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Commentary
August 20, 2007
We need a new Mantra
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| Steve DeCollibus, Managing Editor
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Smaller, Faster, Cheaper, three words that will live forever in infamy and electronics. I have heard this mantra repeated so many times since the mid 90’s that it is permanently burned into the neurons of my subconscious. The blasphemous headline sort of snuck up on me this week after a lot of talk about innovation and the electronic news and stories that we follow every day sank in.
Headlines like "Mattel Recalls 16 Million toys", and "Nokia Recalls 32 Million Batteries” plus others like these may have contributed to the following rant. A million is still a pretty big number to me. 48 million people will be affected by these two headlines.
Let's look at the words by themselves as they apply to electronics assembly, and semiconductor packaging. The first word is Smaller, which raises the first question I have. Why? Form factor be damned, when electronic equipment is spontaneously combusting because circuit boards are stuffed to the point where you can fry hot dogs on them. Also who is thinking about the lot of us who are over 6 feet and a little overweight, give me a sizable button I can feel and that lets me know it is working by sending up an identifiable click that lets me know it has been pushed.
I travel a lot, I don’t mind carrying a computer that weighs 5 pounds and has real heat sinks and can run for a few years without burning out. Honest, I can take it. Smaller has exceeded human form factors to the point of being foolish. Or how about this idea, get out of the box and create a new way of interfacing with machines that is created with cool running components and has no buttons without avoiding the fact that there are big folks and small folks who are going to be working the gear.
A word to the nano guys, how about some small mems level fans. What ever comes down the pike please think of the consumers and how they are made. Not, “Wow look how tiny this is, sure we have some thermal issues and yes the big guys will have trouble making it run, but just look how tiny that is, neat” enough said about smaller.
Next is Faster. I don’t need things to run faster than I can think. I love animated films and how far they have come, but why is that industry driving the development of my work tools. How fast is fast enough? Let's not waste any more time on fast, let’s just let it develop on its own for awhile. We can focus on making things that work well, fast will take care of itself. I promise. Why do we have to build boards faster? So they can burn out faster?
Why can't we build them carefully so they last longer and work better? When did built in obsolescence come to mean mysteriously break down the day after the warranty runs out? Speed for speed sake is not innovative. Carefully designed elegantly constructed circuits can actually run extremely fast and work for a long time. Here is another clue, consumers will pay more for something they feel has been made better which is actually a good thing for the economy, I think they call it consumer confidence.
Now for the biggie, Cheaper; remember we have been driving an industry with this mantra for over a decade. This word kills any of the innovation that the other two may have had a chance of creating. It also redefines innovation to mean thing like engineered for manufacturing, create shareholder value and kill consumer value, it means innovate out the cost of a real innovation and replace it with lowest cost of ownership.
The good news is all is not lost, we can reinvent the industry, as well as the mantra. We don’t have to lose the discipline of the old mantra, we just need to create a new one. Here is mine, "We are an industry that is focused on; Design, Practicality and Value." Tell me yours via email or you can tell everybody by commenting below.
Steve DeCollibus
, Managing Editor
Semiconductor Packaging News
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Comments
August 22, 2007
This article reminds me of a thought I had several days ago while reading about Sony's plan to recycle discarded Sony electronics for free. While this is a worthy cause and a great step forward, wouldn't it be better for the environment to make things last longer so that the waste isn't there in the first place?
Mary Hubbard
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August 20, 2007
Like the ancient Greek PLENIDES, you have chosen a holy cow to slaughter!!!
I would suggest the following-
"ingenuity, economy, efficency"
Go get 'em Steve!
Joe Battaglia
TeemPhotonics
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