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66 The PCB Magazine • February 2014 by Dan Beaulieu db manaGement inc. Conversations with… Gardien's Todd Kolmodin i n t e r V i e w A couple of weeks ago I had the chance to catch up with Todd Kolmodin, vice president of quality for Gardien Services USA. I was par- ticularly interested in talking to Todd because his new monthly column will be starting next month in The PCB Magazine. I consider Todd one of our industry's leading experts when it comes to electrical test and other reliability is- sues, so he's always a wonderful resource when it comes to those subjects. And he's a pretty in- teresting guy to talk to. Dan: Todd, thanks for speaking with me. For those readers who don't know you, can you tell us something about your background? Todd: Hi, Dan. As always, nice to chat with you. In a nutshell, I'm currently the vice presi- dent quality North America for Gardien Servic- es. I began in the PCB industry in March 1986 in a test facility in Oregon. I learned all that is ET back then from CAM, drill, fixture assembly to test machine operation. As the years passed I moved into the quality as- pect of Test and Quality As- surance. Specifications and customer requirements can be very confusing at times. Specification review, train- ing, documentation and cus- tomer service are many of my daily functions. I've seen this industry grow and change like the seasons. It's really amazing how technology has grown. From the PTH standard holes in the '80s to hybrid microBGA technol- ogy of the 2000s, it's really exciting. Dan: Can you tell us a little bit about what Gardien offers? Todd: Dan, Gardien has really taken a 20,000-foot approach to the PCB industry. To- day, a company needs to look at the overall fac- ets of the industry and tailor a specific genre to the requirements of the given customer. That is where Gardien excels, working with the cus-