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32 The PCB Magazine • October 2014 The culminating effect is that in a typical premium-class automobile there are 70–100 micro-processor based electronic control units running on about 100 million lines of code. To the PCB fabricators, that means the global au- tomotive electronic market is currently in ex- cess of $150 billion, and is expected to grow to in excess of $240 billion by 2020, according to more current estimates. But how do I get Invited to the Party? Quality The past year has brought an abundance of headlines regarding product recalls. The most famous have been the rolling recalls from Gen- eral Motors, but checking deeper into the news you can find various recalls from Ford (Ford Flex, Lincoln MKX, CMax, Focus), Toyota (Tundra), Land Rover (LR2, Evoque), Jaguar (XK, XF), Chrysler (200, Cherokee), Aston Mar- tin (DB9, Rapide S), BMW (i3, Mini), Honda (Odyssey), and Mercedes Benz (GLK350). Not only is this only a partial list from this year, but it already includes most of the global au- tomakers. This is almost certainly going to put a re- newed focus on supplier quality and long-term reliability. As such, one of the base require- ments to breaking into the market is having a robust quality management system (QMS). In 1994, the North American big three automakers developed a system named QS9000, which en- abled their collective supply base to build and manage a single system that was recognized by the three primary customers in North America. However, by the 2000s it became clear that a more global outlook was necessary. The key fac- tors towards determining this was that the big three were not looking too big anymore. Facto- ries were being built in North America by foreign automakers at an increasing rate, with Honda, Toyota, and BMW leading the charge. Further- more, these transplant OEMs often looked to have a localized supply base, prompting North American automotive parts and systems sup- pliers to target their business as well. Maintain- ing multiple quality management systems in a single factory proved to be an extremely expen- sive venture that was rife with opportunities for failure. In response to this global dilemma, the ma- jor America, European, and Japanese automo- bile manufacturers created the International Automotive Task Force (IATF), whose primary PCBS FOR AUTOMOBILES: WHAT TO WEAR TO THE PARTY? continues figure 1: Vehicle recalls by decade* through september 30, 2013. (source: nhtsa)