Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/1469343
JUNE 2022 I SMT007 MAGAZINE 13 our machinery together, so it's not just making boards anymore. It's all the new chemistries. Johnson: Did I hear that right? You're also making your own material? Lawrence: Yes, when we have to. e customer gets to approve it, and it gets tested. Johnson: at does create some unique capa- bilities within your partnership for the two of you. I'd like to get a sense of the partnership process. Is this a situation where either of you might come up with a sales opportunity which needs something that you can collaborate on, and then you share the sales lead? How do you handle those relationships? Kalmus: ere are things that I'd love to be able to do, but can't, and vice versa. We tend to focus more on volume. Personally, I'm more interested in the human aspects of partnering. I find that I can innovate much better and think of things much better when I have somebody to talk it over with. Beaulieu: Jeff, what can you share from a sup- plier-to-customer point of view? Aismalibar is a rep firm, a distributor, and a helper to the industry in North America. Jeff Brandman: Partnerships are critical and I'm a big believer in them. Many key technical advancements in our industry are the result of partnerships, whether it's fabricators working together or OEMs, fabricators, and suppliers all working on joint partnerships. For example, we worked in partnership to develop a pedes- tal design for a major automo- tive company that ended up being a headlight, with the PCB manu- factured at Aurora Circuits, the laminate manufactured in Bar- celona, Spain, the PCB is assem- bled in Michigan, and the head- light housing assembled in the United States. is was a special project that typically would have gone to China, but the gatekeep- ers of the decision-making on this program saw the value in working with North American manufacturing. It only could have happened when all the companies came together and worked hard at developing the technology of the PCBs for this program, as well as the supply chain, which is really criti- cal. e material that we're working on for this program is copper-backed material, and the freight costs of either flying that in from off- shore or even bringing it in by ocean was so expensive that it really created an advantage to manufacture that part in North America. Johnson: Was this a project that was driven mostly by the OEM and their requirements? Is that what brought the partnership together? Brandman: What happens with these automo- tive programs initially is that the prototype phase oen happens in North America. When that's the case, much of that development hap- Jeff Brandman