Marcy's Musings

March 18, 2025

Marcy's Musings: The Golden Touch?

Corrosion, adhesion, bonding—the comprehensive issue of surface finish plating is primary for PCB manufacturers and their assembly counterparts. Gold is the standard for many applications, but it is expensive and has its limits. This issue of PCB007 Magazine leads with a deep dive into the various iterations of gold plating by the engineering team at MKS Atotech.

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February 20, 2025

Marcy's Musings: It's Show Time!

It’s hard to believe another year has gone by and it is time, once again, for IPC APEX EXPO. This year marks the 25th anniversary of this iconic show for the electronics industry and, in addition to all the usual suspects, there are some special things in store to celebrate this milestone. Last year, IPC themed the event, “What’s Next is Now.” This year’s theme, “Reimagine the Possibilities,” feels like a wholly appropriate follow-on.

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January 23, 2025

Marcy’s Musings: Fueling the Workforce Pipeline

Workforce, workforce, workforce. It's a conversation in manufacturing that occurs nearly as often as discussing quality and reliability. Finding good employees has always been a challenge, but the manufacturing industry has failed more spectacularly than most to draw new workers into the fold. In a domestic culture that has diminished the importance and relative social standing of manufacturing jobs, we now stare down a gaping hole where a ready, skilled next-generation workforce should be. It’s estimated there are 67,000 unfilled technical jobs in the U.S. semiconductor sector alone. In short, we are doing a lot of catch-up.

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December 17, 2024

Marcy’s Musings: Boosting Your Inner Layer Precision and Production Outcomes

If you went to college, it’s likely you did so because your parents told you that getting your education would provide a firm foundation to build a successful career. But attending college is not the end-all, be-all of creating a successful career, especially in our industry which offers many great opportunities that do not require that kind of higher education. Of course, you can’t argue that education and training provide a solid foundation upon which to build and lead to eventual success in an undertaking.

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November 19, 2024

Marcy's Musings: Engineering Economics

The real cost to manufacture a PCB, sometimes referred to as the "loaded cost," encompasses everything that goes into making the product: the materials and other value-added supplies, machine and personnel costs, and most importantly, your quality. Happy Holden calls it "Engineering Economics," and dedicated a chapter in his book, 24 Essential Skills for Engineers, to the subject.

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October 17, 2024

Marcy’s Musings: Destination Metallization

To reach your intended destination, you must have some form of pathway or route upon which to travel. It is much the same with the metallized traces and features on a printed circuit board. They are how electrical signals and power are carried from one point to another in an electronic device. Copper is the most prevalent metal conductor, but other metals are also used to a lesser degree, including gold, silver, tin, and palladium.

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September 17, 2024

Marcy's Musings: Charting the Future

I’m sure we all remember the days when driving somewhere new meant pulling out our handy atlas, or writing down all the specific instructions on how to get there before we left on our trips. Now, modern navigation systems are so sophisticated that they talk you through the process, reroute when you make a wrong turn, and tell you exactly what time you’ll arrive. One of the most beneficial aspects of these maps is hearing your next required move before you get there so you don’t miss a turn or go in the wrong direction. Wouldn’t it be nice if our technology roadmaps did the same, helping prevent missteps and avoid hazards? But deciding where to go and how to get there is completely in our own hands, as is ensuring we actually take the twists and turns we have so carefully laid out in our roadmaps. Therein, I believe, lies the biggest challenge of all.

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August 19, 2024

Marcy’s Musings: Attaining Superior Wet Process Control

The overarching truths of process control and quality management are immutable. We often rely on philosophies such as Total Quality Management, Lean Manufacturing, and Six Sigma, which focus on continuous improvement in manufacturing and management. These philosophies illustrate the tremendous amount of time and thought put into controlling and improving processes, which ultimately lead to better products and higher customer satisfaction. They underscore that controlling processes and product quality is a necessary pathway to business success.

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July 19, 2024

Marcy’s Musings: The Art, Science, and Reality of Thriving

By all accounts, the global electronics industry is thriving and has done so in a relatively short historical period marked by momentous technological advancement. Since the invention of the working transistor in 1947—just 77 years ago—our area of electronics alone has seen the first printed circuit board, the advent of plated through-hole technology, microvias and laser drilling, and printed electronics. Particularly considering the technology we support, this technical arc is staggering and should inspire a sense of accomplishment, appreciation, and perhaps even awe.

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June 18, 2024

Marcy’s Musings: All Things Material 

It wasn’t until I had been around the business block a bit that I truly understood the impact of inventory on one’s P&L. How a company manages its inventory has a tremendous effect on its financials. I saw many situations where “fixers” were hired to get an organization financially back on track. The companies then experienced some of their greatest gains in the first year by simply getting their inventory under control. This is material management at its most base level for a business, and in this June issue of PCB007 Magazine, we are talking about all things “material,” a popular and ever-evolving topic for PCB fabricators. 

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May 21, 2024

Marcy’s Musings: The ‘Magic’ of Additive Processes

Though modern semi-additive and fully additive technologies are still emerging for PCB manufacturing, additive technology itself is not new. Many PCB fabricators find themselves at a crossroads when deciding whether to change their current processes and go additive or stay the course until something significant compels a change. But change is on the horizon, and it seems to be driven by significant technological advancements in chips and advanced packaging, offering PCB fabricators some additive manufacturing solutions to explore.

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April 16, 2024

Marcy's Musings: The Growing Industry

After decades of steady decline in the U.S. and Europe, the PCB industry is finally growing, especially in China Plus One countries. The U.S. for example, which seemed to have abdicated its title as the world leader in innovating high-technology cutting-edge manufacturing processes, is now in a race to regain what it lost and then some. The PCB fabrication industry is growing in the West, thanks to DoD funding, the CHIPS and Science Act, and hopefully, the passing of HR 3249, the Printed Circuit Board and Substrates Act.

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March 21, 2024

Marcy’s Musings: The Many Facets of Sustainability

"We don't need to have a handful of people doing zero waste perfectly. We need a million people doing it imperfectly." —Anne Marie Bonneau (Zero Waste Chef) I borrowed this quote from the world of cooking and online influencers because it speaks to the reality of how to make a real and continuous impact when large-scale change is ultimately needed. We’re all doing things to further economic and environmental sustainability within our organizations, and we’re likely operating on a spectrum that ranges from doing nothing to doing it all perfectly.

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February 18, 2024

Marcy’s Musings: Countdown—The Fabricator’s Guide to IPC APEX EXPO

Like any great tech industry event, IPC APEX EXPO pushes us out of our busy 24/7 manufacturing bubbles. It forces us to pay attention to things that are important but not always present in our day-to-day lives. But there is so much to see and do. This issue of PCB007 Magazine previews many of the important events taking place at the show this year and highlights some changes and opportunities. Let us help you map out your show plan. This issue is focused on the PCB fabricator’s show experience and how you can get the most from your valuable time and investment in attending the show. So, buckle up. We are counting down to IPC APEX EXPO 2024.

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