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Depleted U.S. Printed Circuit Board Industry To Become Part Of DOD's 'Trusted' Production Program
BY RICHARD McCORMACK
richard@manufacturingnews.com
The Department of Defense has developed a strategy to deal with the erosion of the U.S. printed circuit board industry and its growing inability to make parts that can be "trusted" for systems used in national security and military weapons systems. A task force made up of representatives from 10 military agencies, the National Security Agency and the State Department agreed with a 2005 National Research Council report that recommended DOD begin a multi-structured program aimed at creating a "trusted" supply of printed circuit boards. "DOD concurs with comments on all National Research Committee recommendations, discussing current and potential actions to address" the loss of U.S. printed circuit board technology and production capability, according to the strategy report.
In its study of the industry, the panel found that the majority of production of printed circuit boards now takes place outside the United States and that what little is being spent in the United States on research and development does not focus on developing new materials and products.
"DOD will not be able to take full advantage of state-of the-art commercial-off-the-shelf printed circuit board technologies and will pay more for custom low-volume printed circuit boards," says the assessment. "There is neither an economic advantage nor an incentive for these high-volume manufacturers to develop and maintain low-volume state-of-the-art printed circuit board facilities for DOD requirements and to develop new materials or processes for improved manufacturing of printed circuit boards. Further, OEM internal cost cutting pressures impede innovation. Currently there is little incentive for large defense contractors to invest in internal R&D to improve the performance of printed circuit boards to compete for and win government contracts."
The task force recommends that printed circuit boards be included in the "Defense Trusted Integrated Circuit Strategy," an increasingly important DOD program aimed at dealing with the shift of high-tech production overseas.
"Ensuring a supply of trusted integrated circuits is necessary, but it is not sufficient to remove risks and vulnerabilities associated with populated printed circuit assemblies," writes the task force in its report that was requested in July 2006 by Congress. "Extending the Defense Trusted Integrated Circuit Strategy to include printed circuit boards (and possibly printed circuit board mounted components) could mitigate the risks posed by tampering and counterfeiting....While DOD has not experienced specific disruptions to date, the globalization trend beginning in the 1990's has increased this vulnerability," according to the strategy document. "To mitigate these potential defense system vulnerabilities, future assessments and actions at the enterprise level should be broadened to address printed circuit board supply chain issues. This will require a more focused DOD-wide approach."
In its 2005 report on the industry entitled "Linkages: Manufacturing Trends in Electronics Interconnect Technology," the National Research Council found that U.S. production of printed circuit boards had fallen below 10 percent of world output (down from 40 percent or more in the 1980s). The U.S. industry is comprised of small companies unable to invest in new technology. Most high-volume production has left the United States. It said the U.S. military stopped investing in the sub-tiers of the electronics industry more than a decade ago and is now paying the price for that oversight.
Much of the investment that has been made in the military's printed circuit board infrastructure has come through the form of congressional earmarks. Concerned members of Congress added just enough funds to sustain a printed circuit board R&D capability, since the Defense Department was reluctant to do so on its own.
The DOD team found that the military services' four printed circuit board engineering and manufacturing facilities are not that impressive. "There currently are limited expertise-focused strategic investments in advanced printed circuit board manufacturing capability," the task force concluded. "This lack of investment potentially could lead to a gap in printed circuit board organic capability to support the sustainment mission."
The DOD group studying the issue recommended that the government create a new "executive agent" for printed circuit boards "to monitor manufacturing, materials, processes and component vulnerabilities." This executive would develop a printed circuit board roadmap that assures manufacturing capabilities and expertise to meet future military requirements; evaluate recapitalization and investment requirements of DOD's printed circuit board facilities; assure continuing printed circuit board knowledge and expertise; increase DOD program offices' awareness of the benefits of leveraging currently available printed circuit board capabilities; and developing methods to assure the availability of needed technical data.
The executive agent will be in charge of continuously assessing the vulnerabilities and trustworthiness associated with the printed circuit board supply chain. "DOD currently does not address trustworthiness at the printed circuit board level," according to the report. The Defense Logistics Agency would be in charge of accrediting trusted sources of supply, similar to what is being done with integrated circuits.
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