by John Mitchell, IPC president and CEO It’s not every day one is invited to attend an event at the White House in Washington, D.C. However, last week, I had the opportunity to do just that on behalf of IPC. During that event, White House Senior Adviser Ivanka Trump praised IPC, among others, for joining in a nationwide, private-sector pledge to create new high-skilled workforce opportunities for more than 6 million Americans over the next five years. President Trump kicked off the workforce challenge to U.S. businesses in July. As a longtime leader in education and training within the electronics industry, IPC took it as an opportunity to review our existing programs and identify ways to grow and innovate. The result? IPC joined the Pledge to America’s Workers by promising to create new career opportunities for at least 1 million Americans in the electronics industry. IPC’s pledge is backed by millions of dollars in current and planned investments and the support of our 2,500 U.S. member organizations. We’re doing this because the chronic shortage of skilled workers is the top business challenge facing the U.S. electronics industry. We estimate that there are more than 10,000 unfilled positions in our industry today. Our workforce is aging and retiring faster than we can hire replacements. More than two-thirds of our members report that their inability to find skilled workers is limiting their growth. Too often, today’s workers lack essential knowledge and skills including math, basic technology skills, and problem-solving. The pledge is based on the simple premise that employers—individually and collectively—have the primary obligation to understand and address their own workforce needs. They need not take up the task alone, but they cannot wait for others to lead. There are many steps that companies and associations in the private sector can take. At IPC, we are expanding our education, training and certification programs for both existing workers and younger adults and students, providing valuable credentials that will lead to new career opportunities. We’re also working to create more than 1,000 new “earn-and-learn” opportunities through a network of electronics companies, universities, and community colleges. We’re spreading the word that many noble, “cool,” and lucrative careers can be had by those who gain technical knowledge and experience in the electronics field. While no one has a crystal ball, we do know that the jobs of the future will be very different from the jobs of today. We can choose to fear this change, as many do, or we can embrace it by leading and investing in innovation and education. It’s important to remember that advanced manufacturing, which relies heavily on robotics and precision automation, is revitalizing the U.S. industrial base. The workers in these cutting-edge facilities have less hands-on interaction with manual tools and greater reliance on computer-managed machinery. That makes manufacturing cleaner and safer than it was in the past, but it also places new skills requirements on workers. In that vein, IPC has convened a team of electronics industry experts that is currently working to identify the skills and competencies needed to perform every role in the electronics industry over the next 10 years. We are redesigning our credentialing programs to align with these findings and to empower individuals at every educational level to enter our industry and upskill. Just as other high-tech sectors have expanded their worker credentialing, so too will we. In this environment, credentials become the key to employment and career advancement. Our task as an industry is to make our credentialing programs accessible, stackable, and scalable to ensure the most robust talent pipeline possible. Overcoming the skilled workforce shortage is a collaborative effort that will require stronger relationships among companies, associations, schools, and technical training programs. That collaboration, however, is already on the rise, and together we can develop the workforce needed to compete in the global economy.

On October 31, IPC announced that it has signed the President’s Pledge to the American Worker and made a commitment to create at least 1 million new training and workforce development opportunities in the electronics industry over the next five years. IPC‘s announcement coincided with an event at the White House with President Trump, White House Senior Adviser Ivanka Trump, Director of the National Economic Council Larry Kudlow, and other Administration officials. IPC President and CEO John Mitchell and representatives from four IPC member companies — Calumet Electronics, Green Circuits, Summit Interconnect, and Zentech — were invited to participate in the event. In brief remarks, Ivanka Trump recognized IPC and praised our commitment to skilled workforce opportunities. View recording of the event. [caption id="attachment_4537" align="alignleft" width="300"] L to R: Joe O’Neil of Green Circuits; Meredith LaBeau of Calumet Electronics; John Mitchell of IPC; Ivanka Trump; Shane Whiteside of Summit Interconnect; Darryl Graves of Zentech[/caption]   Calumet Electronics, which is one of the largest employers in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan and is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year, was featured in a local TV news report following the event. View the video news clip. Get Involved and Help Grow the Workforce of Tomorrow To achieve the goal of creating 1 million new training and career opportunities over the next five years, IPC is calling on IPC member companies to join our “IPC Workforce Champions” campaign. IPC Workforce Champions commit to work with IPC on three of our five education, training and workforce development programs, including participating in the IPC Job Task Analysis Committee; developing “Earn and Learn” programs; partnering with IPC on STEM programming in secondary and post-secondary schools; supporting scholarships through the IPC Education Foundation; and adopting the IPC certification framework in their companies. Some of the IPC members that have already joined the IPC Workforce Champions and are leading the way to address the skills gap include: • ALTEX • Green Circuits • Eagle Circuits • Optimum Design • STI Electronics • Summit Interconnect • TTM Technologies • VirTex MTI To learn more about IPC Workforce Champions and/or to sign up, please visit: go.ipc.org/gr-pledge. For questions about IPC Workforce Champions, please contact Ken Schramko, senior director, North American government relations at KenSchramko@ipc.org.

by John Mitchell, IPC President and CEO Many IPC members have expressed to me their ongoing concern about the proliferation of counterfeit electronics. The intrusion of counterfeit electronics into the supply chain is a threat to the reputation and operations of every electronics manufacturer. Several months ago, I had the opportunity to receive a tour of the Crane Naval facility (the Executive Agent for Printed Circuit and Interconnect Technologies) and experience some of their counterfeit research and countermeasures directly. Crane is arguably the best in the world at this. I believe many of you would benefit from a similar experience and knowledge download. To help our members better protect themselves, IPC is partnering with the Executive Agent (EA) to hold a special event next month. We have arranged for members to get a rare, behind-the-scenes tour of the EA’s facilities and the work they are doing to thwart counterfeit electronics. In a day-long symposium that follows, the experts at Crane will discuss global counterfeit trends and the protocols all manufacturers should establish to safeguard the integrity of their supply chains. If you have concerns about counterfeit electronics in your supply chain, I strongly encourage you to register for this important and unique symposium and tour. Please note that, given the sensitive nature of the EA’s work, attendees must be U.S. persons working for companies that serve the defense market in some fashion. Participation in this event is capped, so register soon. For more information, visit the event website or contact Chris Mitchell, IPC vice president of global government relations at ChrisMitchell@ipc.org.

The European Union promotes a “circular economy” with closed-loop production based as much as possible on reparability, reusability and recycling. But in order for more products to be recycled or reused, it is crucial to tackle the challenges at the source, by ensuring that the product design facilitates recycling, and by substituting, whenever feasible, hazardous substances with suitable alternatives. In this context, the European Commission recently asked stakeholders their opinions on the interface between chemical, product and waste legislation. The questionnaire drafted by the European Commission covers some key issues for the electronics industry, including the definition of ‘substances of concern’ and the tracking of these substances. Based on Commission’s communication on this subject, the aim of the questionnaire is to get stakeholders’ views on four issues posing obstacles to ‘the safe uptake of secondary raw materials’ and a number of related challenges: lack of information on substances of concern in products and waste; presence of substances of concern in recycled materials; difficulties in applying end-of-waste criteria; and unclear application of EU waste classification methodologies. This is one of the priority issues for the electronics industry in Europe, and IPC’s Senior Director of Europe, Nicolas Robin, is currently working with IPC members on a common response to the consultation. Please don’t hesitate to share your views and concerns. The deadline has been set for October 29, 2018. The European Commission’s key Policy Officer responsible for the interface between chemical, product and waste legislation, Enrique Garcia-John, will be one of the speakers at this year’s IPC IMPACT Europe on November 28-29 in Brussels. Register now to speak directly with high level EU decision-makers, make your voice heard, and better understand future EU legislative plans.