To determine the effects the U.S./China tariff dispute has on U.S. electronics manufacturers, IPC conducted a survey of its U.S. members. The results reflect how difficult it is for a global industry to navigate this uncertainty. IPC President and CEO John Mitchell provides details in his monthly IPC president's message. https://youtu.be/hiLojHk6I7A

Representatives of electronics companies from across Europe gathered last week in Brussels to call on European policy makers to ensure the right policy and regulatory environment to stimulate innovation in the electronics value chain and boost its competitiveness in Europe. Held annually, IMPACT Europe is our premier annual advocacy event in Brussels, giving IPC members the opportunity to engage directly with policy makers on key policy and legislative initiatives affecting their business. This year’s discussions focused on some of the most pressing challenges for the electronics industry: the future of EU industrial policy; planned changes to chemicals rules; expected activity on responsible sourcing of minerals; ongoing interest in addressing the skills gap; and new priorities in the area of international trade. The event kicked off with a private roundtable and a reception at the European Parliament, where IPC members had the opportunity to speak with Members of the European Parliament Łukasz Kohut (Poland) and Dragoș Pîslaru (Romania) about the upcoming renewed Industrial Policy and Skills Agenda, both expected to be published by the Commission in March 2020. Attendees also heard from the Senior Policy Advisor of the Renew Europe group Joost Hermans about upcoming priorities in international trade, including the defense of multilateralism, the need for an agreement on digital trade, and the group’s support for ensuring that human rights and environmental provisions in free trade agreements are enforceable. IPC’s policy priorities for the new legislative term were shared by IPC CEO and President John Mitchell, as well as Carsten Salewski of Viscom and Chair of IPC’s European Government Relations Committee. The next day started with a panel discussion on EU chemicals policy. Kelly Scanlon, IPC’s EHS policy and research director, highlighted the association’s investments in data collection and research to inform policy making. Two representatives of the European Commission – Elena Montani of its environmental department (DG Environment) and Gert Roebben of its industry and small business department (DG GROW) – discussed the much-anticipated European Green Deal and underscored the need for science-based rules and definitions, innovative financial schemes, public-private knowledge sharing, and educational initiatives. Raj Takhar of Assent Compliance gave the participants a sneak preview of a forthcoming IPC report on supply chain traceability regarding substances of concern. The report explores the need for a more holistic and consistent approach to identifying and reporting on chemicals use. Felicia Stoica of DG GROW’s Advanced Engineering and Manufacturing Systems Unit then gave a keynote speech on the Commission’s plan to renew its over-arching industrial policy. The EU industrial policy is wide-ranging, covering trade, support for small and medium-sized enterprises, investment, innovation and public procurement; it is also intended to become an enabler for the European Green Deal. Convergence and synergies with the EU digital policy will also be maximized, including links to cybersecurity and artificial intelligence. IPC representatives stressed that every link in the European electronics manufacturing chain is fundamental building block in every EU industrial priority, and as such the industry’s strategic significance should be recognized and incorporated into planning. During the last session, Zora Mincheva of the Commission’s DG TRADE presented the status of implementation of the EU Conflict Minerals Regulation. Chris Mitchell, IPC’s vice president of global government relations, shared two exciting developments at IPC on this issue. First, balloting was recently completed on revisions to IPC-1755, a data exchange standard; and earlier this year, IPC joined the European Partnership for Responsible Minerals (EPRM) as part of its continuing efforts to help IPC members navigate the complex challenge of responsible minerals sourcing. Julian Lageard of Intel and Ken Matthysen of International Peace and Information Service (IPIS) provided an update on the status of EPRM from the perspectives of supply chain actors and civil society. Participating member companies included Apple, Assent Compliance, BAE Systems, Continental, Dell Technologies, MED-EL Elektromedizinische Geraete Gesellschaft, IBM, Intel Corporation, Panasonic, u-blox, and Viscom. To all who participated, thank you for your active engagement and for helping to make this event a success! We will be in touch with follow-up activities. To those of you who missed this opportunity but would like to learn more or become involved in IPC’s EU advocacy efforts, please contact Alison James, IPC’s senior director, Europe at AlisonJames@ipc.org. View the photo galleries from IMPACT Europe Day One and Day Two.

It is with deep sadness that IPC announces the passing of electronics industry pioneer and IPC Hall of Famer, Bernard (Bernie) Kessler. Bernie passed away on December 2, 2019 at age 96. Active in IPC for more than 50 years, Bernie served as IPC’s first chair of the Technical Activities Executive Council (TAEC). He earned an IPC President’s Award in 1966, was inducted into the IPC Hall of Fame in 1991 and was amongst the inaugural group to be awarded the Dieter Bergman IPC Fellowship Award in 2015. Per longtime friend and colleague Gene Weiner, Weiner International Associates, “Bernie was an international industry legend and was friend and mentor to many. He combined his intellect with his amazing wit to educate and challenge his industry peers. We shall miss his presence.” His energy, enthusiasm and valuable contributions to the industry will be missed by many. On behalf of the electronics industry, IPC offers its condolences to his family.

By Tara Dunn, president, Omni PCB Can you imagine the benefits of routing with a 25-micron trace and space? Just to name a few; complex pin outs would require fewer layers and a decrease in costly lamination cycles, the overall size of the PCB could be dramatically reduced, or conversely, additional electronics could be fit into an existing footprint. What if the 25-micron technology could be integrated into a stack-up with traditional subtractive etch technology? To spark that imagination, a 10-layer PCB, pushing traditional design limits requiring stacked or staggered micro vias and three lamination cycles, could use 25 micron trace and space on tight pin out layers, while keeping other layers as designed resulting in a reduction in overall size and thickness, a reduction to 8 layers and reduction to only one lamination cycle. Semi-additive technology enables the fabrication of 25-micron line and space and below and can be integrated with traditional PCB fabrication processes. This ultra-high-density packaging and interconnect solution can reduce size and weight by 90% over current state of the art processes within the US, is shown to have significant RF advantages over traditional subtractive-etch processing and is opening up design possibilities that were previously unavailable. Mike Vinson, Averatek Corporation, will speak at IPC’s APEX EXPO 2020 technical conference about a semi-additive PCB fabrication process that is currently being licensed to North American based PCB fabricators. His presentation, “Transitioning to Very High-Density Interconnect From Subtractive to A-SAP™,” will cover how this process is different than our traditional subtractive etch processes, how those differences enable the manufacture of these fine feature sizes and how this technology can benefit next generation electronics. As a sneak peek, rather than creating the circuitry from a traditional copper clad laminate and etching the copper that is not required, this semi-additive process starts with the bare substrate and adds copper to create the circuitry. Starting with a very thin electroless copper layer rather than copper foil enables these fine feature sizes. Once the circuit image is created, electrolytic copper finishes the circuit plating. Because the initial electroless copper is so much thinner than any of the foil options, the flash etching to remove the unnecessary copper does not noticeably impact the circuit pattern. This process results in traces with horizontal sidewalls rather than trapezoidal in shape, realizing benefits in both size and RF properties. Once the circuit pattern is created, the circuit layers follow most of the traditional PCB fabrication processes. You can learn more at the IPC APEX EXPO technical session Tuesday, February 4 at 1:30-3:00 pm and discuss this technology with a panel of experts at the interACTION session Tuesday, February 4 at 3:30-5:00 pm. For more information, visit www.ipcapexexpo.org.

By Aidan Turnbull, managing director, BOMcheck; Kelly Scanlon, director, EHS policy and research, IPC At a recent stakeholder workshop in Helsinki, Finland, the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) shed more light on its upcoming Substances of Concern in Products (SCIP) Database and how IPC standards factor into it. Starting January 5, 2021, all manufacturers will be required to report information into the new ECHA SCIP Database if their products include articles that contain REACH Candidate List substances above 0.1%. At the recent workshop, ECHA confirmed that a prototype database will be available in Q1 2020, which will enable companies to start getting used to it, and a production version, coming in October 2020, will enable companies to begin entering data. Together with other leading industry groups, IPC has been using its development of the new IPC-1752B Materials Declaration Management standard and the IPC-1754 Materials and Substances Declaration for Aerospace and Defense and Other Industries to road-test the data fields needed in supplier materials declarations. Various members of IPC’s Materials Declaration Task Groups, which, for example, are responsible for development of the IPC-1752B and IPC-1754 standards, have made recommendations to ECHA. At the workshop, ECHA confirmed that some of the recommendations are already being implemented for the prototype release in early 2020, and others need further discussion. For example, companies can protect confidential business information about their supply chains by using their own part numbers for articles they are notifying, instead of using their suppliers’ identifiers. The company part number can be multi-sourced from several alternate suppliers, provided that the supplier part numbers are not materially different as regards REACH Candidate List substances. Materials Categories and Articles Categories (TARIC/CN Codes) are now provided with unique Pick List IDs by ECHA in IUCLID, and they will be updated annually in October. The Materials Categories and the TARIC/CN Codes are managed by ECHA and the European Commission, respectively. The TARIC/CN Codes update will be based on the TARIC list published by the European Commission in July each year. If Materials Categories are provided, then Mixture Codes are optional. Additional Material Characteristics is now a separate optional list, which users can use to declare further details about the materials an article is made of. The objective is to describe the materials as accurately as possible and/or to describe the applied mixture in which the Candidate List substance resides. Also, the Candidate List entries will be provided as reference substance data sets rather than as Pick Lists because the REACH Candidate List is updated at least twice per year, which is more frequent than the IUCLID annual update. Each version of the Candidate List is identified as a Pick List in IUCLID. In future updates to the SCIP database, ECHA is planning to provide an enumerated list of Safe Use Information text strings, with an ID for the list and an ID and description for each entry in the list. ECHA is looking forward to developing such a list together with IPC and other leading stakeholders. The new IPC-1752B standard will help companies collect the necessary information from their supply chains so that they can start reporting into the ECHA SCIP database any products that include articles that contain REACH Candidate List substances above 0.1%. To help you learn more, IPC and Chemical Watch are partnering on a free webinar, “Update on New IPC-1752B Supply Chain Standard,” which will take place on December 5 at 10:00 am EST. Speakers Aidan Turnbull and Patrick Crawford will provide an update on the reporting requirements for the ECHA SCIP database and explain how your company can contribute to standards development. Click here to learn more and register today. Thank you to Materials Declaration Task Groups for their involvement with standards development, ECHA’s development of the SCIP database, and their contributions to this blog post. And special thanks to Walter Jager, ECD Compliance, for his input on this blog post.

“We have certified and educated the industry for decades and wondered what more we could do,” IPC’s John Mitchell, president and CEO, discusses IPC’s commitment to create 1 million new skilled workforce opportunities for the #electronics industry within five years on the #podcast Manufacturing Tomorrow’s Workforce. Listen here: https://www.podbean.com/eu/pb-5a5r5-c554c4

By Sharon Starr, director, market research IPC's biennial Wage Rate and Salary Survey for the North American Electronics Assembly Industry is much more than its name implies. It collects data on compensation for 40 hourly and salaried technical, manufacturing and sales positions at original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and contract electronics manufacturing services (EMS) companies in North America. In addition, it covers salary budget growth, planned increases for 2020, and employee benefits and policies. Companies can use this study to assess their competitiveness in today’s labor market. The survey covers 25 hourly, 11 salaried and four sales positions, including commission rates for both internal sales and customer service staff as well as independent manufacturers’ representatives. The report on the results will show the data in averages and percentiles. It will be segmented by company type, size and region, enabling companies to assess their competitive position as employers within their region and company-size tier. Job descriptions are also included in the report. The study will enable companies to benchmark their employee benefits and HR policies against industry norms. The survey covers the use of various types of insurance and retirement plans, flexible hours, paid leave, performance appraisal methods, tuition reimbursement and many other policies, making the results a valuable resource for companies wishing to update their human resource management strategies. The study is unique in in its focus on the North American electronics assembly industry. Survey participants will receive the report on the findings at no cost. The survey is intended for HR professionals and executives who can provide data on a range of positions and policies. The survey is open now with an extended response deadline of November 8. The survey can be accessed at www.ipc.org/WageSurvey2019. Participants are asked for their IPC company code to start the survey. They can obtain their codes by contacting IPC’s market research team at marketresearch@ipc.org or calling +1 847-597-2868. The company code is used to protect the confidentiality of participants’ data. IPC publishes only aggregate numbers and maintains strict confidentiality. The report will not identify participating companies.  

By Kelly Scanlon, director, EHS policy and research The European Union’s Restriction of Hazardous Substances Directive, known as RoHS, aims to protect human health and the environment and maximize recovery of certain hazardous substances after their use. How well is the RoHS Directive working? We’re about to find out. Specifically, there are several opportunities between now and December to express feedback to the European Commission regarding the existing directive, the methodology for exemptions, and whether the list of restricted substances should be altered. IPC is coordinating input from the electronics manufacturing industry, aiming to influence future rules in a way that protects human health, the environment, and industry competitiveness. If your company uses substances that are on the RoHS list, we want to hear from you. Please check out this IPC document, which summarizes four activities that IPC is leading to collect and submit the industry’s input. This is an exciting time to rethink how chemical and product policies can help us to make electronics – and the world – better. Reach out to me if you have experiences with the EU RoHS Directive that you would like to share. By the way, we invite you to learn more about these opportunities in an upcoming IPC EHS Tech Ed webinar on 14 November 2019.

By Mark Pritchard, director, media training Safari Circuits of Otsego, Mich. has once again provided technical and financial assistance to help create a new IPC training video, SMT Component Removal. Chris Barrett, quality inspection and training manager at Safari Circuits travelled to the IPC Video office in Taos, N.M. to shoot this new video during the week of Oct 6. Chris also provided the hands-on soldering demonstrations for another upcoming video on Soldering Iron Tip Care during that week. Safari Circuits contributed the costs of Chris’ time and travel to support these IPC training efforts. This is the fifth video that Safari has sponsored, all of which have won industry awards. • 144C: Hand Soldering – SMT Component Installation / Communicator Award • 143C: Through Hole Component Preparation and Hand Soldering / Telly Award • 145C: Basic SMT Rework without Component Removal / AVA Digital Award • 118C: Terminal Soldering / Telly Award • 141C: Through Hole Soldering – Rework and Component Removal / W3 Award Our sincere thanks to Chris Barrett and Safari Circuits for this outstanding contribution to the educational efforts of our industry. To learn more about IPC training videos and the latest releases, visit http://videotraining.ipcedge.org.    

By Kelly Scanlon, director, EHS policy and research The International Material Data System (IMDS) is the automobile industry’s system for managing information on materials used in auto manufacturing; it enables companies to meet national and international standards, laws, and regulatory obligations for materials declarations. Some suppliers may have used Recommendation 019 (REC 019) materials in their IMDS declarations in the electronics supply chain. REC 019 provided a modular approach to electronic components reporting, including components containing lead (Pb). In September 2019, the IMDS Steering Committee voted to deactivate REC 019 because suppliers may not have diligently followed the required reporting process, leading to unacceptable risks. Deactivating this process removes the modular reporting and may now require a full materials declaration, a change that will increase resource requirements for all electronic components previously using REC 019 materials. The IMDS Steering Committee is seeking feedback from suppliers on enhancements to the IMDS that would reduce impacts to suppliers due to the deactivation. To that end, the Automotive Industry Action Group (AIAG) is hosting a free webinar on 18 October from 9:00–10:00 am ET to provide a forum for suppliers to discuss impacts. The AIAG welcomes suppliers to bring examples of how the Material Data Sheets for their IMDS entries will change if they must use full material disclosure. They will be providing all information from the webinar to the IMDS Steering Committee later in October; thus this webinar is very timely and important for those who want to express their concerns about potential impacts and enhancements to the IDMS to resolve the issues. Click here to register for the AIAG webinar and be sure to share your concerns about potential impacts and bright ideas for resolution.