A successful gold cost reduction programme

With an annual cost of gold exceeding 10 million dollars for its captive circuit board shop, Tektronix, Inc., established a task force to implement conservation. Elements included Purchasing, Material Control, Quality Assurance, Manufacturing and Engineering. Salient programme items were inventory reduction, material accountability, modification of processes, procedures, and equipment to improve uniformity of thickness, and elimination of non‐essential gold use. In addition, scrap‐handling procedures were modified to improve accountability and reclaim returns.