IPC International Community magazine an association member publication
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4 2 C O M M U N I T Y M A G A Z I N E FA L L 2 0 2 5 Joachim singles out the Associa- tion's Alison James, executive direc- tor, Europe. "Alison is the bridge between all ideas," he says. Kevin agrees, indicating that "she has all the knowledge of how the European Union works. You can't just walk in and give your complaint; you need an Association to help." Joachim and Kevin discovered that advocating for the European electronics industry can be chal- lenging if policymakers are unaware of your work. "They don't know you exist," Joa- chim says. "You have to show them what you do." He described a visit from mem- bers of the European Commission to ACB in 2024. "We were able to demonstrate what a PCB is," Joachim says. "We illustrated how our PCBs are made, high- lighted our struggles, and explained the supply chain challenges. We emphasized that copper is essential for our operations, yet we currently have only one copper sheet supplier in Europe. Additionally, we rely on base materials coming from Asia due to the limited supply of these materials in Europe." "But they don't have a feeling about it," Kevin says. "In the minds of people, the chip is a chip, so they invest a lot in the chip. So, they put in the money to have the chip. But we say that, no, you need some- thing to put the chip on. If any links of the chain are missing, you cannot manufacture electronics. That's the message we try to push with Alison's help. It's not only the PCB, but also the assembly." Uniting a Fragmented Landscape Joachim and Kevin agree that the Association's advo- cacy efforts have made a significant impact in con- veying their message to the European Commission. "We are all companies with a core business of mak- ing PCBs," Joachim says. "We don't know how to open doors to address these complex policy matters, and the Global Electronics Association can be a huge ben- efit for each company." "It is the voice of electronics in Europe," Kevin says. ▲ M E M B E R P R O F I L E "We are an SME company. Europe will not listen to an SME company. We need an association that bundles everything and says, 'Okay, my industry wants to talk with you, and you should listen.'" He notes that the Association asks for input from industry members to effectively represent their needs. "They will advocate for PCB fabricators, EMS providers, and OEMs," Kevin says. "For instance, tariffs are a significant concern. Our message to the Euro- pean Commission is clear: If you want to support us, eliminate all tariffs or at least put the tariffs on PCBs imported from outside Europe. This would encour- age the industry to utilize local sources." Standards, Research, and HDI Reliability In addition to advocacy work, Group ACB participates in standards development committees, most recently IPC-4101, Specification for Base Materials for Rigid and Multilayer Printed Boards. Kevin recounts his first experience serving on a committee in 2016, and the detailed discussions on specific grades of material. "The first topic we discussed was the specific mate- rial for the space grade quality called Appendix A grade, which is a cleanliness material," he says. "In that meet- ing, we had a point with a space stakeholder to have a specific grade of the material registered, one that suppliers can provide. That is the kind of discussion we can have in committee meetings."