Since our founding, PCEA has sought to collaborate with other associations wherever we could.

We quickly formed alliances with peers in Australia, Germany, India, Malaysia, Taiwan, Thailand and more. And our founders and leaders sit atop key technical committees in other organizations, such as IPC.

PCEA is the leading printed circuit design organization in the world, and in many instances these ties are intended to fill key technical gaps. We also see a mutual need to ensure our members have access to a wide range of manufacturing experts in every geography.

One important early relationship is now advancing to the next level. We are pleased to announce that next month we will coproduce a series of all-day seminars in Europe’s Baltic region on design and manufacturing.

These seminars are coming to you under the joint auspices of the EIPC (European Institute for the PCB Community) and PCEA and are called the "Design to Fabrication" Technical Symposium. They came about after several conversations among leaders in both organizations on the need to tie design expertise to the latest materials technology and manufacturing processes.

The new series starts May 7 in Copenhagen, then proceeds to Stockholm on May 8 before finishing in Tallinn on May 9.

The list of presenters includes PCD&F columnist Alun Morgan of Ventec and PCEA cofounder and director Rick Hartley. It also includes Tarja Rapala of EIPC and Steven Driver of JIVA Materials.

The symposium is designed for designers and other professionals involved in the electronics and fabrication industries. It will, of course, provide valuable insights and technical discussions. Just as important, however, is the opportunity for networking among design, manufacturing and others in the supply chain.

The symposium is priced at roughly the cost of a decent dinner for two and registration is open at eipc.org. (I would be remiss if I did not thank Ventec and JIVA Materials for sponsoring the event. Limited sponsorships remain available, so give me a shout if interested.)

Board bulletin. We have toyed with various online bulletin boards over the years, but we admittedly struggled settling on one that would meet the varying needs of all our members and users. We have now decided that a one-size-fits-all model probably won’t work for an audience with such a range of experiences and tastes.

That said, we are excited to offer the PCEA Discord server as a means for sharing technical knowledge and career mentoring. Several familiar industry names have already signed on, and we welcome everyone else who wants to contribute to an open and collaborative forum to join as well.

Perhaps the best aspect is that the only prerequisite to joining is a PCEA membership, which is free for individuals. Send me an email for the link.

A ME on our team. A big welcome to our newest colleague, Ryann Howard. Ryann joins as managing editor for PCD&F/Circuits Assembly, and by the time this is published she will already have attended her first chapter meeting and begun work on her first feature – a look at AI use in printed circuit design and manufacturing. Look for her online and at PCB East this spring.

Mike Buetow is president of PCEA (pcea.net); mike@pcea.net.