Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/1060280
52 PCB007 MAGAZINE I DECEMBER 2018 Matties: North America is where you focus on your sales with low-volume, high-mix sorts of shops. When it goes to production, how many of your customers go to high volume or are these R&D type companies that you deal with? Dunn: I'd say both. I have customers that do prototypes and preproduction work in the U.S. and then transfer high volume offshore, and then I have some that are just strictly based in North America. Matties: Is the advice different for those that are transferring offshore? Now, it's a two-step process. Dunn: Yes, if your intention is to go offshore, you want to make sure you are with somebody that understands the material sets that are being used offshore when you do your North Amer - ican prototypes. They should also understand the technical capabilities of the supplier that you are going to be working with offshore, so you can do your testing on the same materials. Matties: Is it important to have a supplier in America that has a partner offshore? Dunn: I think there is a lot of benefit to that for a lot of reasons. Number one, you keep your North American contact. They work with you on your tooling packages and prototypes and are going to understand what you need for the long term. Build up a lot of that relationship. A lot of the North American suppliers that will help you transition offshore will also come back and of - fer stocking programs and a lot of added value. Matties: What sort of trends do you see in designs? Dunn: I'm seeing a trend to smaller line and space requirements—smaller vias. Matties: It's always been the case, right? It just seems smaller and smaller. Dunn: Yes, and we're going to hit that point now where the three- or even two-mil line/ space if you have sophisticated equipment that isn't quite meeting all those needs. I see peo- ple moving to a semi-additive process or are at least investigating that technology. Matties: One of the things that I see in Ameri- ca is that as the market moves, there's an ag- ing ownership structure in circuit board fabri- cation companies. What I mean is they're not starting a business, they are in the sunset of their careers, and perhaps it's hard for them to be energized to come in and change to the shifting demands of what the modern buyers are looking for. Do you run into that? Dunn: Absolutely. Matties: What advice do you give to those peo- ple? Sell? Dunn: Or find somebody now who you want to sell to in 10 years that is energized and excited. Matties: Part of the problem is who wants to buy a PCB shop today, right? Dunn: That's very true. Matties: The point of the question is what has happened to that supply chain then? As you point out, the requirements are to invest in new processes, laser drills, etc., which takes a lot of energy to come in and retool a factory. Dunn: And the industry in North America is so segmented—the bulk of which are shops that are five million dollars or less, and it's a tough capital expen- diture on that annual revenue. Matties: Even if you are a young person. Dunn: Exactly, so I think that gap will probably widen.