A Sharp Mind

It is a Saturday night and I sit alone wallowing in self pity. My children are asleep, my husband is watching the baseball game. I can not get the events of yesterday afternoon out of my mind. There has been no contact with R since the incident, he is not aware of any internal conflict I am experiencing. He will be calling me tomorrow before the plane takes off and he is in route to his latest business destination.

Up until now I have not given any indication of my intellect. Am I smart? Yes, I am. I exercise the grey matter regularly. I work for a large EMS corporation in a management position that requires me to be IPC certified, ISO audit qualified, and FDA ready. It is a constantly changing atmosphere of upgrades and competition.

Our latest challenge to befall the industry is the European directive that all product delivered overseas be RoHS compliant by 2006. We have thus far been ahead of the game, with thanks to one very aggressive customer. It is absolutely amazing how much controversy and confusion this transition process can create. When your dealing with an FDA assembly that requires any and all changes to be qualified before distribution to the public, it is veritable heart failure to discover the addition of one little symbol. Has the chemical make up of the component changed? How long have these components been RoHS compliant? Has a customer contact been initiated to notify this change?

It can be a bureaucratic nightmare of red tape, data bases, and engineering evaluation. Yet, we continue plugging away hoping to see the light at the end of the tunnel. It's got to be there. We will make it eventually.