Jean-Luc Pelissier is CEO of Universal Instruments Corp, which develops and markets automated manufacturing equipment for the assembly of high volume electronic devices. The major focus of this oral history is Jean-Luc’s long career in the automated test equipment (ATE) business. He was born in the south of France where he developed a passion for electronics. He earned an engineering degree and pursued a PhD while working at IBM in France. He was involved with the development of an electron-beam based tester with IBM before joining the automated test division of Schlumberger. Jean-Luc held various marketing positions with that company as well as its spinoff, NPTest, which in turn was bought by Credence in 2004. He describes the many technical and marketing challenges associated with the ATE business as it struggled to keep up with the very rapid development pace of semiconductor ICs.
