GreenSource: Good for the Industry, Good for the World

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Whelen Engineering has recently spun off their new printed circuit manufacturing facility to service the merchant market as a new business entity, GreenSource Fabrication LLC. Because of this strategic move, their collaboration with Atotech regarding production automation and green PCB manufacturing is getting serious attention. Our I-Connect007 editorial team recently conducted a teleconference with Alex Stepinski, vice president and general manager of GreenSource, and Atotech’s team, including North America Business Director Moody Dreiza; Gerhard Kruse, sales manager at the equipment plant in Feucht, Germany; and Daniel Schmidt, who oversees global marketing for Atotech’s electronics business unit. We discussed the foundation of this partnership, the technical challenges of building green, fully automated fabrication facilities, and GreenSource’s plans for the future. Patty Goldman: Welcome, gentlemen. Gerhard and Daniel, let’s begin with you. Can you tell me how you entered this project?

Gerhard Kruse: I was involved in this project during the sales process, so I was brought in at the very beginning, before I handed it over to our project management.

Daniel Schmidt: In Q3 2016, when we heard about Alex’s plan to build a full-fledged automated and green PCB production facility in North America for GreenSource, which was Whelen at that time, we invited him to meet our chemistry and equipment expert group in Berlin and Feucht to talk about the available Atotech processes and equipment solutions, as well as possible challenges on his way to realizing the project. As part of the process, we opened our doors to our global technical centers in Berlin, Yokohama (Japan) and Jangan (S. Korea) and showcased our equipment in a production environment. Today, I am very happy to look at the status of the project and the amazing work by Alex and the Atotech team.

Goldman: Alex, why don’t you give our readers an overview of what’s going on with GreenSource.

To read the full version of this article which appeared in the March 2018 issue of PCB007 Magazine, click here.

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