Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/1278896
20 PCB007 MAGAZINE I AUGUST 2020 had process improvement, which increased throughput. And when you bring engineer- ing in, you start looking at capability, which gives you a stronger place in the market and allows you to sell your boards for a higher dollar. It's all connected. The core message is there's still profit in PCB manufacturing if you do it properly. Brassard: We completely agree, but that's in part because PCB demand has been slowly increasing in North America. We think that if there was ever a time for people to make an argument that we need to build PCBs in the United States, it's now, with OEMs experienc- ing increasing risks manufacturing offshore. Apparently, there is some degree of move- ment away from globalization to regionaliza- tion, where American and European OEMs are feeling increased risk with being too reliant on offshore supply chains. We don't necessarily have to do away with offshore supply chains, but the domestic PCB manufacturing industry must become more competitive regionally and globally. We need to figure out the economics of a resilient and capable domestic electronics manufacturing industrial base. We have seen that increased certainty comes from strong demand, which triggers investment in people and equipment, which increases participation in the market, and steady growth ensues. For Calumet, COVID-19 provided a tipping point of demand that supercharged our manufactur- ing engine while simultaneously allowing an unprecedented level of solidarity and focus for our workforce. Matties: Do you think we may start to see some new facilities and perhaps even some captive facilities being created in the U.S.? LaBeau: That's an interesting question. We're wondering about that also. Will the HP model come back? Will we see more OEMs having captive facilities? We cannot know with any certainty, but there is a shortage of expertise to go around in the United States—again, ac- cording to the DoC survey. It may prove prob- lematic for OEMs to spin up their own shops. Incidentally, Calumet has been a large propo- nent of strengthening the electronics industry workforce, representing IPC at several White House workforce events, among an array of other activities. Matties: You're keying in on probably the big- gest issue we have, and that's today's huge skilled labor shortage. Brassard: And we have some competitive ad- vantages when it comes to hiring young engi- neers, such as having Michigan Tech 12 miles down the road. However, experience plays the most important role in the science, engineering, and art of manufacturing circuit boards. There are some amazing experts within the domestic industry, and we are very privileged to work with them, but they are also spread thin across the entire industry. I'm not sure the domestic supply chain could source sufficient expertise to stand up even a handful of shops simultane- ously in a relatively short amount of time. Matties: The estimate is about a six-year pro- cess to bring a board shop online to being solid. Brassard: Here's what I've observed. You have domestic shops that are very high technology at almost no volume. Then, you have shops that are running conventional technologies and pro- ducing at medium to high volume. What you don't see in the United States, as evidenced by the testimony of numerous DoD prime OEMs, are high-technology shops that are also high-, medium-, or even low-volume. This is compli- cated further if we also start talking about lead- times and prices. This is the crux of the OEM problem. They are moving into a space where they require advanced designs manufactured at some volume within the United States with tolerable lead-times and prices. Again, accord- ing to their own frustrated testimony, it's a rare or almost non-existent entity within the Unit- ed States. What's more frustrating for OEMs is PCB manufacturers are no-bidding advanced designs, seeing no reason to engage in high- risk work that would only serve to clog their profitable manufacturing arteries, which are