Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/1484263
88 PCB007 MAGAZINE I NOVEMBER 2022 Miralles: As you know, most of our things today are manufactured in Asia, and especially in China. Many of our cus- tomers are located in Europe or in the U.S., so transportation is a part of the answer. Sourc- i n g i s a n o t h e r c h a l - lenge, especially in Asia, and Nathan is currently exploring new sourcing opportunities close to the customer. Johnson: It is interesting how those come together, isn't it? By creating a more resilient supply chain and decentralizing manufactur- ing, you can shorten transportation, ease the logistics, and create a more sustainable system. Miralles: As you can imagine, sourcing—trans- portation, packaging, and so on—can have a significant impact on sustainability. ere are solutions to reduce that impact, but they come at a cost. We need to work with the customer to be sure they are willing to pay that cost to be more sustainable. Honestly speaking, that is not the game we play with our customers. We propose, but oen they continue to choose more standard solutions. We're not surprised that our customers are not moving as fast as we had imagined. For example, we have some local solutions, and while that's progress, it's not so effective compared with today's expec- tations. But we see a way forward. We handle all our suppliers, including PCB, electronic parts, and transportation. We are not going to choose someone who doesn't have a policy of sustainability, CSR, and so on. Martin: Partner factories follow a CSR standard like ISO 26000, and we do find a link between the quality of their products and the fact they follow rules that they don't necessarily have to respect. If a factory doesn't need to follow international rules, but they decide to do it because they think in the future that it will be required or because the working envi- ronment for their workers is very important to Jean-Christophe Miralles