Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/1035071
44 SMT007 MAGAZINE I OCTOBER 2018 the pick-and-place machine. They've been very helpful in working with us to hopefully include the few changes we requested. Las Marias: How is Europlacer helping custom- ers in their Industry 4.0 journey? Fenton: The main help we give them is taking the standard, guiding them down that route, and preventing them from going off on a tangent. Some of our customers have dipped a toe in the water and started to create their own wish list. They've come to us and said, "Can you output this data and that data so that we can read it over our network?" What we said is, "If you hold on for a few months, we'll give you a better solution." It's not much help at this stage, aside from providing guidance and letting them know what's coming. As I've said, many of our customers don't know CFX is coming because the standard isn't concrete yet—we are still developing the code. I would hesitate to say we are helping our customers go down the digital route path at the moment, although we are offering guidance and knowl- edge as to what's coming around the corner. Las Marias: Most manufacturers have been very upbeat of their performance, which is a continuation of the strong sales they achieved last year. What trends do you think are driving this optimism in the industry? Fenton: That's a good point because that is what our data shows—we expect growth to continue. There's also going to be a lot of growth in the Far East. There always is. In our core markets—European, U.S., and U.K.— we see growth in our customers being fueled by bringing work back in-house. The reason many customers are bringing it back in is the cost of transportation is high. The amount of time to freight and ship parts to China or the Far East and get them back again is extensive, and the industry is moving so fast that some- times changes are made to the product while it is on the ship. This is a big problem for them, along with losing control of the quality. Another problem we are starting to see now due to massive growth—and it may be self-limit- ing in the end—is there seems to be a global shortage of products from components to the hardware to make the machines. Lead screws and linear rails are in massively short supply, and some components have been pushed back to around 60 weeks for lead time, which is worrisome for machine manufacturers. Las Marias: The components shortage is one of the supply chain issues that I have seen a lot in the industry lately. Fenton: It is very real. Las Marias: And a 60-week lead time? Fenton: We have even been quoted an 80-week lead time on a basic part, such as linear rails, and it often gets pushed back again halfway through. The whole machine-building indus- try is in turmoil at the moment because of this. Our customers are also reporting long lead times on the individual surface-mount compo- nents. Together, these two issues may limit this massive growth until the structure is put in place by the chip manufacturers and equip- ment manufacturers. Las Marias: Is there anything else we haven't talked about that you think should mention, David? Fenton: The only thing that may be confusing is the Hermes standard lurking in the back- ground. Some people think is an opposition