Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/1116895
MAY 2019 I PCB007 MAGAZINE 105 so focused on getting ahead and qualifying for things that testing and certificates were merely a barrier to registering or shipping your product. Chinese customers didn't see it as a necessary part of the whole process. A lot of things hap - pened where the expectation of our customers was that we would let them pass regardless of actual results, but we wouldn't do that. The first five years of our business was very challenging because we had a reputation for not being flex - ible in our testing methodologies. As China became more interested in the transportation industry and other industries that require high reliability, companies became aware of this and were very concerned. Cus - tomers started looking for someone that they could count on to give them unbiased opinions, which is when the market really changed for us because we had developed a reputation for in - tegrity. It almost killed us in the first few years, but now it has made us a leader in this particu- lar market in China because all of the custom- ers that utilize our testing services know that they're getting unbiased data from us. Matties: It's data they can trust. Neves: Absolutely. Our testing is a fraction of the price of the value of whatever we're test- ing. For a $100–300 test, customers might be making decisions that affect millions of dol- lars of product, so what the test costs is rath- er meaningless; our customers aren't as con- cerned with that. They want to make sure that they're making the right de- cision on their two to five million dol- lars' worth of product. We've managed to keep that value proposition, which has caused us to be successful in a market where the price is everything. Usually, cost is one of the first three questions customers ask. But we've been able to maintain our price lev- els to sustain growth and all the other things we do here without the pressure that some competitors have to cut cor- ners on what they supply the custom- er. We sell with integrity, and people want that, so they buy from us. Matties: And for a lot of dealings in China, that's starting to matter more and more on a lot of different levels. You mentioned earlier that you're dealing with suppliers to the fab- ricators. Is this primarily around the base ma- terials? Neves: Our main tier with the relationships be- tween the board fabricators is base materials, solder mask, and copper suppliers—the prima- ry supply base for materials. We also work for them and their suppliers. Copper-clad manu- facturers receive copper foil, resin, and glass. We verify the capabilities and properties of those materials whether it's organic, inorganic, or metallic because they have become complex in the last 20 years. We used to have a hand- ful of supply materials, but now we have hun- dreds of options. Matties: Materials are a big opportunity and problem all at the same time because there are so many to choose from, as you mentioned. Who's driving the change in the board shops to use new materials? Neves: The real change was to lead-free mate- rials. Lead-free drove the materials from what they were to what they are today. The problem was that the increase in temperature that lead- free provided does a lot of damage to organic materials, and the solution wasn't simple. As you increase heat resistance and change your The flame lab.