Robert C. Pfahl Jr., PhD, Vice President of Global Operations
Bob Pfahl retired from Motorola in 2002 as Director of International and Environmental Research and Development at Motorola Labs, where he led Motorola�s Environmental Technology R&D and Advanced Technology R&D labs in China and Germany. Prior to joining Motorola (in 1988), he worked with AT&T/Western Electric in several management positions.
In his 30-year career in the electronics industry, Dr. Pfahl was a pioneer in developing reflow soldering processes. He holds nine U.S. patents in electronics manufacturing technology and is the inventor of the vapor phase soldering process.
Dr. Pfahl has been actively involved with iNEMI since the consortium�s beginning. He served as Director of Roadmapping for the 1994 and 1996 cycles, and was a founding member of the organization�s Technical Committee. He chaired the Environmentally Conscious Electronics chapter for the 1998 and 2002 iNEMI roadmaps, and is Chairman of the National Roadmap Coordinating Committee, which coordinates North American electronics roadmapping activities with electronics R&D activities in government and academia. He is also a member of the National Materials Advisory Board of the National Research Council (USA).
Over the course of his career, Dr. Pfahl has developed an expertise in environmental issues affecting the electronics industry. He participated in the pioneering 1994 National Research Council�s study, "The Greening of Industrial Ecosystems." He served as a member of the National Materials Advisory Board of the National Research Council (USA) and is a member of the editorial board of the Journal of Industrial Ecology.
In recognition of his efforts to eliminate the use of CFCs in the electronics industry, Dr. Pfahl received the 1991 United States EPA Stratospheric Ozone Protection Award. The IEEE Components, Packaging and Manufacturing Technology Society (CPMT) presented him with its 2005 Electronics Manufacturing Technology award. In making the award, CPMT lauded him for developing new manufacturing processes, reducing the environmental impact of electronic manufacturing processes and fostering collaboration within the manufacturing technology community.
Dr. Pfahl received his doctorate in mechanical engineering from Cornell University (Ithaca, NY) where he majored in heat transfer and fluid mechanics.
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