Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/1447212
54 SMT007 MAGAZINE I FEBRUARY 2022 both sides is to find highly skilled engineers as we move toward more automation. We look for individuals to operate these systems rather than basic manual work. Matties: is certainly is a way of keeping costs down. It's the type of strategy you must incor- porate these days to stay competitive. Ghalili: Exactly. If nothing else, COVID has taught us about the interconnectivity in the world. We must remove all the barriers and see how we can leverage individuals in different parts of the world. Just looking at it from the time difference, you can be running operations in the daytime with six to eight people in the U.S. en at night, with only one or two oper- ators with support from China which is their daytime. ere could be reciprocal advantages for everyone. Matties: Now, what trends are you seeing from the customer's point of view? Are they more patient with the delivery times or are they still demanding quick deliveries? Ghalili: It depends on the customer. Sometimes it takes a lot of discussion for them to come to terms that delivery is directly connected to prices. For example, right now one of our major customers uses Intel parts. Intel just raised the price 20% on one component; we are trying to explain the impact of this increase not only on the material cost but cost of inventory and cashflow. We have increased our component inventory level 15–20% try- ing to meet customer demand. ere's a lot of forecasting that's going on, and a lot of risk buying that we must do. With the way the market is right now, there is no other option than by making some projections, and going forward; otherwise, we're going to be stuck. Matties: But even with building your inventory by 15–20%, that must be a challenge in finding the parts to begin with and having them arrive to keep that level you want. Ghalili: Exactly. We've had components we could locate on a spot buy, and then we go to the customers and say, "We can find these components with 40–50% higher pricing. Are you okay with that?" By the time we get the response, the components are off the market; somebody's already bought them. Our pur- chasing department is regularly juggling seven or eight different balls at a time, trying to fig- ure out how to keep the operation running with this tight market. Matties: I recall that you were building some inventory control units. In today's world, coun- terfeit is a growing issue. Are you still building your own equipment and how is that helping? Ghalili: All the equipment we have built for inventory management is our own, with pat- ents on a few of them. It has been a great help because we have connected all that throughout our supply chain and our Oracle ERP system. Because it's our own, the soware that we've developed leads to our own system, which has been a major help. We would be challenged daily without those. e way it is set up right now, the goods come in, go through quality, to the cabinet and from cabinet to the feeders. It's also helping a lot to reduce manpower and excess inventory sitting in the lines.