I recently spoke with Darrell Fernald, the incoming President of the International Institute of Connector and Interconnection Technology (IICIT) about the connector industry and IICIT's place in it. Fernald is the Director of Business Development, WPI Corp. He has been a member of IICIT for 20 years, and has held various positions including Technical Chairman and Symposium Chairman.
What do you think the relevancy of IICIT is today? What is its role in the industry?
IICIT still has a place in the interconnect industry but the outreach into the industry has been stymied somewhat. OEMs have become somewhat reclusive — they don't want to share their technology or host chapter meetings. Also, large OEMs have gotten rid of their interconnect groups. They rely more and more on vendors.
A couple of other issues need to be addressed, too. The older engineers are retiring and the younger ones have many more demands placed on them. The average engineer now works probably 60 to 70 hours a week. It is hard for them to keep up with their education.
Chapter attendance is where we are struggling. The strength of an organization is in its local chapters. Chapter presidents and vice presidents don't have time to recruit new members. A lot of times, the person that started the chapter is retiring and can't get anyone to take over. Interest wanes.
The solution is to bring in people with different types of backgrounds. Young engineers that are diverse. We need to reach people in newer aspects of the industry such as fiber optic, microwave and diagnostic and instrumentation, and we have already started to do this. We can also help the industry with our training seminars. We don't want these young engineers to repeat the mistakes of the past.
How many members does IICIT have? What do its members gain from being a part of IICIT?
A little less than 2,000, but it is slowly dropping. Members gain association with other people that have like interests. Also, they gain education through the symposiums and seminars. The membership is made up of a combination of about 20 to 30 percent connector users, 25 to 30 percent connector makers and the balance is sales and marketing.
How was the symposium this year, held on October 7-9, 2002 in Orlando, Fla.?
Attendance was up 40 to 50 percent over last year so it was better. Last year was awful.
What are the plans for next year to improve the symposium?
Once the economy improves, attendance should improve. We are experimenting with holding it in Orlando two or three years in a row. Attendance for the show is always better on the East Coast. Another bold step is to change the meeting schedule. A lot of times if the show is held Monday through Wednesday, people bail on Tuesday night. Now, we will have the show on Thursday and Friday, with a closing banquet on Friday. That way, attendees will want to stay and spend the weekend.
What are your thoughts on the connector industry? What is needed for the industry to improve?
I'll divide the industry into four segments. The military is beginning to turn. Industrial (plant automation, etc.) is somewhat in the doldrums but it will start to turn as new factories begin to be built. The computer market is the most volatile; one hiccup and it is boom or bust. It is difficult to predict because of new technology. It will have a slow recovery, nine months to a year. Of course, there is usually a peak at Christmas. Lastly, telecom is tough to predict. A lot of fiber optic people in the market are out of business or hurting badly. To force a turn around will take a new technology. Also, the market is somewhat saturated. Standard telephone line business might never come back because the cell phone business is so cheap now.
The general economy has to improve for the connector industry to improve. Also, distributors are in very, very bad shape. They are trying to run their inventory down and only buying from connector manufacturers when they have active orders. As soon as their backlogs improve, they will buy from connector makers for inventory, but will probably not carry the inventories that they have in the past.
Should IICIT be more involved with standards?
We are talking about it and I believe that it is something we should be looking at. It would give us better credibility. Some of it is covered, but part of the problem is that the efforts are extremely fragmented. They should pull together under one umbrella and be more auspicious. Not a lot of people have company support to go to these meetings. Companies need to be more aware that these issues are important.
What made you want to become President of IICIT?
With my experience and background, I hope to turn things around, grow the organization and help find new directions.
What are the future plans for IICIT?
Looking at a long-range plan, the core of plan is to expand the local chapter membership. Also, a different approach to markets is needed. We serve the military market and connector manufacturers and users. We need to look at other markets such as microwave and test equipment — the tools used to test connectors.
IICIT has been around for almost 40 years. It has a great board of directors and some of them have managed to stick together for a long time.
Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions or comments about this article or the magazine in general. Thanks for taking the time to read Connector Specifier.
Susan Woods,
Editor-in-Chief
susanw@pennwell.com
