Brian Craig, Managing Director, European Operations, Indium Corporation

People keep asking me about what the New Year might hold.

Sadly, I don't have 20:20 vision!

As many readers will be aware, we in the UK have endured almost 4 years of prevarication over our departure from the EU that has effectively strangled business investment. An estimated $1Tn of finance have been held back through this period of time.

My company has suffered significantly since the global crash that didn't impact on us until April 2009. More than 10 years later, with a newly elected government with a clear commitment going forward, we finally have strong evidence of a significant upswing in our business.

GEN3 is a British manufacturer and, perhaps unusually, is an exporter to China who remain our strongest market. Happily, we seem unaffected by the China tariff dispute.

Our small business has a limited product range, as much because of our reluctance to invest in new products whist the global market has been in so much turmoil. That situation has now changed for the better!

Our products are used to help predict reliability in electronics. The new emerging electric vehicle market has presented some particularly difficult challenges. These challenges include Low Voltage (<65V), High Current (>1200A) to High Voltage (>1250V), Low Current (<~50A).

Of course, other industries, including Medical and Space applications, are seeking ultra-low voltage (<2V) and ultra-low current (<5mA).

At both of these extremes, the packaging density and conductor spacing require a good deal better understanding of the synergistic electro-chemical behaviour and the assembly process.

For these reasons and more, the World recognised IPC-J-STD001 is having to implement changes designed to help these far broader demands that have remained in the Defence industry for so many years. GEN3 have been helping to bring this Standard and its many “spin-off” requirements to be better suited for the immediate market and the future.