Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/1392944
22 PCB007 MAGAZINE I JULY 2021 raw materials, it's challenging and expensive to stay ahead of it, but it can be done. I'm not so concerned about shortages or our inabili- ty to supply specialty chemicals and materials to our customers, but we are seeing significant price impacts to be able to maintain that sup- ply chain. Johnson: You cite two major factors: lack of availability thanks to the fallout from the Tex- as freeze, and then supply and demand price pressures with your incoming supply chain. D'Ambrisi: Correct. Global transportation is- sues have also added a significant amount of cost and what we believe is a temporary com- plexity to our business. is has been well-doc- umented in the industry where there has been a shortage of containers for just about every- thing. For us, that impacts not only some of the raw materials that we source in one part of the world and what is shipped to other parts of the world where there are shortages to alleviate that, but some finished goods that we manufac- ture in certain parts of the world that we ship internationally, and they need to be shipped in pretty stringent storage requirements. is might typically be refrigerated containers or, in the case of assembly materials, at sub-zero temperatures in which we ship these products around the world. Johnson: How do you manage these pressures with your customers? What has been the ap- proach up to now? D'Ambrisi: Our approach up to this point has been to absorb many of these additional costs, where practical, and to pass some of these costs onto our customers. We believe some of these supply chain issues are temporary and short- term, and others will be long-term. e ones we believe are permanent, we will pass those increased costs onto our customers. e ones we believe are temporary, we've done a great deal of work, making sure that we simply ab- sorb those costs in the short term and weath- er this like we believe many of our customers are doing. Johnson: What sorts of costs do you see as per- manent? D'Ambrisi: ere are certain specialty chem- ical costs where we believe we've got a fairly good understanding of the supply chain, how they're manufactured, and what the building blocks of those raw materials are. ere are structural elements of these increases in costs that we believe are permanent. We believe oth- ers, like temporary supply-driven raw materi- al price increases and shipping costs, are tem- porary in nature, so in many cases we have ab- sorbed them. Johnson: For your customers who are in man- aging these changes for their business, how are they doing that? What are their coping strate- gies? D'Ambrisi: It's about having a scale and a scope that is beneficial to us as a company, and to our customers. In this particular case, big is better. You have the largest printed circuit board fabri- Joe D'Ambrisi