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18 SMT007 MAGAZINE I APRIL 2021 electronics products where the innovation is in the design, not the components, and that's what makes those products so popular and so low cost; you could buy components from a variety of different suppliers, and you still get the same performance. Now, for Gentex, it's not just the design that provides a competi- tive advantage, it's the specific components and the system working together: the design, manufacturing, and integration of the differ- ent components. at's where the competitive advantage comes from. It's a completely differ- ent kind of product; it's obviously going to be more expensive, but consumers are expected to understand that and be willing to pay more because they're getting higher performance. But for the mass produced, consumer elec- tronics I just don't see that being a winning strategy. Even Apple continuously reviews their model, always determining what part should be in-house and what part should be outsourced. Matties: A lot of what is le in the U.S. is the medical and military industries. What sort of impact or conversations should we have around supply chain in those markets? Rodgers: Obviously, they're both very highly regulated in their own ways. at puts restric- tions on what you can do as far as components and manufacturing is concerned. Certainly, for military applications there are national security implications. ere are export and import con- trols that prevent people from using the lowest cost components. Huawei is being starved for components because of their association with the Chinese government. With military appli- cations, we get into issues of national security. For medical applications, these are highly reg- ulated environments where manufacturing itself is regulated. It's not just the designs and the components, but the location of the man- ufacturing sites and how those sites are being managed; it all has to conform to very strict regulations. With those two markets, certainly there are cost pressures, but it's a lot easier to resist those pressures because of the nature of the products and the desire to keep things local. Matties: Tim, you're teaching a class on supply chain. Who are your typical students? Rodgers: My classes are at the College of Busi- ness, both at the University of Colorado and at Colorado State University. We send a strong message to our business students that, regard- less of whether you work in marketing, finance, accounting, operations, or supply chain, you are impacted by supply chain. If you're in a pure consulting business where your supply chain is office supplies and real estate, maybe you won't be quite as impacted; but for most of our graduates, they will end up working at companies where supply chain is a critical part of doing business. Smart companies under- stand that their suppliers should be treated as an extension of their internal operations. ey realize the suppliers are not somebody that you can squeeze, trying to extract more cost savings from. Suppliers are in business too, and if a supplier is losing money because of their relationship with you, don't be surprised when they don't knock themselves out on your behalf. I also teach in our MBA programs, and I feel our MBA students have a better appreciation of supply chains. ose students bring more life experience into the classroom. Matties: When you're looking to hire a sup- ply chain manager, what should you be look- ing for? Rodgers: It's a mixed bag. Certainly, they need to have some understanding of finance and accounting. ey need to understand where costs go. ey can't be too swayed by people who talk about labor costs, because it's not the only thing. You might choose to buy from