Automation Meets Sustainability

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Editor's note: This article appeared in the August 2025 PCB007 Magazine as part of our spotlight on Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories.

GreenSource Engineering (GSE) is proud to have contributed to the first successful reshoring of a PCB facility on a greenfield site in the United States. While we are honored to have played a key role, full credit for this achievement goes to SEL for its vision, commitment, and professionalism.

GSE had the privilege of familiarizing SEL’s team with PCB production, helping them design a factory layout, and facilitating connections with leading suppliers in the PCB industry during the project’s early stages. These collaborative efforts ultimately led to a viable and successful onshoring initiative in the U.S.

These contributions by GreenSource ensured that onshoring remains viable in the U.S.:

• Supplying robust and specialized automation to mitigate the impact of labor cost, while simultaneously improving quality by reducing handling. GSE supplied the majority of the automation at the SEL facility in Moscow, Idaho. Some of this automation is also specifically designed to perform specialized tasks. An example of this is a cooling buffer. This tool collects panels and cools them prior to release for further processing.
• GSE supplied a state-of-the-art, patented closed-loop, zero liquid discharge (ZLD) water recycling system called ARK™, which can reliably supply the volume of water at the quality required to the Idaho fab. This action has also firmly positioned GSE on the right side of the LAW (Lab and Water).
• GSE is committed to providing the customer with the best equipment to serve their purpose, even if this means selecting an alternative supplier to GSE for wet process tools.

The impressive SEL facility and GSE’s contribution to it are not stand-alone achievements in the U.S. Our core skills have been honed and developed through three significant start-to-finish projects, with a fourth fab design to build project about to begin. This project will be specialized for IC substrate manufacturing and will, therefore, be a trailblazing project for the U.S.

GSE’s core skills:

• Fab design and layout using the most competent suppliers in the industry
• Wet process tools with both RESOLUTION™ H and RESOLUTION™ V tools for horizontal and vertical processing, respectively
• Design and supply of ARK, ZLD, and MLD water recycling systems. (Our ARK systems are proven in production. We are often approached to correct competitor systems and make them functional.)

GreenSource recognizes and is grateful for SEL’s drive and focus, which have aided our company in evolving and maturing.

To see all of our SEL coverage, be sure to check out the August 2025 edition of PCB007 Magazine.