Recently, the Ministry of industry and information technology issued the standard conditions for the printed circuit board industry (hereinafter referred to as the standard conditions) and the Interim Measures for the administration of the announcement of printed circuit board industry specifications (hereinafter referred to as the Interim Measures), which will come into force on February 1 this year. Insiders have said that the release of the documents will be conducive to the layout optimization and structural adjustment of the printed circuit board (PCB) industry, and play a positive role in improving the development level of the industry and promoting the sustainable and healthy development of the industry.

　　PCB industry needs healthy and sustainable development

　　As a bridge carrying electronic components and connecting circuits, PCB is an indispensable key basic component in the electronic information industry. Since 2006, China has surpassed Japan to become the world's largest producer of printed circuit boards, ranking first in both output and output value. Its proportion in the total output value of the global printed circuit board industry has increased from 31.18% in 2008 to 50.53% in 2017. According to the data of China Electronic Circuit Industry Association, the domestic PCB output value reached US $29.7 billion in 2017. In this context, maintaining the sustainable development of the industry has become the consensus of the industry.

　　The standard conditions and interim measures issued this time are formulated in accordance with the principles of optimizing layout, adjusting structure, green environmental protection, promoting innovation and classified guidance. For PCB enterprises and projects, a quantitative standard system is formed from several dimensions such as capacity layout and project construction, production scale and process technology, intelligent manufacturing, green manufacturing, safe production and social responsibility. Zhang Jin, Secretary General of China Electronic Circuit Industry Association, told China Electronics News: "as a participant in the formulation of the standard conditions, we are very pleased with its introduction. The release of the standard conditions has raised the entry threshold of the PCB industry and provided a strong guarantee for the steady and sustainable development of China's electronic circuit industry."

　　Xu Xu, chairman of Bomin electronics, said that the "standard conditions" and the "Interim Measures" were issued on the basis of full investigation in the early stage and in combination with the characteristics of the industry and the development trend of the industry in the future. In his opinion, these two documents reasonably set the environmental protection threshold, technical threshold and scale threshold of the printed circuit board manufacturing industry, and guide the development of the printed circuit board manufacturing industry cluster, which is a great good thing for the industry.

　　Liu Shaobai, chairman of Jingwang electronics, believes that although the standard conditions have not implemented specific reward and punishment measures, they have formed clear and quantifiable guidelines for the current per capita output value of PCB enterprises, the scale and input-output ratio of new projects, key technical indicators and technical capabilities, quality management, energy conservation and consumption reduction, environmental protection, safety production and other multi-dimensional operation and internal systems. "In the future, there will be evidence to judge the shutdown of backward production capacity and the approval of new projects, which will help guide industrial transformation and upgrading and structural adjustment, and accelerate the supply side reform of the industry. This is a guide to prevent overcapacity and guide the healthy and sustainable development of the industry." Liu Shaobai told China Electronics News.

　　An analysis report of Pacific Securities summarized the impact of the introduction of the standard conditions on the industry. The report said that the standard conditions will help improve the overall operating efficiency of the industry and establish a positive image of the industry; It is conducive to curb the development of enterprises with blind investment and neglect of management, raise the threshold of the industry and improve the degree of concentration; Although the requirements for technical indicators are not high, the trend of encouraging R & D remains unchanged.

　　Green manufacturing is the inevitable requirement of PCB high-quality development

　　The specification conditions put forward clear requirements for intelligent manufacturing, green manufacturing and environmental protection. In terms of intelligent manufacturing, the standard conditions encourage enterprises to promote the networking and data collection of production equipment, actively build enterprise resource planning (ERP), manufacturing execution system (MES), supplier relationship management (SRM), warehouse management system (WMS) and other information systems, and promote the digital construction of enterprises; Encourage enterprises to actively carry out intelligent manufacturing, reduce operating costs, shorten product production cycle and improve production efficiency. In terms of green manufacturing, the standard conditions require enterprises to continue to carry out cleaner production audit and pass the evaluation and acceptance; Encourage enterprises to pass the certification and evaluation of the restricted use of hazardous substances in electrical and electronic products; Establish an environment-friendly and recycling oriented supply chain, and encourage enterprises to comply with industry standards in the production chain; Encourage enterprises to build green factories and produce green products.

　　In fact, people in the industry have already reached a consensus on intelligent and green production in the field of PCB. In an interview with China Electronics News, Liu Shaobai said that realizing PCB intelligent manufacturing can shorten the product development cycle, reduce resource and energy consumption, reduce operating costs, improve production efficiency, improve product quality, promote the high-end process of PCB industry and reshape the new advantages of manufacturing industry. Many domestic PCB enterprises have begun intelligent manufacturing. For green manufacturing, Liu Shaobai believes that enterprises should consider the impact on the environment from the plant site selection. In addition, they should also consider the following aspects: in the design stage, safety, energy conservation, water conservation and less pollution should be considered from the aspects of plant design, process design, equipment selection and raw material selection; In the construction stage, we should pay attention to environmental protection and safety; In the production stage, the enterprise also needs to build a set of advanced, complete, efficient and easy to implement production management system, formulate a complete and effective environmental emergency plan, implement the cleaner production system, improve the operation level and reduce waste, so as to consume less natural resources and obtain greater output.

　　"Only by firmly following the government's guidelines, constantly strengthening R & D and innovation, improving the level of production technology, promoting automation, information and intelligent production, and always adhering to the concept of environmental protection and green development, can printed circuit board manufacturers ensure sustainable development under the new situation." Shen Qingfang, chairman of Pengding holdings, said.

　　New application scenarios make PCB face greater challenges

　　In recent years, the rapid development of 5g, artificial intelligence and Internet of vehicles has made the PCB industry face new challenges. Taking 5g as an example, as a new generation of mobile communication technology, it is not only the strengthening of 4G, but also an indispensable foundation in the fields of mobile Internet, Internet of things, Internet of vehicles, industrial Internet, telemedicine, VR / AR and so on. All countries in the world strive to seize the "commanding heights" of 5g industry and technology. Printed circuit board is an indispensable "skeleton" component of 5g terminal products (such as base station, server, electronic equipment, etc.). Ultra high speed, ultra-low delay and ultra large connection require high integrity of signal transmission and high reliability of heat dissipation of 5g circuit. Under the new situation, PCB faces the challenge of high signal integrity. In this regard, Xu slow believes that domestic enterprises should be guided by market demand and make strategic layout in advance. We will increase investment in technology research and development, focus on independent innovation, coexist with a variety of cooperative innovation channels, and conduct rehearsals of three major technological breakthroughs in structural design, key methods and industrialization, so as to overcome the key common technologies of printed circuits in emerging markets and the problems of large-scale production.

　　Liu Shaobai told reporters that emerging markets will bring great challenges to the reliability, high speed, high frequency and even bendable performance of PCB. Enterprises must have strong technical reserves and reasonable product layout to meet these demand changes. Therefore, domestic PCB enterprises should aim at the needs of cutting-edge technologies, pay close attention to the development of new technologies, actively follow up 5g, autonomous driving, wearable, AI, big data and other technologies, cooperate or carry out R & D with customers, and strive to become an important and key link in advanced manufacturing industry. Internally, PCB enterprises should cultivate their internal skills; Externally, we should pay close attention to the context of industrial development and strengthen the linkage and innovation with upstream and downstream industrial chains.

　　Shen Qingfang said that every emerging market opportunity is a collaborative challenge in many technologies such as materials, processes and production management. In the process of upgrading these technologies, enterprises also need to upgrade with corresponding talents, information systems and management methods, so as to further improve the market response ability and production management ability.