Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/1494936
78 PCB007 MAGAZINE I MARCH 2023 thing from our big 20-opening double format presses for FR-4, to smaller format presses with six or eight openings to allow us to make smaller quantities and very quick delivery. e key is about supply chain and availabil- ity, and that's why I invited Didier Mauve, head of our global OEM and technology, to be part of the conversation; there's a lot of technol- ogy in these products. I'm a supply chain guy, far from technical, and the strength of what we're doing here is bringing both technology and supply chain together. We have the great manufacturing capability of Ventec, with prod- uct development skills led by Bill Wang, tech- nical and quality director, but also with input from what we learn from the OEMs. Didier's team from around the globe is bringing that all together. e output from that is a series of products and product families which will be developed further, and which open a new direction for us. We'll keep doing the things we do but with an additional avenue of materials and technology that we've not been present in before. We believe the world needs more suppliers in that field. When you think about things like supply chain security and all the instability in the world, now is the time to strengthen your risk mitigation strategies. We've all learned a lot about these things over the past two or three years, and how important resiliency is as part of the mix. It's no good having technology at a price you can't afford, or with logistics that don't deliver it where and when you need it, at the right quality and price. Finally, a key part of all this is curating our solutions into material sets that are relevant to market sectors and applications, because we don't want to create an extra load of work wading through our now extensive portfolio of materials to find what they're looking for. We're trying to make it easy. We've had this conversation in the past, and it's the obvious thing to do, but nobody seems to have done it before, although I think you've probably set a trend now. Goodwin: From what I've seen this week [at IPC APEX EXPO], we might have set a trend. Yes, several people seem to be picking up that it might be a good idea. Didier, would you like to talk about anything specific? Any product families, product, or market sector that you're servicing? Didier Mauve: Yes, as Mark said, we are slowly but surely shiing and expanding our prod- uct offering toward our mil-aero clients. is market, which was rather limited in volumes in the past, is rapidly and continuously grow- ing. Now, the requirements and the volumes needed are increasing. We see demand from our customers, in both the West and Asia. One of the drivers for volumes was the automotive radars, the 77 GHz frequency products. It creates some scarcity of "spe- cialty" products around the globe, therefore, we believe that's one reason customers are asking for better lead times—an alternative sourcing to a longtime existing supplier in this industry segment. A s a matter of fact , we've designed a complete RF lineup within the last five years, Mark Goodwin