Printed Circuit Design & Fab Online Magazine

ROI

Peter Bigelow Repairing ancient technology has its silver lining.

Let it be said that the printed circuit industry faces a whole lot of challenges. While some are geopolitical in nature, most are not. The foundational challenge is advancing technology in the most cost-effective and profitable manner to enable continued development of exciting new processes and products. Successfully meeting these basic challenges has long been the hallmark of our industry.

Read more: Building a Future from Obsolete Parts

Peter Bigelow Executives reveal their top concern isn’t tariffs, but the struggle to retain a qualified manufacturing workforce.

A recent industry event included a session on managing through disruptive times. Toward the end of the session, a panel of industry leaders addressed audience questions, one of which was, “Of all the disruptive issues currently taking place, which keeps you up at night?” Surprisingly, the panel was unanimous in its response, and it was not tariffs, new technology or geopolitical events. What keeps these executives awake at night is far more basic: finding qualified employees.

The catchphrase used when discussing the challenges of locating, hiring and retaining qualified employees is “workforce development,” and the operative word is “development!”

Read more: Why Workforce Development Keeps Manufacturing Leaders Up at Night

Peter Bigelow Amid AI hype, true progress depends on the accuracy of sensor-driven data collection.

While the world is flummoxed over the up-and-down nature of tariffs and the political drama they create, one bright spot in the news the past year or so, and impacting our industry more than any, is artificial intelligence, or AI.

Indeed, if your investment portfolio lacks an AI stock, or your customer base doesn’t include a player in the AI world, pundits believe you are missing the boat. But I keep thinking, what exactly powers the boat?

Read more: Sensors: The Unsung Catalyst Behind AI’s Value

Peter Bigelow Riding out tariff turmoil takes more than watching the balance sheet.

I took a few economics courses in college, but I’m no Adam Smith. And I have predicted the future reasonably accurately, but no one would mistake me for a prophet. What I do understand, however, after nearly 50 years in manufacturing, most spent as a corporate president, is the impact of costs on profitability. More specifically, the impact of dramatic and unpredictable rising costs on a business’s ability to thrive, survive or founder.

Cost accountants typically separate expenses into two overall buckets: fixed costs and variable costs. Fixed costs may include items such as insurance, occupancy, benefits and so on. Variable costs include materials, supplies, labor, etc. Within a couple of years in manufacturing, however, I realized that in the real world only a small portion of costs are fixed, and the majority are truly variable. While all costs must be watched, monitored and managed, variable costs are the ones that make or break a balance sheet and income statement.

Read more: Navigating Variable Costs Amid Tariff Turbulence