Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/1491409
44 SMT007 MAGAZINE I FEBRUARY 2023 improvement side, because aer the purchase, there's a phase of installation and training that's along the lines of, "Just how do I utilize the system?" From there you can move to the bigger pic- ture; you take that training and you apply it from a process improvement standpoint. David Nemeth: It's fair to say that the applications team is very heavily involved in the pre-sales. Aer a trade show, the customer might want to see some action on their own product. Mitchell's team will oen receive boards and data, then use those to create board reports to show what our machine can do for the customer. at might be one of the first steps aer a trade show. e customer wants to see something more on their product without doing a full-blown eval- uation on site. Mitchell and his team will do quite a bit of that work, and then maybe do a virtual meeting to discuss how to utilize the equipment. Brent Fischthal: Usually, before the show, they've done all their paper benchmarking and have spec'd all the machines; at the show, they've actually seen them all. e next step is to run some sort of product, either a bench- mark test board or something similar. I'll elab- orate later about the boards we created and the benefit of those to actually running on their own product. It's just a quick demo, maybe at one of our demo facilities, or something in Korea if it's demanding enough, or even just something online like a webinar. Johnson: e process starts with the customer realizing that they probably need some new equipment, so they start "paper benchmark- ing," as you said. I assume that's looking up datasheets, that sort of "seeing that what's out there" for their application, the vendors, the models, etc. ey figure out what they want and then see that equipment, which is where something like a trade show comes into play. What are some of the alternatives? If you know a prospective customer is looking at this mid-year and it's still six to eight months until you get to a big show where they can see the "big iron," what do they do then? Kim: ey can always reach out to us at any time. e doors in our office here in Atlanta are always open to host anybody who's able to come. We have partner sites that have our equipment as well, so if logistically it makes more sense to go to Chicago, or the San Jose area, we can make that happen. We have equipment there and can have somebody onsite to support them there as well. Johnson: So, customers could visit one of your demo centers in lieu of going to a show? Fischthal: Yes, I think there are a couple aspects to what Mitchell is talking about here. Instead of the show, going to a Koh Young demo facil- ity is absolutely an option. We've got them in Atlanta and in Guadalajara, plus many of our sales partners have a demo room with our gear onsite. You can go to one of our industry part- ners that has our gear in their facility, like Pan- asonic, Fuji, Universal, and ITW EAE. ASYS has gear as well. You can check out different machines at these facilities almost anytime. We have some equipment at universities like Binghamton University where we are focused on smart factory initiatives and at the Roch- ester Institute of Technology (or RIT) where we are helping the next generation of engi- neers. We even have gear at solder paste and materials suppliers too, so if needed we could take them into a materials company and show the machine there. Our customers have lots of options; they don't need to wait for a show to see our machine, to touch it and feel it. Mitchell Kim