EMS@C-LEVEL
As Forbes, Entrepreneur, Fast Company and SCOOP writer, Philip Stoten, continues to talk to EMS (Electronic Manufacturing Services) executives he learns more about their individual and collective experiences and their expectations for their own businesses and for the entire electronic manufacturing industry.
EMS@C-LEVEL
Electronica 24: Jack Herring, Jiva Materials Founder on Pioneering Biodegradable Solutions in PCB Manufacturing
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Uncover the groundbreaking innovations in sustainable electronics with my guest, Jack Herring, Founder and Chief Product Officer of Jiva Materials, as he shares the journey from a university assignment to transforming the PCB industry. Witness how Jiva is revolutionizing electronic waste management by replacing traditional glass fibers and epoxy resins with eco-friendly, biodegradable alternatives. With their cutting-edge Soliboard technology already making waves in single and double-layer boards, Jack reveals plans to venture into multi-layer applications and discusses dynamic collaborations with major OEMs like Bosch, proving the commercial viability and energy savings of their innovative products.
In our exploration of production scaling, discover how Jiva navigates the integration of new materials into established manufacturing processes with minimal disruption. Jack sheds light on the seamless partnership with PCB fabrication partners, ensuring that the transition aligns smoothly within industry standards. He also highlights the design flexibility of Jiva’s materials, akin to traditional FR4 boards, and shares design guidelines for those eager to adopt this sustainable innovation. With a solid strategy for controlling their supply chain and partnerships in Hungary, Jiva stands at the forefront of eco-friendly electronics.
EMS@C-Level at electronica 2024 was hosted by IPC (https://www.ipc.org/)
EMS@C-Level is hosted by global inspection leaders Koh Young (https://www.kohyoung.com) and Global Electronics Association (https://www.electronics.org)
You can see video versions of all of the EMS@C-Level pods on our YouTube playlist.
Hello, I'm Philip Stoughton, I'm at Electronica 2024 and I am with Jack from Jiva Materials. Jack, good to talk to you. You're kind of the brains behind this whole project. Tell me, before we get on to the detail of the project, tell me the motivation behind the design.
Speaker 2So it all started at university, um, back in 2017, I was given a brief. I was given a brief by my design tutor to choose a waste stream to try and optimize. So, um, did a bit of research, looked into the size of the waste streams and and I found out that electronic waste is the fastest growing waste stream in the world. Yeah, absolutely. Obviously, there's a huge demand for electronics nowadays, lifespan is decreasing in these products and, being a complete newbie into the industry, I did some research, found out that there's these things called pcbs. Yep, um, they're common throughout pretty much every product out there. Um, and I did a bit of uh looking into them in terms of what the raw materials were. So they're predominantly glass fiber, epoxy resin, flame retardant as well, so thought why can't we just find a way of substituting these materials with more environmentally friendly alternatives? So, yeah, took the glass fibres replacing the natural fibres and took the epoxy resin and replaced it with a biodegradable, non-toxic and water-soluble polymer.
Speaker 1Okay, and the idea is that obviously at the end of the board's life you remove the components first and then you can dispose of the material. Is that the idea?
Speaker 2So this example here this is an assembled board, so this could actually be immersed into hot water. The polymer that we use will then absorb the water, soften, and that will then allow the board to delaminate and the electronic components can then be removed as part of the recycling process.
Speaker 2So the recycling process works best with single layer boards, so LED lighting is a very good example of where our technology would work well. You can then remove the solder mask with the copper attached and the SMT devices still mounted onto the copper. So, yeah, much more efficient way of doing things than the incineration and the shredding which currently goes on with existing boards, and we can have a much more concentrated waste stream of the precious metals.
Speaker 1Yeah, no, absolutely Makes sense, and obviously you're doing it currently on single-sided and double-sided, but not on multi-layer.
Speaker 2Not just yet, it's on our technical roadmap. So last year was a big development for us to reach the two-layer pay-to-through-hole technology level. We're targeting four-layer boards by the middle of next year as a proof of concept. But at the moment, to be honest, we're very, very busy with the interest we're receiving just for a two layer plated through-hole board.
Speaker 1Yeah, and I mean, if you look, at the volume of lamina per by square foot rather than by cost. There's a lot of single-sided and a lot of through-hole plated stuff out there. Exactly, there's an opportunity there. So you mentioned you have a lot of interest. Is that largely from the OEMs that use the board, that are kind of responsible for the end of life, or is it more from the PCV manufacturers?
Speaker 2So our business model is to go directly to the OEMs. They're the ones who typically make the decisions. They tell their subcontractors and the designers how they want their boards, and our goal really is to have Soliboard on the drawing of these designs that are then sent to the manufacturers. Yeah, they'll spec it in, yeah. So this is an example of one with a project with Bosch that we've done, and you can see that we have Jeeva and Bosch on the same branding, on the same board.
Speaker 1Where did the name Jeeva come from, by the way?
Speaker 2I was looking for a very short catchy name. Jeeva is actually Sanskrit for basically anything imbued with a life force, so I I thought it was very fitting of the natural fibers and the more environmentally responsible materials that we use in our products, and it just so happens to be available.
Speaker 1So, yeah, it's been great, yeah, and when you look at um, when you look at these kind of products, where sustainability is is kind of at the core, I look at them from an industry point of view and I I think that's great. And when the market's good people are very concerned about sustainability, but it still has to be commercially viable. Sure, what's the kind of price differential at the moment, and do you see that reaching parity in the future?
Speaker 2So the stage we're at now, our material itself has about a 10% to 15% premium over FR4. So if FR4 is €30 per square metre, our material will be €33, which has been trialled and tested with our customers, and that's the price point that they're willing to accept for the green credentials and benefits that we're able to offer them, but because our material is designed to be processed through existing and standard bcb facilities.
Speaker 2It means that there's no premium in terms of the manufacturers. That could actually be energy savings as well, because we assemble our boards using low temperature solder. So there's energy savings and cost savings in terms of the energy that goes into assembling.
Speaker 1So when you look at it from the point of view of a laminate, it's maybe 10% more, but when you look at it from the point of view of a PCB, it's a much smaller percentage more. And then when you go to PCBA, that percentage comes down Exactly. It comes down even further and if you think of a product like this and you look at the potential of it, it's obviously a large volume potential. What's the strategy in terms of manufacturing?
BCB Material Development Strategy
Speaker 2is it licensed deals or um, that's the model we were looking at initially. Uh, I think it's proven to be better for us to have more control over the supply chain. So at the moment we have the raw materials which are processed into the pre-preg with our partners in Hungary and Slovakia. So the pre-preg then comes back to the UK, we consolidate it into panels and we're then producing PCBs with our UK-based PCB partners.
Speaker 1BCB partners. Yeah, yeah, okay. And if you're going to much higher volume, is there a strategy to license it to more people or is there a strategy to?
Speaker 2make more, yeah, so. I think, when we have the material clearly defined and everything's been optimized, then we will work with our BCB fab partners to basically walk our material through their facility I mentioned. It can be processed through industry standard technology and processes. There's just a few tweaks that need to be made in terms of speeds and time and those sorts of things. So it typically takes us about six to eight weeks to get the BCV fab partner fully aligned and used to working with our material.
Speaker 1Yeah, and with respect to design and design restrictions, people need to think about when they're, when they're designing for this, for this solution um, we're actually pretty close now in terms of the capabilities which fr4 can offer for a two-layer paper through whole board.
Speaker 2Um, there's, there's not really too many that come to mind. We do have a set of design guidelines that we're able to share if customers are interested in working with us.
Speaker 1Yeah, and it makes sense, doesn't it, to have those design guidelines if you're asking them to then put this as a specified laminar on the drawing that goes out with the product. Excellent, well, thanks so much for talking to me. Good luck with the product. I think it's really interesting. We'll be watching and seeing what happens next with you guys. Thanks so much, appreciate it, thank you.