Partners profit. (Our Line).

I was putting the finishing touches on the latest edition of the Printed Circuit Board Basics when, while digging up a reference from a past printing, I came across it: a list of the top 10 non-captive North American board shops in 1994. What a stroll down memory lane it was. How many of you in PCD&M readerland recall Diceon? How about Circo Craft? For those either too young or shell-shocked to remember, here's the list:

* Photocircuits

* Hadco

* Zycon

* Advance Circuits (MN)

* Circo Craft

* Amp-Akzo

* Continental Circuits (AZ)

* Merix

* Diceon

* Praegitzer.

A decade later, the landscape has shifted, thanks in large part to an array of mergers and acquisitions. Only the Photocircuits and Merix names have lived on. Hadco bought Zycon, Continental Circuits and Diceon, in turn to be gobbled up by Sanmina. Advance Circuits (what's left of it) changed names no less than four times, from Johnson Matthey to Allied Signal to Honeywell to TTM. Tyco bought out Amp and Praegitzer. Viasystems nabbed Circo Craft. By last year the 10 largest independents were:

* Viasystems

* Sanmina-SCI

* Multek

* Tyco

* Photocircuits

* DDi

* Endicott Interconnect Technologies

* TTM

* Innovex

* M-Flex.

Quite a difference. Yet there's nothing unique about it. My point here is that the industry is--and has always been--dynamic in every sense of the word--which makes it pretty much like every other industry. So when I get letters wistful for the "good ol' days" I'm not so sure as to which era they refer. I broke into this industry in 1991, when electronics was supposedly headed out the door and we would take Japanese classes at night if we knew what was good for us. How wrong that turned out to be.

Last month I heard a great story on just how much we've changed. A U.S. company that specifies boards from China ran into quality problems with one of its vendors. Most buyers in the U.S. firm's position would have dumped the vendor, with whom it had only a short relationship. Being committed to its partners, however, the firm opted for a different tack. The firm instead hooked up with a third party, a supplier of equipment and materials, which dispatched its process engineers to the PCB shop to fix the problems. The fabricator, indebted for the help, will in the future place machinery POs with the supplier, and the U.S. firm will get its boards built right. Win-win-win.

Here at PCD&M, we've formed a partnership of our own. On Oct. 15, we'll coproduce a free workshop on process yield optimization. Our partners--RBP Chemical Technology, Taiyo America and Uyemura USA--will make presentations on pre-LPI soldermask SES and surface prep; LPI soldermask process optimization for alternative metal finishes; and what's new in plating, etching and final finishes (visit pcdandm.com for details). A good turnout could lead to a series of these workshops, where customers gain vital knowledge of the latest process developments in an informal and local setting and the suppliers reinforce their position as technology leaders.

Such alliances breed trust, goodwill and long-term relationships, the precursors to profits. And isn't that what we're trying to achieve?

P.S. Next month PCD&M will publish the annual NTI 100. Tune in to find what changes another year has brought. And those interested in the Printed Circuit Boards Basics--a great primer on board technology--may visit pcdandm.com.