It’s Only Common Sense: Customers Need Confidence More Than Low Prices
Dan’s Biz Bookshelf: Revisiting 'The Popcorn Report'
This week, the Global Electronics Association published its monthly report on PCB fabrication and EMS bookings and shipments, and the numbers are extremely positive. In EMS, the three-month book-to-bill ratio stands at 1.29 for July. Year-to-date EMS bookings are at 11% over 2025. The picture is similar in PCB fabrication as well. Year-to-date bookings are up 33% over last year, and book-to-bill stands at 1.46.
This does not look like a short-term blip in the overall numbers, but it does seem to be driven by spotty demand: AI, data centers, and defense, with their extremely complex designs, are at the forefront, while the high-volume consumer-type products are still sluggish.
This begs the question: Who’s designing and how is this changing their work? Our posse of PCB pundits all seem to be tossing that same question around in their heads.
This week, we bring you the debut column from Flexible Circuit Technology’s “Fab Five” (see what I did there?) Micron opens a new training center in Boise. VeCS creator, Joan Tourne, returns to update on how the design and fab methodologies have matured. Ventec’s Mark Goodwin raises some warnings about the current state of the laminate supply chain, and Kelly Dack equates electronics with ecology and, well, evolution.
Flex Connections: Four Lessons in Engineering Judgment for PCB Designers
Published August 20
Dan Skweres enters the chat with a powerful thesis for a changing design environment: “Just because you can doesn’t mean you should.” With so much growth in the most complex board designs, it’s even more important to consider whether that design choice is over-engineering.
Micron Opens State-of-the-Art Training Center in Boise to Strengthen America’s Semiconductor Workforce
Published August 26
In the September issue of SMT007 Magazine, we highlight the ongoing growth in Mexican electronics manufacturing. The needs being confronted by Micron and Mexico are the same: How do you quickly create a workforce with a skill set to match the manufacturing demands facing them. Micron’s new Boise training center is their latest answer to the challenge.
VeCS HDI Process Technology: Has the Time Come for Broader Adoption?
Published August 25
VeCS offers PCB fabricators a potentially simpler manufacturing approach to HDIs. The technology can reduce or eliminate multiple lamination cycles, ease some stackup constraints, and achieve greater vertical interconnect density while leveraging conventional PCB fabrication equipment and processes. I-Connect007 has covered VeCS since its introduction in 2017 and 2018. VeCS creator, Joan Tourne, returns to update on how the design and fab methodologies have matured. For additional detail, don’t miss Marcy LaRont’s article here.
Preparing for a New Laminate Supply Reality
Published August 26
Ventec’s Mark Goodwin cautions us on the PCB materials supply chain. Current market demand far outstrips global production, and, as Goodwin points out, once the supply crisis has begun, strengthening supply chain resilience is essentially impossible. Meanwhile, designers need to know which materials are available. So, what to do? Goodwin has some answers.
Target Condition: Life in the Engineering Ecosystem
Published August 25
Kelly Dack’s column reflects on the design and manufacturing chain as if it were organic, because the processes most certainly are. In fact, Kelly observes, “Our responsibility doesn't end when the CAM files leave our desktop. In many ways, that's where it begins. Every trace we route, footprint we approve, fabrication note we write, and dimension we place becomes the starting point for someone else's work. Manufacturing, assembly, inspection, test, procurement, and ultimately the customer all depend on the quality of that information.” Wise words and much food for thought from Kelly as our ecosystems, and the roles within them, evolve.
