Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/1477844
54 SMT007 MAGAZINE I SEPTEMBER 2022 with them on the DFM system. Once you're involved with DFM, our engineers are bring- ing Meghan into the discussion. Is this a com- ponent that you can get early? If not, they trig- ger that way in advance. I see this happening quite a bit more, especially with purchasing, letting us know this component may have a long lead time and that you might need to con- sider something else. at's where I see the collaboration but it's more intense now. Matties: Do you think those projects tend to be more successful? Ghalili: Definitely. If that level of involvement is there, then the project is much more success- ful. Johnson: Are you seeing an increase in cus- tomers that want to send you parts kits, source their own, and just send over a kit? Ghalili: No. I haven't seen any of that. e major struggle with a lot of the customers is getting the component. If they're able to get that from their EMS provider, they would love to see that provider do all the sourcing for them. Johnson: Your ability to source parts is a value- add. at seems like a competitive advantage, and in this marketplace, that's important. How do you market and sell that capability? Ghalili: It has made my life a lot easier because I talk to the cus- tomer. I'm talking to one cus- tomer that asks, "How can you do it?" I say, "I can assure you, we can do it." is has been a major advantage for us, and it's helping our growth right now. But then Meghan has a very extensive team. She has quite a few people who are always online and have established relationships with some of these vendors going back 10 to 20 years. Matties: Have you come across jobs where you haven't been able to find the sources or the components needed? Zou: Yes, that has happened. Matties: What does the customer do in that case? Zou: ese are situations where we could not meet a promised schedule on critical compo- nents. Once we are both convinced there is no potential source, we look for a pin-to-pin alternative. If one is found, we run it through our ECN process to validate and get approval to use the part. If we cannot find a pin-to-pin alternative, then we work with the customer to do a Gerber change in the fab to accommodate the new part. However, if a customer does not want to go through the BOM and Gerber changes, we try to reach out directly to the original manufac- turer to get a partial release. We find in many instances the component is in an "allocation" situation. In that case, we need to work with the customer and manufacturer to get partial parts released.