit, or on hand. Quality control was also a prob- lem. With the supplier several thousand miles away, yields were hard to control. Communication prob- lems also made it hard to get anything done quickly. Does any of this sound familiar? Starting from scratch for a circuit board facility of this size is daunting, but after initial meetings and discussions, the project looked doable, at least from my point of view. We supplied them with satisfactory budgetary quotes for the wet processing equipment based on their requirements and put them in touch with other suppliers for equipment (etch resists, laminators, exposure units, etc.) and chemistries we couldn't provide. These fell into line with the com- pany's expectations, and we got into the details of chemical usage, process controls, and waste stream management. This is where the project stalled. The state and local environmental regulations were stringent, and in the end, the cost of an onsite treatment plant to meet those regulations exceeded the cost of the entire facility combined. The com- by D on B all, C hemcut