Staying on course and supporting colleagues in challenging situations fosters trust and respect.

Leadership and interpersonal skills are essential for all electronics manufacturing services (EMS) management team members. These skills become even more critical in program management and sales roles, where individuals often need to execute with little or no authority over the teams they rely on. I teach these skills in a range of programs. Over the past year, I’ve had a surprising journey that reinforced how important it is to practice that knowledge daily.

Technology that keeps us moving naturally is the juice for better living.

Wearable technology and robotics have brought many exciting and helpful innovations to our work and lives. Yet the most exciting developments – adaptive and protective clothes made from smart fabrics, the witty humanoid home concierge – remain more science fiction than science. Bringing the two together, however, offers an exciting way forward that’s ready to explore right now.

Stop guessing: Why it’s time to move from Gerber to IPC-2581.

Innovation in electronics continues at lightning speed, yet manufacturers still rely on PCB design data transfer methods from the 1980s. The industry default, the Gerber format, was designed for photoplotters. But while today’s design tools contain highly intelligent models rich with connectivity, stackup, component and netlist data, the handoff to manufacturing strips away that intelligence.

Or how to follow the No Outburst in the Face of Idiocy rule.

The dearly beloved, firm believers and associated hangers-on were reverently assembled to begin a Teams meeting or, rather, an inquisition.

Amid forced pleasantries, while we captives killed time awaiting latecomers, they appeared. Like viruses. One after the other, after the other: The Swarm. Blackened screens with names, resembling any college lecture, with the students doing their utmost to remain inconspicuous. Except the disembodied names on the screens concealed adults, not camera-shy undergrads. One said Ted’s AI Notetaker. The second said Claire’s AI Notetaker. Then Evan’s. Then Irene’s. And Muhammad’s. Plus Sanjay’s. And Chin’s. Then Dylan’s. Always a Dylan in 2025. We live in accursed times.

All that the Swarm lacked was a soundtrack blaring “Flight of the Valkyries.”