IPC International Community magazine an association member publication
Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/1544975
76 I-CONNECT007 MAGAZINE I MAY 2026 ARTICLE The first hard truth about AI in PCB fab- rication is that you can buy software, but you cannot buy capability. You can sign a contract, schedule demos, put a few logos on a slide, and tell your team you now have an AI strategy. Plenty of companies are doing some version of that right now. But if the people in your plant do not know how to use AI in real work, then your purchase was more akin to buying a gym membership and never going. (Don't take that as criticism; it's just how it works.) In our industry, we have seen plenty of software promises, where we bought into systems that were supposed to make quoting easier, communication tighter, or production more predictable. Sometimes they helped, but sometimes they also created new work. I understand the skepticism, and I am not asking you to suspend that skepticism for AI. I want to point you in the right direction, so instead of asking, "What AI package should we buy?" say, "How do we help the people in our plant become more capable with the tools that are Don't Buy AI, Learn It A Fabricator's Guide to Getting Started BY S E A N PAT T E RS O N , C RO S S G E N A I 76 I-CONNECT007 MAGAZINE I MAY 2026 Part 1