NextFlex News — February 2019 Newsletter
Greetings to all,
Big news! We recently piloted our newest Workforce Development program here at NextFlex in San Jose. FHE PRO is a professional education program designed to immerse participants in the current state-of the art and the potential future state of flexible hybrid electronics technologies, manufacturing processes, and applications. Through technology familiarization overviews, hands-on activities, and design thinking sprints, attendees discover how flexible hybrid electronics can be integrated into systems and products to achieve flexible, stretchable, conformable form factors that are quick to market and lower cost. FHE PRO is for product designers, senior engineers, business developers, researchers, and anyone who wants to know how FHE can positively impact their future initiatives.
The two-day program was designed with guidance from Lockheed Martin, where 15 of their technical engineers and managers learned how FHE can be integrated into their future product designs. After receiving an FHE technology deep dive, participants gowned up to visit the NextFlex Technology Hub to try their hand at printing and inspection. The following day, attendees formed teams for a design sprint where they considered their own complex manufacturing challenges and designed a new product that integrates flexible hybrid electronics into the system. Feedback from the participants was overwhelmingly positive, and we look forward to spreading the word about FHE PRO, our newest Workforce Development program. Let me know if your company or university is interested in hearing more about it. FHE PRO can be tailored to any technology level and can even be held at your site. For example, Boeing has approached us about holding a one-day version at their site in Seattle.
The SEMI Flex Conference is quickly approaching, to be held February 18–21 in Monterey, California, and the NextFlex team is looking forward to greeting members and hearing the talks. We have our own series of NextFlex member meetings and events at the Flex Conference, including a Technology Standards and Roadmapping session (with presentations from AFRL, Kuprion, Averatek, and Sandia National Labs), a Technical Working Group meeting (with updates on the FHE PDK and the Modeling & Design Roadmap), a Governing Council meeting, a Technical Council meeting (with project updates and key outcomes from mechanical test and reliability projects and other projects), and a special evening event for members only. Check the dates of all NextFlex meetings carefully as the date pattern is different from that of previous years. The full schedule is on our website where you may register to attend. We look forward to seeing you there!
Finally, here are a couple of calendar updates for you to consider — first, a new workshop entitled, “FHE Applications for Aerospace,” will be held April 1–4 at Boeing in Seattle. Secondly, we’re officially announcing that Innovation Day 2019 will be held here at NextFlex in San Jose on August 8. Please mark your calendars for these two important NextFlex activities; more information will be forthcoming in the weeks ahead.
Sincerely,
Dr. Malcolm J. Thompson
Executive Director