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64 The PCB Magazine • January 2016 22. Programmed Instruction/Long Distance Learning Increasingly more courses are now available over the Internet. To have this be effective there are specific requirements for a course taken or produced over the Internet in order for the user to have a positive experience. 23. Lean Manufacturing/JIT/TOC Lean, agile manufacturing is the competi- tive basis for modern manufacturing. Lean is about eliminating waste from your process. 24. Technology Awareness Technology continues to change and march forward. Electronics is one of the fastest of these technologies, but may be eclipsed by new tech- nologies for the 21st century. 25. Predictive Engineering (PE) Predictive engineering uses models and soft- ware to create a prototype in simulation only so that it can be optimized. The PE framework is the last software tool required to complete the next generation product development framework, with manufacturing (PCB fabrication, SMT assembly and test) all moving to Asia. While the majority of logical and physical design remaining in North America and Europe (concurrent engineering) along with the enterprise product data manage- ment, predictive engineering is the new frame- work needed to bring these two distinct product arenas into cooperation and optimization. With- out PE, products will cost more, take longer to in- troduce, and not have the best performance. Summary I am still organizing my thoughts about all these topics. They are not of equal importance, nor needed at every stage of your career. In Fig- ure 1, I attempted to classify them into four cat- egories based on where I think they contribute the most. In my upcoming columns, I will draw on these topics and show how these skills con- tribute to your own future. Reader feedback will be appreciated. PCB 25 ESSENTIAL SKILLS FOR ENGINEERS cheap, flexible, wireless graphene communica- tion devices such as mobile phones and healthcare monitors can be directly printed into clothing and even skin, university of manchester academics have demonstrated. in a paper in scientific reports, researchers show how graphene could be crucial to wearable elec- tronic applications because it is highly-conductive and ultra-flexible. the research could pave the way for smart, battery-free healthcare and fitness moni- toring, phones, internet-ready devices and chargers to be incorporated into clothing and 'smart skin' applica- tions—printed graphene sensors inte- grated with other 2D materials stuck onto a patient's skin to monitor tem- perature, strain and moisture levels. examples of communication devices include: • In a hospital, a patient wears a printed gra- phene rFiD tag on his or her arm. the tag, integrat- ed with other 2D materials, can sense the patient's body temperature and heartbeat and sends them back to the reader. the medical staff can monitor the patient's conditions wirelessly, greatly simplify- ing the patient's care. • in a care home, battery-free printed graphene sensors can be printed on elderly peoples' clothes. these sensors could detect and collect elderly peo- ple's health conditions and send them back to the monitoring access points when they are interro- gated, enabling remote healthcare and improving quality of life. using a mannequin, they attached graphene-enabled antennas on each arm. the devices were able to 'talk' to each other, effectively creating an on- body communications system. Graphene Proves a Perfect Fit for Wearable Devices Happy Holden has worked in printed circuit technology since 1970 with hewlett-packard, nanYa/ Westwood, merix, Foxconn and gentex. he is currently the co-ed- itor, along with clyde coombs, of the Printed Circuit Handbook–7th ed. article