Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/819981
May 2017 • The PCB Magazine 27 area for that matter, and then they just passed a $15 minimum wage in the Seattle area, and so what's happening is all the fast food places are cutting labor. Now you're waiting longer and paying more for worse service. Goldman: Does that affect you? Ryder: It really hasn't, because quite frank- ly, we've never paid minimum wage. With our Redmond facility, we have a lot of people that have been there 15, 20, and 25 years, so they're at a higher level on the pay scale already. The new minimum wages aren't really impacting that, but to even try to find somebody at min- imum wage wouldn't even occur. But I know in other markets around the country there are pockets where that does work. Goldman: Where it's probably less expensive to live. Ryder: I would also equate that with a level of technology that might be in a certain area. If minimum wage is seven or eight dollars an hour, there's no high-tech business going on there. Goldman: For the people coming in, how much training do you have to do? Are they experienced? Ryder: Pretty much if it's somebody that's never seen a circuit board, you're training them from the ground up. For a long time, we had the lux- ury of hiring people that worked in other PCB shops. Now we're the only board shop in the Se- attle market, so there isn't any place for us to go to find other talent. We never had to train be- cause they came trained. Now it's a whole dif- ferent deal, and that's been a bit of a leap for us. We've had to figure out training programs and how to go forward in that direction. Goldman: You've developed your own training programs? Ryder: Absolutely. To be honest, we're constant- ly working at that, because we don't have it re- fined at this point. You get somebody that looks like they're going to be a keeper and the next thing you know, they're gone and you wasted a year. It's the same things. They find a job closer to home that pays the same and I've got noth- ing to offer them to keep them. Goldman: One of the things that some would say is, "Okay, automation is the way to go, then." Are you thinking about that at all? Ryder: Oh, absolutely. Certainly, that's a good direction to go, but if we're in the low-volume high-mix side of things automation isn't really the best answer for us. Goldman: It's not as simple as it sounds. Ryder: It is not. I have heard that there's a com- pany on the East Coast that's automated, but I don't know of a lot of others out there like that. I certainly see that as the direction it needs to go for our industry to stay competitive. Goldman: Perhaps you're talking about Whelen Engineering, which is a captive facility, so it's a lit- tle bit different. Ryder: Yes, I am. Goldman: I believe they are building single-sid- ed and double-sided boards so far with multilayer planned. I do know that they welcome anybody to come in and look at their facility. Ryder: I'd like to go there and take a look for myself, to see how they're doing it. We might be able to help each other somehow. You nev- er know. We've made unique relationships with people we never thought we'd have a relation- ship with over the years. Never say never. Goldman: Anything else you would like to add in the line of training and hiring and finding people with experience? Ryder: Well, I don't see anything coming to make this easier anytime soon. I keep hearing about some president guy that thinks he's going to bring jobs back to this country. I think those jobs that would come back would be automated positions if they ever do come back. DAVE RYDER ON PROTOTRON CIRCUITS' STRATEGY FOR HIRING IN TODAY'S MARKETPLACE