Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/609948
42 SMT Magazine • December 2015 attention to the importance of surface rough- ness—that we're controlling surface roughness before we get into the final finish line and that it can dramatically improve the performance. It might not be a necessity for every single appli- cation, but for high-reliability for very intricate assemblies it's very important. Goldman: Why did you choose smtAi for your presentation? Toscano: The SMTA International conference is my favorite technical conference. It's an incred- ibly collaborative group of people. Someone mentioned this morning that they had been in an interesting situation the very first time they went to an SMTA meeting almost 30 years ago. There were two competitors at a table and one had a very strong technical issue and the other was sharing how they had solved it for them- selves. For me, it always feels like as a group we're trying to find a resolution. We're not competing so much against each other in this environment. And you know, of course, there are going to be instances where you're protect- ing your intellectual property; you're not going to give up everything, but as an industry we will get to a better place. We will be more success- ful, faster, if we work collaboratively, and that's what's amazing about the SMTA. There are so many different individuals working together, from chemical suppliers, through fabricators and the OEMs. There's just so much knowledge in one small area, and that is why I keep coming back to this conference. I believe my first conference was 1999, so I've been coming here for some time. This year I've been invited to be a part of the technical committee for SMTA International. I am honored to be asked to play a role in choos- ing the technical papers that would be part of this conference. Goldman: Are you active in your local smtA chapter? Toscano: Over the past few years, MacDermid has become a more active member in our local chapter. Jun Nable, our research project man- ager, is the president of the Connecticut chap- ter. He previously held the position of Secretary. Also, one of our newest researchers, Alex Kone- fal, is the VP of operations. We've been able to host a few technical talks at MacDermid, which has been nice and we have seen a good turnout, so we're going to continue to do that. Goldman: You must have a great place for meetings. Toscano: We do; we have a good facility for it, and being centrally located in Connecticut allows for a number of companies in the sur- rounding area to come and contribute to the meetings. We also have a booth here at SMTA this year. We have two posters from our R&D teams, which will be presented at the poster session and we're excited about that. We really want to get our technical staff exposed to international conferences as well as those on the local level. This not only gives us exposure but also show- cases the innovation and hard work that we're doing. Goldman: i'm guessing there are other macder- mid people involved in the ipc committees and subcommittees also? oem APPLIcATIonS: mAcDermID'S oem DIrecTor embrAceS reneWeD FocUS FeATure inTerview