Collaborative Ventures

Citation

Coultard, F. (2005), "Collaborative Ventures", Circuit World, Vol. 31 No. 1. https://doi.org/10.1108/cw.2005.21731aaf.001

Collaborative Ventures

Collaborative Ventures

Keywords: Intellect, Electronics industry

Since my last missive Intellect's Components and Manufacturing Sector's programme has moved on a pace.

The new Electronics Design Group met for the first time on 16 July to set the new ground-rules, organisation and strategies for the future. This new initiative was featured in Electronics Weekly early this July which represents a very significant new forum for the design fraternity in the UK. There is already a Mission to China planned for September 2004.

The regular group quarterly meeting have continued with avid support from all areas.

The C&M sector has also picked up responsibility for Intellect's Environmental affairs under the care of my colleague, Richard Waterhouse.

We are planning a Technical Workshop for the Fabricators and Suppliers for 15 September entitled “Yield Improvements in PCB manufacture”.

A Business Briefing is set up for 24 November entitled “Business Knowledge”.

There is much energy being poured into the eIGT initiative with a series of personal interviews being conducted with major companies over the next 3 months leading to the publication of the eIGT's first major report in October 2004.

The ICT has appointed Bill Wilkie to a new Technical Director position to give added impetus and focus to this valuable Institute. Bill started on 1 July 2004 and will concentrate on recruiting and providing increased services to the individual members of the ICT. We all wish him well and are certain that with his profound knowledge of the industry, excellent contacts and the groundswell of goodwill he is bound to command that he will make a big difference. This is part of a plan by the ICT in the long-term to gain more independence but retaining affiliation with Intellect.

Intellect will attend the Design Awards Ceremony at the Copthorne Hotel near Gatwick on 23 September.

There has been much cooperation between Intellect and Envirowise with the excellent and regular Road Shows in different locations round the UK. We also attended Envirowise's launch of a new programme “The Big Splash” in London on 7 July – an incentive project for the industry to reduce the use of water.

There is much collaboration in our industry as a result of cost pressures and down-sizing. Some examples include Ruwel and Fuba, Sanmina taking on Pentex-Schweizer in Singapore, Sanmina and Agilent producing together new X-Ray kit for back panel analysis and CERN with Fabricators on new HDI techniques to name a few. Collaboration is a sensible route in certain circumstances. CERN itself is an example of close cooperation between nations where the costs of investigating particle acceleration are massive. Another example is the joining of forces by EU, US, Russia, Japan, Canada, and South Korea on the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor Programme.

The key message from this is to encourage the use of collaboration within the UK Plc industry to develop new techniques and innovation. The DTI's Global Watch programme is highly commended as a good example in the search for innovation. EPSRC nurtures cooperation between industry and the Universities on R&D. The RDA funding is there to be tapped for new initiatives.

We are to stage a C&M Dinner in London in October with two key speakers and a good value menu. This is an alternative to the PCIF Conference, which had run for 20 years and it was felt by many was in need of a revisit. It will remain a fun event with excellent opportunities for swapping information.

The future looks brighter than it has for many months – all the figures show it but we must remain on guard and focus on our strengths, which are many.

Frank CoultardIntellect C&M Services