Folks,
I will be speaking at SMTA's 25th anniversary dinner at SMTAI on Monday, October 5 at 6:30 PM. Come and join me and say hello. An overview of the talk follows:
What can we expect in SMT assembly and Electronics in the Next 25 years? This light, but hopefully realistic look at the future will rest on several principles:
1. Zapfardt's View on Predictions:
a. Near term predictions are almost always to optimistic
b. Long term predictions are almost always too pessimistic
2. Products usually drive technology, not vice versa
3. Product Roadmaps will be helpful, but not sufficient
We will begin by looking back 25 years and see if we could have predicted what we have today. With this wisdom, we will look forward to the next 25 years. Extrapolation will help some, but a quantum leap or two will be needed for our journey.
The burning question of "Will we be soldering in 25 years" will also be answered.
Cheers,
Dr. Ron