Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/1494936
MARCH 2023 I PCB007 MAGAZINE 13 phasing that PCB order to their component availability. If you miss that mark, it creates a ripple effect because the SMT lines can't pro- cess product and the EMS cannot recognize revenue. What began as an effort to control their payables and cash flow can end up hav- ing the opposite effect if they do not get to rev- enue. How Summit Has Prepared for CMMC Tell me about your preparation for CMMC, the government's cybersecurity certification. Summit formed in 2016, and now we're the largest privately held printed circuit board fabricator in North America; we have a significant defense program portfolio. For CMMC, it's time-consuming and resource demanding, so it's important to have a top- down commitment, and we certainly have that from our CEO, Shane Whiteside. You need expertise, and certainly you spend cap- ital along that path. It was part of Summit's charter to be an early adopter and be a market leader for CMMC compliance. e rulemak- ing process and final adoption processes are still ongoing across the DoD, but we are audit ready when they hit the Go but- ton on the finalized version. With your product mix and customer base, CMMC must be mission critical. It is and it's the right thing to do. It's time for the highest possible security mindset to displace the lowest possible price mindset that many businesses in the U.S. have been operating under for a long time. For example, there is a $52 bil- lion funding allocation with the CHIPS Act, as well as the PCBAA campaign that proclaims, "Chips Don't Float." It's an integrated technology stack: You need the substrates, the printed circuit boards, and the chip; none will function without the other. To achieve the true goal—which is the restabilization and growth of the electronics industry—you need to broaden those markets. e markets we're servicing need to include transportation in the form of train platforms, planes, the electrical grid, the water system, and broadband, medi- cal, and servers. ose types of products influ- ence our day-to-day security as a nation, and, in my view, must be fabricated in the United States. For the past 20 years, the PCB industry has been largely reliant on the defense sector for its business. It's estimated to have a value of about $1.3 billion. If you look at the top five PCB fab- ricators and you add up their defense-related sales, at least 80% of the supply base for that DoD spend is concentrated in five PCB com- panies. What that means is there's only another $300 million or so distributed amongst the remaining companies that are all largely sub- $50 million; in most cases, truly sub-$20 mil- lion organizations and most have a program or two that they build to support the defense industry. ey may or may not be profitable, Large format, advanced HDI capable, direct imaging system for outer layers.