Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/1269815
28 PCB007 MAGAZINE I JUNE 2020 have your own security for your infrastructure, whether it's cybersecurity or whatever the case for security happens to be. In one of the con- versations we had recently with John Mitchell, he shared that he was having a conversation with a colleague in the industry about the shift to more regionalized fabricators. He thinks we're going to see more regionalized manufac- turing as well. This goes to what we're talk- ing about. Whether people want to go to a job shop or start a captive facility, it seems like the whole supply chain is in a big shift. Stepinski: That's what we did. In our new ver- sion of our facility, after we went to the mer- chant market, our vision was that this would be a tech center for the East Coast. It's a place where OEMs can touch, feel, and see what's going on, and then have conversations with engineering. We have an equipment company, and we can invent processes together—if need- ed—to support next-generation requirements. I felt that there was a lack of R&D in the U.S. market, and this was missed by customers. We made an R&D technical center here to support people who want next-generation technology and not me-too technology. Nolan Johnson: I know this is early in the pro- cess, and it's a complex bit of mathematics, but do you have a sense of what the ROI would be in setting up a shop through your system? Are we talking an ROI in weeks, months, or years? Stepinski: For any legitimate PCB factory, it's in the "years" and how many years. Our first shop was a three-year ROI working at only half capacity, so it depends on what you have for a product. I would say three to five years from production start is probably reasonable based on what I've seen so far. Matties: One of the concepts that we've been chatting about is the co-op captive shop because there may be these mid-tier OEMs that would like to have a captive facility, but they don't need one full time, or they want to save the expense. Have you explored looking at putting together four or five OEMs—they could be non-compet- ing type companies—to set up a co-op shop? Stepinski: That's what we do. I have one OEM where their employees are in our factory ev- ery day building their own PCBs. You have to make sure everybody is vetted to be there be- cause of some of the security requirements. Matties: But in your case, you're still making a profit because you're leasing them time in your line. Is that your business model? One year in one minute! The I-Connect007 team placed a time-lapse camera in the GreenSource Fabrication facility to capture ongoing construction of the second phase of this unique automated facility. Click to watch the video.