Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/1494936
48 PCB007 MAGAZINE I MARCH 2023 Feature Interview by Barry Matties I-CONNECT007 e I-Connect007 team paid an onsite visit to American Standard Circuits in West Chi- cago, Illinois. While there, we talked at length with CEO Anaya Vardya about the issues on his mind as he pushes technology, expands his floor space, and considers the implications of the CHIPS Act, staffing issues, and what's hap- pening in China. Anaya, regarding new technology, is it usually customers who approach you and say, "Can you build this?" Or is your team saying, "Here's the next technology; we need to be prepared"? In most cases we are listening to our custom- ers and making our technology investments or driving our technology direction based on that. Our customer base wasn't big into HDI for many years, but we've worked on putting in all the different processes for registration, plating, etc., as opposed to just buying a laser. If you buy the laser, but you don't have everything else set up, it doesn't matter. We've chosen to subcontract the laser for a long time and we're ready now to do it ourselves. We found that for some things w e ' v e b e e n d o i n g , w e ' v e b e c o m e n o n c o m p e t i t i v e , especially from a cycle time standpoint. If we have to go to a laser service three times to build a circuit board, that's three or four weeks you've missed. W h e n w e d e c i d e d t o invest in manufacturing pre- bonded boards on aluminum, we knew that it was a ver y specialized process to plate those blind vias. We decided Invested in Growth