Industry Set for Shift to True 3D Printing and Photonics

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Nolan Johnson sits down with Zach Peterson, owner of Northwest Engineering Solutions, who predicts two things that would challenge the current status quo for the PCB manufacturing industry: true 3D printing and additive, including discretes as well as the substrates and traces, and a completely different approach with photonics.

Nolan Johnson: Zach, can you introduce yourself?

Zach Peterson: I own a company called Northwest Engineering Solutions, and we do a number of different things in the PCB and electronics industry. I also write for various companies and have a group of freelancers that handle design work. We do software, custom analytics tools, and technology research. The content that we produce for PCB companies and other startups is very high-level and forward-looking. And we always try to provide real, actionable advice that is within the context of what our customers do, which is important.

We want to offer solutions to problems that designers have, and the idea is that the designer could immediately implement that solution with one of our customer’s products. And that’s extremely important because if people are on the internet and have design problems, they have unanswered questions. Our goal is to do the research and help get those answers in front of the readers.

Johnson: So, while you might do some actual design work, that isn’t your primary spot?

Peterson: That’s right. As I said, I have a group of freelancers that I work with, and we do design. One guy that I have working for me is an RF designer; he has done a lot of wireless systems. Another guy I have working for me has done a lot of different designs for the solar industry; he worked in the solar industry for about 15 years, and now, he does freelance design work both for me and for other companies as well.

Johnson: What’s your ideal customer?

Peterson: My ideal customer is a company that has a new product that they want to launch and needs to communicate their value to a target market, such as a software or hardware product, but they don’t know how to do it.

To read this entire article, which appeared in the November 2019 issue of PCB007 Magazine, click here.

06/02/2023 | Nolan Johnson, I-Connect007

This week has been both speedy and newsy. Of course, those two characteristics often seem to travel as a pair, don’t they? A four-day week here in the United States, accompanied by a wave of high-impact news from a wide variety of sources, would suggest that readers could be expected to spread out all over the news map. Not so much, judging from readership numbers; folks all found their highest value in the same type of news coverage. This week's list of must-reads is dominated by market reports as a result of that focused readership. On our list, we have PCB fabrication and EMS book-to-bill reports, a 10-year market forecast report, and a supply chain sentiment report. In addition, readers flocked to the EWPTE show coverage. Finally, we saw significant reader interest in the most recent podcast on sustainability in our logistical operations.

05/19/2023 | Nolan Johnson, I-Connect007

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05/17/2023 | Philip Stoten

This last weekend, industry guru and dear friend to many, Martin Cotton passed away. He was one of the first people I worked with in the electronics industry when I joined Toptec Design to learn to layout PCBs. He was a bit of a rock star to many PCB designers, myself included. He was known to be among the best in his field, if not the best, and went on to be one of the most influential and innovative people in the industry over a long and distinguished career. He will be hugely missed by his family and by his numerous friends in and out of the electronics industry.