SMT007 Magazine

SMT007-Mar2019

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22 SMT007 MAGAZINE I MARCH 2019 Barry: And it also reflects the quality of the product that they're going to build. What about suppliers? How do your consumable and lami- nate suppliers factor in? Mauro: That's a big issue for us. We were talk- ing this morning about lead times, but the big part about the longer lead times is the mate- rial availability. It is a complex issue because we can't stock a wide range of materials, so we cannot risk having millions of materials in stock with short shelf lives. For high-speed or low-loss requirements you have to rely on Jap- anese or U.S. suppliers, and some local sup- pliers. Material delivery times are sometimes longer than the manufacturing time. Barry: It's a big problem globally. How do you manage your supply chain? Do you have a team in place that looks at the forecast? Mauro: First, forecast is a nice word, but cus- tomers are reluctant to give forecasts not be- cause they're bad people, but because they don't have that visibility. It's a blind game. Barry: Without visibility, how do you know? Mauro: When they get visibility, they are also short-term requirements. The timetable to de- liver the product is very short, so there is pres- sure on the supply chain. The pressure is com- ing to us, and we have to be reactive, fast, and efficient in customer service on the front end. But if you don't have the material, you don't have the material. We also tell the customer, "Whenever you have some forecast in place, we'll buy the material in advance, and 90% of the problem is solved." Visibility is short and difficult to forecast. Barry: It's tough to make delivery commitments to your customers with such an unpredictable supply chain. Mauro: And when we commit to delivery, the material might arrive late, but our customers don't care as long as their boards are on time. When delivery is critical, it's much more com- plicated because you have the CM in the middle. So, you have the communication from the OEM to the CM to us. It doesn't make the process easier because someone at the end has to be re- sponsible for the forecasting, and the CM wants the OEM to be responsible for the forecast. Barry: And they're not going to change the ma- terial with the snap of a finger because of ap- proval cycles and quality. Mauro: Talking about automotive or aerospace, forget it. Customers are reluctant to any change

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