Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/1069358
10 PCB007 MAGAZINE I JANUARY 2019 Feature Interview by the I-Connect007 Editorial Team Vexos Senior Vice President for Global Supply Stephanie Martin gives the I-Connect007 editorial team a wide-ranging and insightful overview of the current parts supply situation from the perspective of procurement at a contract manufacturer. Stephen Las Marias: First, Stephanie, can you please tell us more about Vexos and your role at the company? Stephanie Martin: Yes. I'm the senior VP of global supply for Vexos. Vexos is a high tier- three, low tier-two contract manufacturer. It is a combination of two different companies that were purchased by Center Lane Partners, a private equity company; EPM based out of Markham, Canada; and STACI Corporation based out of LaGrange, Ohio. We have four facilities that do contract manufacturing. We have the Markham facility, which focuses more on high tech, fine pitch. Then, we have the facility in LaGrange, Ohio, is the Cleveland area that does medical, some automotive, and lower- tech products. We have two facilities in China: one in Shenzhen, which usually matches what Markham does—more fine pitch and higher- tech products—and one in Dongguan, which does automotive, medical, a lot of lower-tech products, and quite a bit of other manufacturing that is not based in electronics. Then, we have another portion of our business we call the "custom material solution." We are a trading company and represent a number of supplier partners for custom-built products like PCBs, cable assemblies, displays, heat sinks, metal fabrication metal machine parts, and plastic injection molding. We believe we're the only tier-three player in our space that offers not only a global solution but a full spread of components where we can supply everything from the outer housing, whether you do the electronics assembly or not. We can Stephanie Martin: Component Supply Challenges From the Catbird Seat