I-Connect007 Editor’s Choice: Nolan’s ‘Top Fives’ for 2021

Reading time ( words)

We’ve been curating our editors’ picks for about 18 months now, give or take, and readers sure have taken to them. In our Daily Newsletter, the Friday Editor’s Choice feature is often one of the most-read news items for that week.

As a result, we thought it would be fun at year-end to take a different approach. This week, I’m posting the top five most-read Editor’s Choice features compiled by my co-editor Nolan Johnson. Seems like a fitting way to look back over the year, doesn’t it? So much has happened this past year that I had a hard time believing it once I started looking back.

Nolan and I certainly enjoy bringing these curated “must-read” articles to you. It’s gratifying to see that you, dear reader, like reading them, too. Have a happy new year! 

I-Connect007 Editor’s Choice: Five Must-Reads for the Week 
Published January 22 

This week’s news gave off every indicator that we’ve started a new calendar year. The news channels were busy with changes in leadership—both corporate and governmental—and changes in ownership. Changes in representation, too. Honestly, it was hard to sort out the news to just five top items. Be that as it may, here are five things we think you ought to read, even if you read nothing else about the electronics manufacturing industry this week: tradeshow coverage, strategic acquisitions, market discussion, and governmental advocacy. 

I-Connect007 Editor’s Choice: Five Must-Reads for the Week
Published January 8

It’s a new year, and time for new resolutions and new beginnings. “New year, new you” certainly is reflected in this past week’s news. We saw several announcements regarding mergers, acquisitions, and organizational changes, plus some government legislation to help kick off the new year. Based on viewing activity, readers were keen to keep up on the changes under way.  

I-Connect007 Editor’s Choice: Five Must-Reads for the Week
Published February 19

Nolan was following the landing procedures for NASA’s Perseverance Mars as he finished his top five list for the week. The successful landing of the lander seems a nice highlight for this week. Our global aerospace programs, both national and private enterprise, make these missions seem almost, almost routine. They are, as we all know, anything but routine. No surprise, then, that aerospace-related news percolated to the top of mind for our readers this week.  

I-Connect007 Editor’s Choice: Five Must-Reads for the Week
Published May 14 

There was, increasingly, a sense of returning to “normal” daily life where Nolan lives. Of the state’s population, 35% had been immunized against coronavirus at the time this list was publishes. Lockdowns were lifted, schools were partially reopened, and even some offices were staffing back up. But how did that affect the electronics industry. Click on the link to see what topped the news in mid-May. 

I-Connect007 Editor’s Choice: Five Must-Reads for the Week 
Published April 16 

During spring, Mars seemed to be right where it was at. That was reflected in our news coverage. There were the Mars rovers—three generations of them still rolling, now—and a drone helicopter winding up for a maiden flight any day now. But that’s not all. There was SpaceX’s StarShip, rapid prototyping its way into a manned flight to Mars. And NASA’s whole “return to the Moon” project was simply a shakedown for the U.S. government contractors’ Mars flight hardware, too.

 

03/21/2023 | Dan Beaulieu, D.B. Management Group

I have always felt that automation has the potential to make a big difference in our PCB industry, especially domestically, where labor is at premium. For the past year, I have been looking for the story of how automation can and will make a significant difference in established PCB shops. I was fortunate enough to find that story in Multicircuits, located in Oshkosh, Wisconsin. Only a few short years ago, this company was considered a “plain vanilla” PCB fabricator holding its own in our industry; now it has suddenly assumed a true leadership position in the industry in terms of capability, technology, operations, and profitability.

03/07/2023 | Patty Goldman, I-Connect007

Dieter Bergman IPC Fellowship Award winner Curtis Grosskopf, a senior engineer at IBM, reflects on the evolution of IPC committees and the vital importance of their work, especially in collaboratively creating industry-wide standards to guide the work of professionals in every sector. This commitment to multidisciplinary cooperation is a mindset that should be fostered at the start of every career.

03/02/2023 | Nolan Johnson, I-Connect007

In his State of the Union address in early February, President Biden departed from his usual topics about education and the economy to mention the new CHIPS Act, as well as supply chain and infrastructure issues. For perspective on those remarks, Nolan Johnson chats with David Schild, executive director of the Printed Circuit Board Association of America (PCBAA).