Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/1447212
FEBRUARY 2022 I SMT007 MAGAZINE 45 revenue; if the buyer and seller are seeing the same thing, then you can get through it. Johnson: What about the other side of the coin? Is this a time to spin out business units as appropriate? Is it better to start to spread out and specialize a little bit more, rather than gather things together? O'Neil: I still think there's more for value in integrating now than spinning out, but that is mostly from a service industry standpoint. From an OEM standpoint, or by a hardware company or technology company, it could be the opposite. Matties: What are you doing inside your fac- tory, Joe? We talked a lot about getting parts and labor, but what about the processes? Obvi- ously, building it right the first time is more important than ever. O'Neil: Automation is tied into that. e labor market has hit a breaking point. ere are cer- tain-sized companies that look at automation as if it's something the big guys do. But now, it's very attainable. You can have a single arm moving product from point A to point B. It's not "Terminator" just yet, but it's at least entry level AI to provide some more feedback on process and quality. Regarding M&A or spinning things out, it's a good time for bringing in partners. Some of these solutions are so deep and compli- cated that it pays to bring in real subject mat- ter experts and put them on your team. To me, it's like the early days of basic IT services—you hired a guy and you hoped he had your 2400 baud modem working cor- rectly. He kept your fax machine paper full, for example, and then at some point it became complex enough that either you had IT as a standalone depart- ment or you hired a third-party solution to make it a valuable and differentiated, almost a profit center for your company. is kind of machine learning and AI con- nected factory stuff suggests you either are on a scale to have your own department, or you benefit from real subject matter experts who come in and really change your factory. Matties: e challenge there, of course, is find- ing the experts who are available to come in and do it. O'Neil: It's easier to find experts who are bring- ing solutions to market as their own piece vs. finding someone to whom you would pay a lot of money and they work within your fac- tory. ere are enough of them, at least here in the Valley, that were raised with no elec- tronics manufacturing background, and have products and solutions where they need to come in, learn your business, and something to the effect of, "You're this part of the supply chain. We understand what you do. Here are the things that we can do in the AI or machine learning space for you." Matties: What about employee training? How are you approaching that in these times? O'Neil: We have always been dedicated to upskilling, cross-training, and having a flexi- ble workforce. e sad truth is having the dis-