Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/1453746
40 PCB007 MAGAZINE I FEBRUARY 2022 liness you can produce it in America. OEMs must dumb down their electronic systems to manufacture in the United States; so much for supremacy of electronics systems. What's interesting is that we, Calumet, are not doing anything that cannot be replicated by another board shop. is is important. ere's nothing proprietary about what we are doing. Matties: But this work that you've done has created opportunity for your company in other ways, right? Brassard: When you can field an F1 race car, people tend to believe you can make a great sedan. e business opportunity is scaling new technologies coming out of R&D to cre- ate new and better income streams for PCB shops. But Meredith is correct, market adoption will take some time. We need two or three PCB shops to take up additive manufacturing because OEMs need mul- tiple suppliers; this would help speed up industry adoption, having sourcing options. OEMs want compe- tition, choice, and redundancy. When OEMs and supply chain work together following a cre- ative commons-like model, the entire industry moves forward as each part- ner brings what they have learned and developed to market for their U.S. cus- tomer base. Matties: I think Lee Iacocca said, back to your point, "We sold more Dodge Neons because we built the Dodge Viper." Brassard: at's right. We have seen this. We can have conversations with just about any OEM today. at wasn't true five years ago because we just blended into the background. Now, if an OEM has a problem manufacturing a mHDI PCB or IC substrate in the U.S., we will look at it. is is in defiance of the build- to-print model. However, we are pretty filled- up with projects. We are creating financial hurdles for OEMs to overcome before we will engage; you know, supply and demand. Unfor- tunately, this is not deterring some OEMs, which only shows their need to manufacture in the U.S. is becoming more urgent. I don't want to give the wrong impression, we very much still "build to print," but the aspect of our com- pany that is breaking the model as an "innova- tive manufacturer" is very active. Matties: With this pandemic, that obviously shied the whole supply chain mentality. Brassard: ere's no doubt that the pan- demic demonstrated the U.S. overre- liance on offshore manufacturing and exactly how far U.S. man- ufacturers have fallen behind. I am reminded of a strategy- based video game I used to play. The winner, whether h u m a n o r c o m p u t e r , typically had the largest indus- trial output during the game. The game taught me about bat- tles of attrition. Whomever can pro- duce the most product wins by wear- ing their opponents down, unless there is a decisive technology that makes industrial capacity less significant. Matties: What is the most important message we should be communicating to the industry regarding additive and semi- additive? LaBeau: I really think people need to be aware of what additive technology is, and that they understand how to get their shop to utilize it. Maybe they're not ready for it yet. What are the opportunities, and where can they begin to dabble with additive technology?