In our industry we rely on our suppliers to help us achieve our goals. Over the past twenty years we have lost some of the best talent in our industry, which makes us pretty lean when it comes to our own in-house technical talent. This means we need to rely on our friends and suppliers to hone our processes and increase our technological knowledge.

Look for your suppliers to help you with:

1. New products
2. New technical innovations
3. Process problems
4. Equipment issues. Getting the most from your processes, equipment, and technology
6. Helping you develop new processes and technology in your own facility
7. Acting as your arbiter with your customer when issues arise
8. Updating you on industry news
9. Sharing common information (non-proprietary) from other fab houses
10. Acting as your trusted advisor

Always remember that it is in the trusted supplier’s best interest to help you achieve your goals and succeed.

Government funding might be coming our way. We fully support the recent legislation submitted in Congress, “The Supporting American Circuit Boards Act of 2022”, which proposes funding to assist our own ailing PCB industry. From what we can gather, our representatives have finally gotten the message that our industry is indeed important to national security and domestic economic well-being. After going from 1800 PCB fab house to less than 200, we have finally hit critical mass—something must be done before we become extinct. Stay tuned, contact your local representative and ask them to support this legislation. Let’s hope this bill gets expedited through with bipartisan support. We’ll fill you in on the details as we learn them.

Feel free to read the entire proposal here.