Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/1091269
18 PCB007 MAGAZINE I MARCH 2019 Matties: How are you doing in Asia? Goodwin: That's growing as well. You can see from some of the information we've shared with you today that our traditional FR-4 lami- nate business in certain sectors is being dilut- ed, which is quite deliberate. We have focused our growth on specialty products that are be- ing demanded by the market. Other sectors are shrinking as a percentage of our business but are staying stable in volume. The dicey FR-4 business is really being diluted as we're steer- ing that towards our thermal management and signal integrity products, and polyimides—all of the specialties. Matties: And you are seeing growth in all of those. Goodwin: Yes. Matties: Is this a market-driven factor or a busi- ness choice that you're making? Goodwin: It's both, but it's driven by a strate- gy that we don't want to be the biggest lami- nator in the world; we want to be first and we want to be fast. We also want to be flexible in terms of delivery to customers and competi- tive in price. You need all of those things. It's no good having a great product but no delivery and a price point people can't live with. You have to have all three: price, availability, and performance. and even 6 daylights (openings) for our spe- cialty products as well as the standard laminat- ing presses of 20 daylights and double-sheet format for our FR-4 business. Having much smaller presses allows us to close them on smaller volumes and deliver very quickly. Typical lead times into Europe are 10 days including transit times if we have enough prepreg on hand. That in- cludes manufacturing cycle time plus transit time and customs clearance. If we don't have prepreg, it might be 12– 14 days, but it's certainly not four to six weeks. Barry Matties: Ventec started in 2000 and the growth has been phenomenal. Goodwin: I've been involved since 2006, and have been responsible for EMEA and the Americas where our growth has been strong. A 15-opening (daylight) press. Laminate breakdown system.