Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/1547450
20 SMT007 MAGAZINE I NOVEMBER 2026 B R I D G I N G T H E PAC I F I C Working with customers in North America, Europe, Japan, and other parts of Asia has shown me that the basic expectations are remarkably similar. Customers want boards that meet specifications, arrive on time, and perform consistently. They also want honest communication when something does not go according to plan. International standards help create this shared understanding. IPC requirements, ISO quality systems, customer specifications, and industry certifications give manufacturers and customers a common technical foundation. Engineers in the United States and China may speak different languages, but they can study the same drawing, review the same cross-section, and evaluate the same inspection data. Standards are important, but I have also learned not to place too much faith in certificates. They do not build a good circuit board. Certificates show that a system has been reviewed, but the real test occurs every day on the factory floor. Operators must follow the process, engineers must investigate variation, and managers must support corrective action, even when it is inconvenient or expensive. Real quality is found in habits that customers may never see, such as when the operator stops a process because something does not look right, the engineer studies a small change in plating thickness before it becomes a larger problem, and the manager refuses to ship questionable product simply because the delivery date is approaching. Statistical process control has made these deci- sions more objective. We monitor processes, examine trends, and use data to understand where variation is developing. Copper thickness, drilling accuracy, line width, registration, impedance, and other critical characteristics cannot be managed by instinct alone. Data allows us to act before a customer is affected. Still, data is only useful when people are willing to face what it says. One of the easiest mistakes in manu- facturing is explaining away an unfavorable result. There is always pressure to keep production moving. A mature quality culture accepts that stopping briefly to understand a problem is often faster than producing more material that may need to be scrapped. Technology has strengthened our ability to control quality. Automated optical inspection, electrical testing, X-ray equipment, digital records, laser measurement, and real-time production monitoring provide manufacturers with information they did not have in the past. AI will help us recognize patterns earlier and manage increasingly complex products. However, I do not believe technology will replace human responsibility. Equipment can identify an unusual condition, but people must decide what it means and what to do. The best machine cannot compensate for weak training, careless communication, or leadership that values output more than integrity. Customers also have an important role. Many quality problems begin before an order reaches the factory. An incomplete drawing, an unclear stackup, an unavailable material, or an unrealistic toler- ance can create unnecessary risk. The strongest customer-supplier relationships allow engineers to discuss these issues openly before production. Asking for clarification is not a sign of weakness. It is evidence that the manufacturer is paying attention. Manufacturers must also be honest when they make mistakes. Every factory, including ours, will experi- ence problems. The true measure of a company is not whether it claims to be perfect. It is whether it responds quickly, identifies the actual cause, protects the customer, and prevents the problem from returning. Customers can forgive an honest mistake more readily than an evasive explanation. Quality has become a universal language because results travel easily across borders. Customers remember suppliers that perform consistently, communicate honestly, and take responsibility. They also remember those that do not. The future of global manufacturing will not belong to the country with the best reputation or the factory with the most certificates. It will belong to compa- nies that make quality visible in their daily decisions. In the end, a quality system is not what a company says about itself. It is what its people are willing to do when no customer is watching. SMT007 Tianming Liu is president of First Quality Circuits Co. and Sihui Fuji Electronics Technology Co., Ltd. To read past columns, click here.