Joseph Fjelstad, President and Founder, Verdant Electronics

The human factor: Focusing on employees and digital microscopes in the US in 2020

With more US companies moving production out of China in 2020, the human factor in visual inspection must take center stage. With visual inspection still not being digitalized, there is a lot to gain from implementing digital microscopes in the American Electronics Industry. In fact, it might be the key to remain competitive despite big industry challenges and changes.

It is widely known that traditional microscopes cause work-related pain because of poor and repetitive movements during inspection. This leads to productivity loss and ultimately high sick leave levels and high compensation costs for businesses.

In Europe, digital microscopes have already been recognized as creating a more ergonomic and less straining environment for the operators, reducing sick leave levels, human errors in manual tasks and defective PCB escape rates. One company reports that this led them to 6-figure savings in customer returns.

With this in mind and unemployment levels at its lowest in several years, US companies must focus on creating better conditions for the real scarce resource: employees. Otherwise, bringing production home may only lead to people losing their jobs quickly after getting them.