Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/1476200
16 PCB007 MAGAZINE I AUGUST 2022 say: Companies like SpaceX and New Horizon that are building products of the future must form better partnerships with domestic board shops. ere are a couple of reasons: One, keeping it close to home for the intellectual property security; two, for new product intro- duction. is is not dissimilar to when I was much younger, working with military companies, and they were all over us. ey lived at the shop, worked with us, and bought the lami- nate. It was a cooperative effort. For example, not that long ago, a company would need some extremely expensive material. I would advise the owner of the company to say, "I can't afford this material," and the customer would buy it for them. We woke up one day and said, "Holy crap, we can't build a respirator in this coun- try? How much did that $29 DVD player cost us, anyway?" You're seeing a lot of what I call makeshi partnerships. I know Dave has some customers who want the whole enchilada, what we used to call total concept. e customer actually wants design, fab, and assembly on one PO, and that's another example of cooperation. Matties: Are you seeing any shi toward fabri- cators bringing in designers to offer design ser- vices? Beaulieu: Yes. Right now, it's more of a hand- shake, but we're starting to see it. Of course, we have companies that do that, and have tra- ditionally for many years. Almost all the com- panies I work for are looking at partnerships right now. Matties: What does the next six months to a year look like? What advice are you giving your customers, Dan? Beaulieu: I give the same story in every sales meeting I'm at, and it's optimistic. I tell them, "Buyers and engineers are looking for you. ey're looking for domestic suppliers right now. Our job is to make sure you're found." I might have stolen that from you a few years ago, Barry. But there is business out there. More importantly, there's an inclination to buy domestically. No one is bragging about buying from China. Matties: Dave, when you have a price increase on one side, you can raise your own prices. Are you also working internally to reduce cost? Ryder: Absolutely, Barry. We're working hard on the quality side of things, and we're reduc- ing the amount of overage that we build. We've gone to basically two panel sizes. You just look at all the things that you can do to reduce the overhead. Unfortunately, we're at a point where people can get $18 an hour at McDon- ald's, so it's hard to limit the cost of labor. You have to do that through efficiencies. Matties: Dan, do you see the fabricators reach- ing or searching for more automation now? And are they serious about implementing it? Beaulieu: e intent is there, and I'm see- ing shops try to do it. One of the companies I Dan Beaulieu