Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/1111672
MAY 2019 I SMT007 MAGAZINE 69 volume or help them transition. Depending on the complexity, if customers are building 5,000–10,000 units a month and it's still a great fit, we'll take care of it. For example, we're a great fit for high complexity and low- to mid- volume products. They don't have to move to other channels, but once it gets to very large volumes—due to materials, logistics, and the aggregation cost-benefit from large Tier 1 sup- pliers—that may outweigh the cost. We are cognizant of that fact and we want what is right for the customer and will help the most in those channels. The value with Whizz is the ease of doing business with us. We under- stand IP protection, will work to understand what you want, and provide topnotch service and world-class quality. Those are huge ben- efits that we offer, which are very difficult for Tier 1 suppliers to offer for everyone. Johnson: For some of your customers who want to move really fast, you're offering some discipline to the manufacturing side that helps them overall? Irfan: Yes, and on the engineering side as well. I'll give you an example. We had a customer engagement where they just received funding. We geared up to start with specifications with the schedule six months down the road to have first prototypes in the lab to bring. In between, they had not thought enough early on, and they started looking at what-if scenarios, say- ing, "What if we used this chipset?" As soon as we saw that, we gathered all of the teams together and said, "There's no point burning implementation resources and keeping the cost tab running." We continued," Let's first define the architecture of the product properly so that it meets all of your requirements. What is it that your software team really needs? We'll help you define and validate the architecture based on that and the cost objectives." Once we had that logged on, we then turned the implementation resource part on and quickly implemented what we'd decided. They appreciated that because sometimes, at the VP level, they don't understand why there is an additional schedule or cost requirement from the budget that they started with. It's impor- tant to have visibility and to protect everybody in the chain. We spent an extra month lock- ing down the architecture but didn't burn a lot of extra resources that the customer would have ended up paying for, which saved them that disappointment. Also, you have much bet- ter implementation because you have a more thoughtful plan based on the original architec- ture lockdown. Johnson: That's a great example. Thank you. What services or assistance can Whizz Sys- tems provide that your customers often over- look? Irfan: Often, they don't think we offer mechan- ical design, thermal simulation, or airflow analysis because they think, "This is an elec- trical shop, and they have world-class manu- facturing. Maybe I have to find another partner for mechanical." We understood the value of a complete package, so we've addressed all of the pain points, and everything that is impor- ISM2000 automatic store for SMTs and THTs in use at Whizz Systems.