Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/1494936
36 PCB007 MAGAZINE I MARCH 2023 marketing dollars the same way that they were pre-COVID. Johnson: Where do you think they're going? It seems like the competitors are either trying to broker offshore or go into higher technol- ogy—something that's more direct, B2B type sales rather than the e-commerce type mod- els. ey're changing philosophies or cost-cut- ting a little bit to try and preserve some margin without having to increase prices. Johnson: A few years ago, there seemed to be some new players coming into the e-com- merce model for printed circuit board fabrica- tion. Are they still in the mix with you? Yes, but we don't see them nearly as much. Some seem to have really embraced that "brokering offshore" tech- nology. Johnson: What's the feed- back from your customers? Are they trending toward a more traditional B2B model? We are seeing more interaction with our customer support team, more hand holding of quotes and orders. But we still have a pretty strong e-commerce model as well, though it is shiing toward a chip-type model again, which I imagine OEMs would consider for one or two prototypes, and that's one of the areas that you focus on. Johnson: Have you seen customers ordering less, or drift away because they've adopted 2D and 3D printed electronics? I'm sure we've probably lost some customers to that type of model, and just not heard about it. Last I looked, the pricing is still not quite in line with classic manufacturing but could be an option when time is more important than money. e machine time just isn't quite there yet for more than a few prototype boards but as they continue to develop the technology, and as the speed of the equipment and the material costs come down, it will be very important. Technology, Capabilities, and Pricing Barry Matties: What sort of equipment should be in your facility and what type of equip- ment do you feel should be developed for the industry? We're looking at moving up the technology curve toward HDI; in fact, we're within a few weeks of adding controlled impedance to our online quoting. We're also looking at some of the HDI/via fill-type processes—our plating ability with higher aspect ratio plat- ing. We're keeping our eyes on the additive manufacturing compo- nents right now; they don't appear to be a good fit for our business model, but we're open to it. We are looking for manufacturing partners who can help broaden our scope into flex, where we don't cur- rently have the capabilities or the equipment. But we have customers who want that and reach out to us about it. Matties: What's your typical work now? ough we see a heavy mix in the two- and four-layer boards, the technology of most of the work continues to increase (tighter spaces, smaller holes, more layers etc.). Matties: There's still a strong market in that space, though, isn't there? ere is, but it is becoming more price sensi- tive at the lower technology levels. Offshore pricing and even some of the domestic pricing on those simple two-layer boards are becom- ing more difficult to turn a profit on and we continue evolving where the technology is headed. We're looking at moving up the technology curve toward HDI.