Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/1379105
54 SMT007 MAGAZINE I JUNE 2021 important to the end-user or the customer, then provide advice based on our experience and interactions with other customers, as well as what they felt was very necessary. Data is important, but what ICAPE does better than anyone else is monitor the culture within our production partners. Data will eventually be available to everybody in mass amounts, but how do you provide data on the culture of the current production partner? Do they have a lot of turnover? Are their employees satisfied? What is the philosophy of the manufacturer itself ? For example, one year their sweet spot is 1,000 square meters. But like every other com- pany, they want to increase production, sales, revenue and more. So, the next year, they decide to make 10,000 square meters their sweet spot. How do you attribute that to data? Our staff can examine that culture, and notice, say, that it's not that the manufacturer will quit producing for the customers that require 1,000 square meters a month, but monitoring whether there is a delay in lead time for that customer of 1,000 square meters or they're prioritizing customers that are now ordering 10,000 square meters. We have people in China that can monitor that situation. We can see if the factory is increasing the lead time on our customers' orders or demands to increase price. Maybe we won't get quote responses back quickly because, if that cus- tomer is no longer a priority to that factory, those things happen. at's hard to analyze only through data. It is necessary to have an advocate for the customer—not the factory— to make sure that our customers' demands are being met. Our ability to control those uncom- fortable situations is unmatched in the indus- try, in my opinion. I don't think anybody in the world does that as well as we do. ICAPE Group employees that are in the factory understand that responsibility. Johnson: Picking up on that example, you have a situation where you see something going on in the factory of choice, things have somehow shied your customer to not being a priority. What do you do? Harts: We can do a couple of things. Obviously, because of our relationships with those facto- ries, we will have conversations with them to make them understand that our customers still need to be a priority. We have a lot of leverage, but I mentioned our sales revenue earlier. We ICAPE Group's partner factory (drilling process).