Don’t Miss The Supply Chain Conflict Minerals Compliance Session at This Year’s SMTAI Conference

Don’t miss the session that PMCI co-organizes with Circuits Assembly Magazine at this year’s SMTA International Show

Supply Chain Conflict Minerals Compliance 

Chair: Susan Mucha, Powell-Mucha Consulting, Inc.

Co-Chair: Mike Buetow, UP Media Group

Wednesday, October 1, 4:00pm — 5:30pm Room 51

In the wake of the Dodd-Frank legislation mandating reporting of minerals mined in war-torn regions like the DRC, several initiatives and templates for defining and reporting use of these elements have been developed by worldwide organizations, including the Conflict-Free Tin Initiative, the EICC Conflict-Free Smelter Program, and the IPC Conflict Minerals Due Diligence Guide. This session looks at where these programs intersect, best practices for compliance, and some of the tools for compliance.

• Contract Manufacturing and Conflict Minerals: Creating a Workable Compliance System

John Sheehan and Allen Abell, SigmaTron International

• Lessons Learned from AIM’s Participation in the CFTI

David Suraski, AIM

• Panel Discussion

Aidan Turnbull, Ph.D., ENVIRON International

Chris Nowak, Actio

Conference details are available at: http://www.smta.org/smtai/at_a_glance.cfm.

Cyber Monday Comes Early

It appears my publisher is joining the rest of the retail industry in starting sales early. Only theirs is also finishing early. If you’ve wanted a copy of “Find It. Book It. Grow It. A Robust Strategy for Account Acquisition in Electronics Manufacturing Services,” but felt the price was too high, now is your chance. Pennwell Books is running its end of the year sale between now and the end of November and the book is now $25. Here is the ordering link:

Have a great Thanksgiving!

Nearshoring Panel at APEX

Last week I had the pleasure of moderating a panel on Nearshoring: Addressing the Sourcing Equation as part of the Real Time at IPC APEX video series. I also did several other interviews, which I’ll link in other columns.

Gary Burnett, President and CEO of Burton Industries; Curtis Campbell, VP Sales West Coast Operations, SigmaTron International; and Mike Baldwin, VP, Spectrum Assembly, Inc. share their views on Nearshoring both domestically and in other parts of the world in this video clip.

Nearshoring: Addressing the Sourcing Equation