Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/1494936
MARCH 2023 I PCB007 MAGAZINE 63 that?" at's when you suddenly realize that this was even a possibility, so you start doing research into what's next. Maybe we can run aluminum; maybe that's a direction we could go in addition to PTFE. en you look at the adjacent capabilities: "We don't do that, but we should be able to." So, that's what you look at. You need a cus- tomer with some kind of interest who is willing to work with you. We have some good custom- ers like that; that's how you grow. For example, we have a press that was state- of-the-art when it was new. Now it's 20 years old and if it just went 50 degrees hotter, we could do a lot more things. Now, if I'm going to spend money for 50 degrees, I'm not future proofing. However, let me get something of a much higher temperature, so that now I'm capable of a lot more materials that I currently can't process, then I am future proof- ing. at's how you grow, and that's how you build forward. We've touched on facilities. What's your take on the landscape for capital? Can you acquire financing, or do you even need it? One always needs financing. e last number of years have been great because interest rates have been low and there was still liquidity out there. We are privately owned, which means we have a bank relationship. We've got lines of credit and cash in the bank. We use most of the traditional types of funding. We have working capital and equipment lines of credit. While the money is there, it's getting more expen- sive, so you must be mindful about what you're walking away with. You pick what you do and borrow the money for something which is well worth it, then spend your cash on the replace- ment stuff. e money is there. Will it stay there? at's the question. I'm not an economist, but we won't see infla- tion go away for a while. It may not get worse, but it won't reverse. ere's always a chance gig mentality. When you're in manufacturing, you must commit to the process. at will be a real challenge for all manufacturing, especially electronics, where we're building someone's dream. There are three main categories, then, responding to this market opportunity: money, equipment and facilities, and peo- ple. Customers are exerting pressure to bring business back. How do we meet their needs? The answer is to build more infrastructure. What is most urgent for you: money, equip- ment, facilities, or people? People—and it's not just add- ing people, it's replacing those who are at retirement age. You should replace them before they leave so that you transfer as much of their knowledge as you can, but all too oen that knowledge transfer happens too late and without enough time. In fact, if anything, your employees need to be more skilled than ever before. Absolutely. Let's shift over to technology and capabilities. What direction are you moving in regarding the capabilities in your facility? We're finessing some things. You know, we do substrates and most substrate fabs came out of metal-backed substrates and moved into doing PTFE-type work. We came out of FR-4, so sometimes you get to a point where you start asking why we can't do certain things; you come up with some basic areas to address. Maybe we have to re-address our waste treatment systems so we can treat different types of metals. It's not necessarily, "Can we make it?" It's more like, "Can we treat the stuff properly?" at opens us up to running new materials. We meet with customers, and they might say, "If you can do this, then why can't you do The money is there. Will it stay there? That's the question.