Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/1067105
JANUARY 2019 I SMT007 MAGAZINE 57 another supplier that has one of these drops in laminates. But it really needs to be driven from the OEM and customers to the laminate suppliers. They put numbers on their prints calling out a specific laminate, especially in the high-speed stuff, and they don't want substitu- tions. They've done their modeling and testing at that specific material, and the line, width, spacing, arcs, and everything are done directly with that that DK in mind as well as the dissi- pation factors, etc. They are not really willing to do a lot of substitutions. That being said, we are in the midst of doing some exploratory surveying with some of the people especially in the RF type of industry to find out what their overall tolerances are when prototyping for using these other materials. Is close good enough for prototyping as opposed to their production builds or their preproduc- tion? We want to find out if we can start push- ing some of those other types of laminates from a prototype standpoint and get the engineers a little more comfortable with using some of those other laminates up front in their design process. Johnson: Matt, would you go so far as to say that maybe there's some improvement in the supply chain for your materials? Stevenson: I would say we haven't seen any change, positive or negative on our core lami- nate FR-4 type materials. Pricing, lead times, and availability have been the same for us. Rogers is getting a little bit better. Some of those 70-day lead times have come down to 50 or 35 in some cases, but they're still pretty expensive. We still have to really plan ahead. So, I wouldn't say that things are improving a whole lot, but there are signs of them getting better. Matties: When you look at supply chain management, what do you think is the great- est challenge overall for PCB fabricators? Stevenson: For a fabricator, I think we're a little at the whim of the designers depend- ing on what their supply chain challenges are. We have seen an uptick in shorter lead time builds based on the struggle of sourcing parts, and when they finally source the parts, then they're in scramble mode to get everything built before they do a respin or something to change component footprints or values on their part. As far as materials go, we've been pretty much unaffected at this point. Our transporta- tion suppliers have been good. In fact, we're getting some reductions in our freight and transportation costs going forward. Pricing and availability for laminate materi- als haven't really changed for us a whole lot over the past year. Chemicals have been read- ily available, so Sunstone hasn't seen much of an impact thus far from any of the challenges in the supply chain. Matties: When people are ordering or working on their boards, how often do they commu- nicate with you before ordering? Or do they simply give you the design and wait for a quote? Stevenson: The vast majority of our custom- ers don't communicate with us up front. Sunstone's reputation and business model has been, "Submit your completed files, and you'll get what you ordered." It's a great model for prototyping and speed of delivery. As we continue to increase our engineering staff and expertise along with our manufacturing capa- bilities, we are seeing a slight shift in customer behaviors. We're getting some customers that have really adopted some of our technical resources as go-to people. But the vast major- ity of them still just submit their designs in Chemicals have been readily available, so Sunstone hasn't seen much of an impact thus far from any of the challenges in the supply chain.