“Just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in.” – Al Pacino
So let me start where Mike Buetow left off in our last issue: Thanks. And let’s hear a round of applause for Mike. He’s spent 26 years writing this column, longer than both of my marriages combined.

What's Your Solution to the Juniority Problem?
Anyone who has boarded a plane in the past several months knows this all too well: the near-term operations of airlines are up in the air.
From smallest to largest, all the carriers have been dramatically affected by the post-Covid rebound in passenger air travel. How could it not? After all, Delta and United Airlines each cut 30% of their respective staff in 2020, for instance.
And while many observers point to the attractive buyouts the carriers dangled before critical employees (read: pilots) as a means to cut costs amid the mass groundings during the pandemic, employment has shot up over the past 18 months.

For more than 20 years, PCD&F/CIRCUITS ASSEMBLY has been proud to be the exclusive publisher of the annual NTI - 100 list of the world’s largest board fabricators.
One of the striking changes over the years has been the reshaping of the industry geographical landscape.
In this year’s rankings, which begin on page 32 of the August 2022 issue, see how many Europe- and US-based companies are in the top 25. I'll save you the suspense. One each: AT&S and TTM Technologies, respectively. Long gone are the days when Photocircuits, Sanmina, Hadco, Viasystems and the like dominated the top of the chart.