Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/359006
10 The PCB Magazine • August 2014 and gives us a glimpse of where this is heading. Here's a quote: This machine is capable of doing two of the most important and difficult tasks in the process of assembling working electronic devices. While it's not quite to the point of simply being able to press a button and have it print out an entire working device on its own, it certainly shows us how close we are to one day having a machine that will print and assemble working electronic devices at the touch of a button. In another recently posted article, Advan - tech Launches Printing Tech for Microelectronic Industry, we find this quote: Features and devic- es below 5 µm are typically the realm of Chips/ VLSI. Features above 30 µm are the realm of tra- ditional printed circuit and device technologies. The manufacturing processes of these two worlds have rarely intersected. Advantech US has devel- oped a printing process that allows these worlds to merge. I also came across a video, which introduces a system to make desktop PCBs. It's not so much the system, but who is making it: young engi- neers. Check it out! It's not doom and gloom here; it's just that there seem to be opportunities emerging in the PCB and assembly space that we all need to be aware of. That's what I'm trying to do. If it were just a few hobbyists making PCBs on their work- bench, it would be one thing. Instead, there are two potentially very large industries emerging that are starting to intersect more and more with what we do each year. For more on the PE, 3D merger, visit our printed electronics news section. Internet of Things It's kind of a corny name for something that's about to have an impact on everything we do. If you haven't heard the term Internet of Things (IoT), you will. With a market size in the trillions (yes, with a "t") of dollars, the IoT will touch just about everything we do. We see lots of interest and investments being made by all the major players from just about every industry. And the IoT isn't just for the factory floor, as we found out recently with Apple's announcement that it was moving into the connected home market along with Google and other major OEMs. IEEE jumped into the fray: "The Internet of Things represents a vast landscape of amazing potential; we are just now beginning to grasp how truly far the growing convergence of many tradition- ally standalone applications and cyber-physical systems can take us," said Oleg Logvinov, IEEE committee chair who is director, special assign- ments, Industrial and Power Conversion Divi- sion, STMicroelectronics. To read more about IEEE's efforts, click here. I wouldn't say I'm mesmerized by all these new and emerging technologies and industries, but I am certainly intrigued. I am quite hope- ful that our industries will embrace some of the newer manufacturing technologies as well as the emerging ones and incorporate them into their offerings as soon as is applicable. I hope the in- dustry will not be blindsided by what's coming, but will instead seize the opportunities they of- fer. That's why we cover this the way we do. It's important. Pay attention. Sustainability in the Supply Chain Pam Gordon, of Technology Forecasters, has written an article for Green Biz titled How to make electronic trade groups drive sustainabil- ity. With help from IPC, Gordon gathered input from association members to gain some perspec- tive on how industry associations engage their members on environmental sustainability. A couple of questions: First, is it their (the associa- tion's) job to drive this in the industry? Second, what is "environmental sustainability"? Here's how the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency describes it: Sustainability is based on a simple principle: Everything that we need for our survival and well-being depends, either directly or indirectly, on our natural environment. Sustainability creates and maintains the conditions under which humans and nature can exist in productive harmony, that permit fulfilling the social, economic and other re - quirements of present and future generations. Although I think it makes for an interesting article and it caught my attention, I'm not so sure this is an issue for our associations. Where are we falling short? Yes, we all use dangerous chemicals, but what does that have to do with sustainability? If we're doing our environmental bit, what are we doing that isn't sustainable? If we're keeping the air and water clean and recy - BITS AND PIECES continues