Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/1419905
OCTOBER 2021 I PCB007 MAGAZINE 67 Matties: I guess that's a good indication of mar- ket conditions right now, right? Walsh: It is. If we hadn't expanded our build- ing and expanded the team I don't even know where we would be right now. Matties: You've expanded the facility by 17,000 square feet? Walsh: Something like that, yes. Matties: Are you going to outgrow that soon? Walsh: It's full right now. We shipped a cou- ple of pieces of equipment last week, a cou- ple more this week, and we're getting ready to ship more next week. We have process lines that are already cut out with our CNC and just staged and ready to get tacked, welded, and then moved into assembly. We have sev- eral pieces that are ready to go in assembly. We have several pieces lined up at every stage, get- ting ready to load to the next chamber. Matties: Are you seeing pent-up demand from the fabricators? Walsh: I don't know if it's pent up, but it's a steady increase. Luckily, Mike had the idea to continue to buy raw materials ahead of time. e price of plastic has gone up dramatically, but you'll see we have a lot of pallets of plastic in storage. Matties: I saw that on the last visit. I was quite impressed with the vision to do that. Walsh: We don't feel like the price is going to come down anytime soon. We're trying to hedge our bets a bit and adding more inven- tory of raw materials. Matties: Do you have ongoing COVID-related issues? Walsh: COVID effects are still here but things have become more normal. Our sales staff is starting to hit the road more now. Customers are starting to invite us in, instead of telling us to stay away. I can't wait for the next IPC APEX EXPO because I really missed it this year. I really miss the industry coming together. It's great to see all our friends in the industry and to see how they're doing. Houchin: As we mentioned, we've got tons of orders. We're busy; we're pumping out machin- ery. I'm grateful that our industry is starting to realize the importance of having North Ameri- can service and support since COVID. Matties: Are any fabricators interested in com- ing here to visit your facility? Walsh: Yes, they are. We still do customer vis- its all the time. We have several customers that fly in to buy off on their equipment. at has never stopped. Matties: It's always great to see American man- ufacturing. Do you see a shi in supply chain from COVID? Do you see more people look- ing for Made in America? Walsh: Very much so. It's not just the equipment itself, it's the spare parts availability, factory support, and our field service teams. Maybe you can get a piece of equipment from overseas