Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/1299286
28 PCB007 MAGAZINE I OCTOBER 2020 Johnson: That's the value-add for you. You're not on the expensive leading edge, but you're just enough forward that you can deliver high reliability, schedule clarity, and security for your customers. They're going to get their boards when they need them. Stevenson: Our biggest value proposition is, "You're going to get what you need when you need it." That brings peace of mind. Johnson: Do you have a second example you might want to share with regard to roadmap- ping? Stevenson: Data security, cybersecurity, the NIST requirements, and the DFARS type of re- quirements have been floating out there for a while. Security for us and our customers, es- pecially in the military and defense sectors, requires those certifications, as well as audit- ing to those types of statutes. A little over a year ago, we put some of those cybersecuri- ty things on our roadmap. We are just finish- ing up the last two items on the NIST 800-171 statute as we speak. Especially with today's technology, it's very important for keeping our customers' data, files, and IP secure—all of our data and proprietary information from the outside world. The CO- VID-19 pandemic gave peo- ple more opportunities to do nefarious things. Peo- ple were suddenly working from home or unemployed. They had more time for, "I can do some hacking. I can try and break through this firewall." We noticed a pretty big upsurge in attempts at our systems with the global pandemic in March, April, and May. It was a good thing we were ahead of the curve on some of these cy- bersecurity things because it prevented anything from happening to us as it hap- pened to others over the last year. Johnson: You're roadmapping not just the tech- nology on the manufacturing floor but also your overall portfolio of offerings and methods of doing business. Where do you see training and skill-building on the roadmap? Stevenson: It's always a milestone within the items on the roadmap, but we really handle that type of training and cross-training more with our ISO continuous improvement and em- ployee training activities within the ISO 9001 realm. It has a pretty big section on employ- ee training and documentation of the training, etc. Usually, at least in terms of manufactur- ing skills training, we don't have anything on our roadmaps beyond individual department heads. We offer a good amount of opportuni- ties for learning, outside of the manufactur- ing specifics, to our employees throughout the year on a voluntary basis. In terms of employee development and con- tinued knowledge base within our manage- ment team and our leadership teams, we do an HR roadmap with quarterly and annual items that we want. These could include leadership experience, project management, and other skills that will fit within our leadership team, Sunstone Circuits' office.