The Route
By now you probably have heard of ChatGPT. This new artificial intelligence program mimics conversations and language in a way the general public has never seen. Per its website, its developers trained an initial model using “supervised fine-tuning”; in other words, humans provided conversations in which they acted as both user and AI “assistant.” Model-written suggestions were used to help compose their responses.
We’ve all awakened to the fact that our environment is watching us.
It happens in the home, where we are surrounded by Rings and Nests and Alexas, tracking our movements (slow), our room temperatures (cold), our conversations (yikes!).
The world’s largest tech companies are masters of their domains: Apple in phones; Google in search; Facebook in social media.
Why stop there? All three are going into financial services, and if past is prelude, they intend to dominate the space.
I was all set this month to write about plating using additive manufacturing, but when someone pointed out just how subtractive the industry really is, it compelled a change in plans.
It came in the way of an email from Dr. Hayao Nakahara, the preeminent market researcher in the printed circuit industry. Naka, as he is known to friends, shared results of a months-long study of the North American PCB supply base.
This was no easy task. Naka started with the Fabfile database, long the favorite child of Harvey Miller. Harvey, who is about to hit 100 years old (!), gave Naka the keys to the car. In turn, Naka reached out to every company on that list, diligently revising and updating. The effort took more than three months.
For more than 20 years, PCD&F/CIRCUITS ASSEMBLY has been proud to be the exclusive publisher of the annual NTI - 100 list of the world’s largest board fabricators.
One of the striking changes over the years has been the reshaping of the industry geographical landscape.
In this year’s rankings, which begin on page 32 of the August 2022 issue, see how many Europe- and US-based companies are in the top 25. I'll save you the suspense. One each: AT&S and TTM Technologies, respectively. Long gone are the days when Photocircuits, Sanmina, Hadco, Viasystems and the like dominated the top of the chart.
Foxconn was in the news (again) last month, this time for alleging competitors are poaching its employees.
The complaints were levied specifically at rivals in Vietnam, where the world’s largest ODM/EMS is expanding its factories as major customers like Apple shift production away from China, in part to avoid being a pawn in the geopolitical tug-of-war between the US and China.
Foxconn, which currently employs about 60,000 workers in Vietnam, asserts its EMS competitors are establishing their own operations near Foxconn’s to make it easier to entice workers to jump ship.
Poaching complaints are hardly new, of course. Mexico is notorious for workers relocating en masse from company to company in pursuit of everything from higher pay to better food in the plant cafeteria.
Audrey McGuckin, who spent 10 years as chief talent officer for Jabil and now consults to Kimball Electronics, among others, points out the top stress point for CEOs is talent. And a McKinsey study found only 5% of CEOs feel their organizations’ talent management has been very effective at improving company performance.
Press Releases
- ROCKA Solutions Mexico Partners with MIRTEC to Offer Leading Inspection Systems Exclusively in Mexico, Brazil and Argentina; Brian D’Amico and Rodrigo Cacho Comment
- Seika Machinery to Host Tech Days in Guadalajara, Showcasing Advanced Japanese Technology
- FlashPCB Enhances Manufacturing Capabilities with Acquisition of 1 Click SMT Drymaster; Thomas Castner Comments
- Incap Launches ‘Incap Legends’ Esports Tournament and Invites Students from Around the World to Participate; Otto Pukk and Robin Tankard Comment