Several news outlets have reported today on the

Several news outlets have reported today on the latest suicide at Taiwanese owned EMS company Foxconn. The latest suicide brings this year’s total to 11 at the southern China factory. Foxconn manufactures products for Apple, Dell, HP, Motorola and other companies. They have something like 800,000 workers. I won’t call them employees, because there is a difference. For years I’ve heard people talk about what a sweatshop Foxconn is, and now this. Foxconn’s solution? Have all the workers sign a pledge not to commit suicide!
Terry Gou, chairman of Foxconn’s parent company Hon Hai Precision, flew to Shenzhen aboard his private jet for a hastily arranged media tour after the latest suicide and said “I give my apologies for the impact this has had on society. I will do all I can to save lives” Does anyone believe it? I sure don’t.

Remember the uproar a few years back about Nike and the Malaysian sweatshops? From what I’m hearing, this makes that situation look small. How can Steve Jobs and Michael Dell look themselves in the mirror every morning knowing that they are supporting this crap, all in the interest of saving a few bucks or providing a better return to their stockholders? Yes, we as consumers should share a portion of the blame. We want the most profitable companies in our 401K or stock portfolio. It’s the WalMart syndrome again: give me the gizmos at the rock bottom price. Is there really no moral responsibility?
And for those of you who want to call me and anyone else who is outraged about this a liberal or naive, you can kiss my posterior. I am as much a fan of capitalist economics as the next guy, but I don’t believe it should be an excuse for this type of treatment. The people who work in the plants for Foxconn are really no different than indentured servants. They live in barracks with guards on the outside – not to keep people out, but to keep them in.

Is this really the way to bring Chinese society into the 21st century? This sort of treatment was common in industrialized England and America in the 19th and early 20th centuries. But just because we were guilty doesn’t mean that China has to repeat our mistakes.

I encourage all of you to learn more about this. You can start by reading Mike Buetow’s blog on our web site. There are lots of sources out there – just go to google and check out Foxconn for yourself. Of course if you live in China that won’t work for you.

I do appreciate the fact that someone posted a response to the last post, but I’ve always wondered who this Anon Ymous is. I’ve seen his or her post on a lot of blogs so I assume he or she spends all their time posting comments to blogs and is worried that his or her boss will catch on. Come on Anon, come out from behind that curtain.

As for the Porch Dawgs, last time we did the full blown gig, we had a bout six people in the room. Last couple of years we’ve done an unplugged thang at the show. If we have enough people there we can bring back the Dawgs, otherwise we’ll keep doing the unplugged. There are some awesome musicians that are Dawgs. Last couple of years I’ve been privileged to hear (and try to keep up with) Danny Carr. That dude is one of my favorite guitar players period. Those that know him and have heard him can attest. He’s also a heck of a great guy. Danny, I love ya man. Of course dr Ron is also one of the best entertainers the Dawgs ever produced (yeah Ron, I’m taking all the credit for getting you out of the closet. May not be factual, but that’s my story and I’m stickin to it).

As for Top Gun, if there is enough interest we’ll do it. If only one or two people wanna sign up, probably not. We really want to do what you folks want at PCB West. Thanks to those who have sent me suggestions lately, still room for more…

Stay in touch.
p.

OK , I’m guilty. Procrastination is a fault I’ve always struggled with. It just always seems like I can do whatever it is better if I put it off. I know that is just an excuse, but it’s all I have right now.
In this case I’m guilty of working up against a deadline for the tech conference at PCB West next September (28th through 30th). While I still have a bit of time, I thought I’d poll the audience for classes they would like to see at West. Either post your ideas here or email me at [email protected]. I’ve got to wrap this up in the next two weeks to meet the deadlines set for me by “She Who Must Be Obeyed”, better known to most of you as Frances.
Stay in touch,
p.

Last week the local Atlanta SMTA chapter hosted their annual Expo. As part of the event, I was asked to chair a roundtable for area designers. Actually, we had four roundtables set up in a circle, so I’m claiming I chaired four roundtables simultaneously.
Being a bit nervous about these things, I was concerned that we wouldn’t have much of a turnout, so I was pleasantly surprised when 20 or so people showed up. Most of these were people either in design or design management. There was a sprinkling of EDA people, VARs and manufacturing folks present also, which I take as a sign of their desire to be involved with designers. Over the course of an hour or so, we talked about DFM, documentation and the fate of design in North America. I guess I’d forgotten just how much I enjoy being in this kind of setting – listening to designers talk about what keeps them awake at night and what we can do to preserve the US engineering and design capabilities.

We’ve agreed to meet again soon, and we’re setting up mechanisms for staying in closer touch. I’ll let ya know how it goes.

Last week the local Atlanta SMTA chapter hosted their annual Expo. As part of the event I was asked to chair a rountable for area designers. Actually we had four round tables set up in a circle so I’m claiming that I chaired four roundtables at the same time.

Being a bit nervous about these things I was concerned that we wouldn’t have much of a turnout, so I was pleasantly surprised when 20 or so people showed up. Most of these were people either in design or design management. There was a sprinkling of EDA people, VARs and manufacturing folks present also which I take as a sign of their desire to be involved with designers. Over the course of an hour or so we talked about DFM and documentation and the fate of design in North America. I guess I’d forgotten just how much I enjoy being in this kind of setting – listening to designers talk about what keeps them awake at night and what we can do to preserve the U.S. engineering and design capabilities.

We’ve agreed to meet again soon and we’re setting up mechanisms for staying in closer touch. I’ll let ya know how it goes.

p.

As you may have picked up on this week, EE Times has purchased the DesignCon trade show and conference from the International Engineering Consortium.

This development is interesting to me for several reasons. One of the final projects I was involved in before spinning UP Media Group off from our former owner CMP was to open negotiations with the IEC about purchasing the event. Eight years later, they closed the deal (CMP owns EE Times).

I’m not sure how this will affect the PCB world. DesignCon has traditionally been a show for chip design and IP. In the past year or so, they added a PCB Summit to the event. I attended DesignCon in February for the first time in several years, and found that on the show floor, the PCB Summit seemed to be more focused on the manufacturing side. The conference sessions seemed to focus on PCB technologies and, with a few exceptions, were of the 40-minute, four-speaker variety. The whole thing seemed to be an attempt to reach engineers on an academic level vs. a practical level.

It will be interesting to see how EE Times focuses the event. The group also produces the Embedded Systems conference for programmers and companies involved in IP and high level systems design. At first glance I’d say this seems to be a synergistic marriage, one that fits the EE Times group very well. Let’s see how it shakes out between now and next February.

Last week most of the UPMG crew was in Las Vegas at Apex. It was the first Apex I’d attended in several years so I thought I’d get a fresh, first hand taste of the show and try to get a sense of the state of the PCB industry. Since Apex is primarily an assembly oriented show, the Circuits Assembly crew was the busiest. When I did get a chance to see CA Editor-in-Chief Mike Buetow he was running from appointment to appointment and asking for a Segue or motorized skateboard to get around the hall.
I did get a chance to talk to a couple of designers and people involved in design, and also a couple of people from the fab side of the business. But to be honest I could have probably gotten everything I needed to get done in two days and saved that $100 I fed the slot machines. And speaking of gambling, everyone else I talked to seemed to win money in Vegas. Am I the only one that loses money in Vegas? I’m still trying to do the math and figure out how the casinos can stay in business for three days on my measly $100.
Vegas is in some ways the best and the worst place to have a trade show. While there are lots of things to do away from the show, we all know the main function for Vegas and I don’t mean the shopping. I also figured out why the hotels (casinos) are all interconnected – they can’t put slot machines outside on the street.
I’d advise anyone who wants a good rundown on Apex to see Mike’s blog(s). I’ll just say that depending on who you talked to, attendance was either up, down or flat and Apex is still an assembly show.

Next week a contingent of UPMG staff is off to Apex in the wonderful city of Lost Wages, or as the tax man calls it, Las Vegas. I haven’t been to Apex in several years, but this year I’m looking forward to seeing some old friends there and catching up face-to-face. While I’ll be helping out on the fab side of the industry, I’ll primarily be looking for designers. If you are a designer and attending Apex, shoot me an email. I’d like to hear your thoughts on the direction of the industry and what is keeping you awake at night.