| Members News July 2023 | |||
|
Martin Cotton |
Martin Cotton
This last weekend industry guru and dear friend to many Martin Cotton passed away. He was one of the first people I worked with in the electronics industry when I joined Toptec Design to learn to layout PCBs. He was a bit of a rockstar to many PCB designers, myself included. He was known to be among the best in his field, if not the best, and went on to be one of the most influential and innovative people in the industry over a long and distinguished career. He will be hugely missed by his family and by his numerous friends in and out of the electronics industry. Over five decades Martin performed his magic at
I spent more than forty years of my career sharing thoughts, ideas and more than a few beers with Martin. He was a mentor, a dear friend and someone I could always count on. I loved working with him and just being in his orbit, where he was the star of the show. I interviewed him on numerous occasions on camera (take a look at those interviews if you find time), and I spent many many great evenings with him just talking and laughing. He always made me think and he always made me smile.
This has also been posted to LinkedIn to encourage his numerous friends and colleagues to comment, then perhaps we can round out a tribute to this guru, this genius and this diamond geezer! Martin, we love you and we miss you! Posted by Philip Stoten May 15, 2023. Reproduced by kind permission of PCB007 Link to Article |
||
|
Norman Fergusson |
Norman Fergusson It is sad to report that Norman passed away unexpectedly in mid June. He was an active member of the ICT for many years. After leaving school Norman trained as an apprentice toolmaker. After a short time in Canada he started at Prestwick in 1974 and progressed to managing the Drilling Department. In 1987 he moved to Bodmin, Cornwall as the Production Manager for Cirbo. He later transferred into a technical sales role supporting UK customers. After 6 years he moved to Cheshire to set up the regrind and technical centre while continuing his support role in technical sales. Following the closure of Cirbo 2004/2005, Norman continued to work for the Kennametal Group which owned Cirbo and represented sister company Kemmer Prazision for some time. Since then he has spent some time working for Ventec and more recently providing technical support to the UK customers of MPK Kemmer GmbH PCB tools. This is a super photo below of one of Norman's memorable moments. Nobody wanted to win the Duffer's prize at our annual PCB golf day. Somehow Norman contrived to take 9 off the tee on one hole, so it was fitting that he was awarded this honour. As you can see he took it in good spirit.
There is a lot of camaraderie in the PCB industry and often colleagues, suppliers and competitors become good friends. There will be many of us who will have a smile in his memory and a sadness at his passing. He was always so cheerful and such a nice guy to have around and spend time with. He will be greatly missed by all of us who knew him. Link to 2009 PCB Golf Day review Richard Wood-Roe - July 2023 |
||
|
Dr. Darren Southee Loughborough University |
This is a members view of our recent symposium. A splendid Day on Tuesday June 6th 2023 at the Institute of Circuit Technology Annual Symposium which took place at the National Motorcycle Museum. The talks covered a multitude of pressing issues for the Industry (and Planet). Total Board Solutions framed the past and present well and shared concerns regarding a measured lack of younger people joining the industry, posing concerns for the future of the Industry. Neil Chamberlain then framed a lively discussion on Industry needs (and awareness of the various stakeholders) against a backdrop of Polar Instruments Ltd Toolkit. The promised magnificent buffet at Lunchtime lived up to the billing. In the afternoon Pillarhouse International Ltd. gave us an education in selective soldering (increasingly part of EV manufacturing) and the need for training. Then Professor Martin Goosey walked us through a UKRI-funded feasibility study on Gallium recovery from LEDs in a Circular Economy context - amazing work! Finally Darren Cadman educated us all covering The Compound Semiconductor Catapult and its PCB embedded die packaging work. It was great to have clarity regarding the roles of Catapults explained. |
||
| Eurotech Group |
Over the years we have had many young people join us to complete their apprenticeship programmes, most have stayed with us and continued to develop, grow and further their careers. This year’s success stories are Emily Weston and Lennox Lillico.
Read more... |
||
|
|
PCB007 Editor's Note: The industry lost one of the good ones last weekend when Martin Cotton passed away. Martin not only spent 50 years on the cutting edge of PCB design, he was also, as the axiom goes, "a real character." Everyone who knew Martin has a favorite story about him. At a trade show, Martin once called a group of us younger folks "party poopers" for leaving the bar at 1:30 a.m.; he stayed until 4:30 and still did his presentation at 9 a.m. What else can we say? He was just a hell of a guy. So in honor of Martin and all of the people who loved him, we're publishing this eulogy by EMSNow Publisher Phil Stoten, who knew Martin for over 50 years. Until next time, Martin!
companies including Nortel Networks, Viasystems, Sanmina and Ventec International Group, racking up numerous patents along the way and sharing his intellect and his energy and passion for the industry with trade associations like the ICT (Institute of Circuit Technology) and EIPC (European Institute of Printed Circuits), for whom he spoke on numerous occasions. Less than six months ago, Steve Driver of the ICT presented him with an Honorary Fellowship. Steve Driver said at the time, “Martin has been a huge contributor to the Institute of Circuit Technology for many years. He is a recognised industry expert and is very worthy of this accolade.”
Those that knew Martin as I did, will remember him primarily as the exuberant fun-loving friend that always had your back, and was always up for a big night out, especially if you were lucky enough to spend an evening with him in Munich, after a long day at electronica or productronica. As someone I consider a lifelong friend, that’s how I remember him, but Martin was so much more than just a wonderful friend. I don’t think many would disagree if I said he was a genius and an innovator in his field. When we talked about technology I was always trying to keep up and it seems the entire industry was too. Martin proved it was possible to be too far ahead of the field, and perhaps a little too smart for the rest of the room!
