Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/1415897
66 SMT007 MAGAZINE I OCTOBER 2021 Interview by Nolan Johnson I-CONNECT007 Nolan Johnson talks with new Naprotek CEO Daniel Everitt about Naprotek's value- add for customers, the market dynamics, fac- tory automation, and more. Nolan Johnson: Daniel, the last time I spoke with Naprotek, there was someone other than you in the CEO seat. is is news. Daniel Everitt: Absolutely. e founder, Na- jat Badriyeh, started the business 25 years ago. Interestingly, she was working in the in- dustry at the time, and she saw something even then, where the business she worked for wasn't supporting the customers in their high mix, low volume, high level of custom- ization from prototype through early NPI. She went out on her own, taking the risk to build a company that would support those kinds of requirements, with an emphasis on custom-engineered electronics products. It's more than just "putting tops on bottoms," like you see in traditional EMS. She spent 25 An Interview With Naprotek's Daniel Everitt years perfecting that model and providing a service level to key customers across the various high-reliability segments of defense, space, medical, precision semiconductor so- lutions, and semiconductor capital, as well as complex industrial tech solutions. She de- liberately avoided supporting commercial good-enough, simplistic products that would generally transition to an offshore manufac- turer. e idea was to stay pure to the mod- el, and support the highly regulated markets. It has been my pleasure to take the reins of the business as Najat has transitioned to our Board of Directors. Johnson: at includes quite a bit of detailed interaction and service, I would have to think. Everitt: It stops being a labor and supply chain arbitrage game, and it's more about the com- plexity of manufacturing and developing the processes to support those custom solutions for our customers. Arguably, Naprotek is pro- viding a technology and service solution to our customer rather than a traditional manufactur- ing service. Daniel Everitt