Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/1278896
18 PCB007 MAGAZINE I AUGUST 2020 LaBeau: With our state and building in lock- down, no visitors coming or going, and no- where for our employees to be other than work or at home, we had few distractions and a tremendous amount of focus. We had our office staff and engineers on the floor, work- ing side by side with operators. Our engineers learn by spending time working as operators. People that normally are running a line also shared and gained insights. All kinds of un- anticipated opportunities are coming out of COVID-19 as our entire workforce worked to- gether, allowing us to look at things from new perspectives. Johnson: It's a common suggestion that engi- neers should be on the manufacturing floor more often than they are, which your experi- ence demonstrates. Brassard: The sad part is everybody in manu- facturing knows this. Anybody you talk to in a PCB shop is going to tell you your engineers need to be on the floor. They should have desks on the floor, not in offices some distance off. They need to be out in the thick of it, but knowing it and implementing it are two com- pletely different things. One thing about overwhelming demand is there is little uncertainty; the work is there. You don't have to figure out whether or not you can afford the next employee, pay the overtime, or do an incentive. You just have to schedule the work, balance your WIP, resolve your bottlenecks, move people where they are needed quickly, and get producing. Witness- ing our workforce ramp up output was amaz- ing and humbling. It's reminiscent of the year 2000 when domestic PCB shops were a boom- ing business. Matties: There were no interruptions when you bring a laser focus to a task the way you did. We hear that there's not a lot of profit in PCB manufacturing; however, our thought is that the profits are just lost in the waste. What per- centage increase would you see by focusing on removing the waste and increasing your yields and productivity? LaBeau: We may keep an additional 8–10% by eliminating manufacturing waste; this would be true of any PCB manufacturer. But in world- class manufacturing, the concept of waste is a much larger topic than solely over-production and material waste, but that's another conver- sation. Brassard: We learned something from our com- pany's performance under the unique set of circumstances caused by COVID-19. What's clear is there is a tipping point with the vol- ume of demand when fixed costs become lev- eraged, and work becomes more profitable. When a PCB shop—and perhaps any manufac- turing business—has a sufficient certainty and volume of work to run their factory wide open, they will likely be thriving and growing. Does this mean a resurgence of work in the United States would breathe new life into previously struggling PCB shops? I suppose yes, provided the PCB shop has the equipment and know- how to participate in the technologies that are increasing in demand, which is often not the case, again according to the DoC study. LaBeau: What's also interesting is the impact on profits of increasing volume vs. reducing waste. Experience has shown that increasing volume can have an order of magnitude in- crease in financial performance as compared to eliminating all waste. Obviously, manufac- turers want to increase volume to leverage their fixed costs while simultaneously reduc- ing waste, improving profitability. Matties: It's the combination of both because once you remove waste, it allows you to bring more work through. Brassard: Well-stated. Lower waste allows us to increase capacity, and increased throughput also tends to cause a reduction in waste. This is an interesting feedback loop. Studying the principals of world-class manufacturing helps us to understand why this happens. Matties: Exactly. It's not one of the activi- ties. The scrap rate went down because you