Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/1406534
42 SMT007 MAGAZINE I SEPTEMBER 2021 by 12. It's far more complex. I think Kevin and I learned a lot in the last few years, talking to people about how complex these strings are in order to give them the numbers that they want. If this was easy, then they would just contin- ue to use Excel, but it very quickly runs out of steam, otherwise you really need an extensive programmer to deal with them because the statements are just so significant and there's a lot of elements to this as well. So, it's just a mat- ter of putting that all together and being able to package that for the user. I think we've got a good balance in what we've come up with col- lectively. Johnson: You've done the heavy liing work already for the EMS customers, what with all the differ- ent flavors and formats in the MES systems. It seems that developing closer tool access for the OEMs is going to be fairly easy. Laing: It's different. Fun- damentally, we have a lot of OEM and EMS custom- ers that manufacture. In gen- eral, our OEM customers have fewer variables, one or two machine types. ey have one ERP system; they have one type of BOM. It becomes much simpler, but their focus is different. at availability part, obsolescence, becomes more key, and that's where the opportunity is with BOM Connector; our tools are able to help manage the supply chain. From an EMS perspective and who's build- ing a product, then it's about when I can get these parts. From an OEM perspective, it's about how long I will get these parts. If it's three months, six months, 12 months, how is that going to affect it? And it's not just from an electrical perspective. Typically, if you talk to people who are requiring parts, they will think about it electrically. I need a 1K, 1%, four to what resistor? Is it a 1206 or an 0805? ere's a physical aspect to this as well. at has a huge impact on manufacturing. A key piece is mak- ing sure that the AVL is not just optimized elec- trically but optimized physically. ere is an opportunity to help the OEMs get ahead of the challenges that we're facing. I mean, these are not new things, but I think the last 18 months has really shown how very dependent we are on all aspects of the supply chain. Johnson: With all that information, the OEM design team can avoid designing in a forced rev be- cause they used an end-of- life product; that is criti- cal. Laing: Absolutely. I think that's certainly going to continue. In some ways, you can say it's going to be- come more of a prob- lem moving forward, not less. Soware is very good at solving these types of problems. Johnson: What are your custom- ers telling you about their burning needs and struggles? What's their hot button? Laing: I think it's that people don't necessarily know the problems they're having. Kevin and I had a session where someone contacted us aer a previous session that we held and said, "Finally, someone understands that I'm not the only one." at was quite an enlightening conversation when they see a light go on and that you can help them with their solutions. Matties: Do they understand their problems or are those problems hidden?