Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/1236528
14 PCB007 MAGAZINE I APRIL 2020 learn faster from each other to respond to this pandemic crisis. At the one that we just fin- ished, the concern at the executive level was higher than it's ever been. We did a quick poll, and 94% were either somewhat or extremely concerned. That is way up, as you can imag- ine, with a lot of these shelter-in-place rules. There are several things that the industry is concerned about. One, of course, is weak de- mand. We've seen a lot of shifting back and forth in terms of demand for specific products, but also having to shift focus over to different products that are in higher demand now and being mandated. You have a very large con- cern from the majority of the group on weak demand for their current products and servic- es. There's also a very strong concern about supply shortages. Another thing is about a third of them are facing is worker shortages. Many are un- der shelter-in-place orders. Most of what I've heard from electronics manufacturing facili- ties and factories is they are making it optional for their employees to come and work in the factory. Now, they've changed the layouts of those factories to try to be safer and maintain social distancing within the factory. They've also changed boundaries for people as well as the timing of various shifts. Instead of having a half-hour to an hour overlap, you might have a half-hour to an hour gap between shifts, more staggered lunch breaks, and things like that to try to keep people safer. But with that, we already were very strained in the industry. We have been for years in terms of having worker shortages. Now, this just adds more to that. If you have an employee who's concerned, they might not want to come out during the shelter-in-place. And as we've talk- ed about on other occasions, there's still some confusion and disparity between states and the way certain shelter-in-place rules are being put into place; all of that is coming together. The last area is shipping costs. We have one factory that has been asked to help build PCBs for the ventilator shortage that is happen- ing in North America. They're building those boards, but once they built them, they're ship- ping them to another manufacturer in China to have them populated because they're more ca- pable of doing that. They populate them there, and then they're shipping them back. Not only does that add delays, but with shipping costs being higher, it's also driving up costs. There's a large, chaotic set of circumstances that are keeping the entire industry on its toes and making everybody's life not only challenging but ever-changing. Matties: That's certainly the case. Mitchell: That was a long answer. Matties: That's quite all right. It's comprehen- sive, and as we're moving into the conversa- tion of the economy re-engaging, there are go- ing to be new challenges. You've mentioned a few supply chain employees. What challeng- es, aside from those, do you think we'll face as the economy re-engages? Mitchell: I'm an optimist. I have to just say that upfront. My view of things tends not to be as doom and gloom as maybe some others might be. I'm actually seeing some rays of sunshine starting to sneak through the slats of people shuttering their doors—little positive signs where people are saying, "This is starting to happen," or, "We're looking to do this or we're re-engaging in this fashion," that I see as posi- tive indicators that, in some states, people are claiming the curve has flattened. The cases are dropping, and the rate is slowing—that sort of thing. I'm encouraged that there could be a shift to come back. But even when that happens, there's going to be a little bit of drag on the sys- tem. It's not like everybody turns around and goes, "Great, everything's normal next week. Let's go back to the way we were operating." As you mentioned, the supply chains have to make sure that all those products are available, and then demand has to pick up. There's been a big scare across the globe, especially as you think about consumer prod- ucts. People have to get comfortable with, "I can act normally again," as opposed to, "I'm just trying to worry about whether I can buy toilet paper." Some of those attitudes have to