Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/1507822
70 PCB007 MAGAZINE I SEPTEMBER 2023 Howard: When it comes to SEL, specifically, we moved a techni- cian to Moscow, Idaho, to sup- port this whole project. at technician was busy at SEL for a whole year getting all this started. at was a key factor in the service that supported this project. W h e n y o u t a l k a b o u t installation, the require - ment was about 30 machines in just over a year. at turns into more of a project management task. We still have a w e e k l y c a l l w i t h S E L to talk about machine arrivals, open points, things like that. It's truly been a partnership with SEL. Do you see an increasing trend in the U.S. market toward standing up new facilities? Kunz: ere have been 20 to 30 years of invest- ments in Asia with greenfield factories; we have not seen that sort of investment in the West for 25 years or so. It's impres- sive that in the last two to three years, we have seen a couple really big greenfield factories in the U.S. I don't think it's a trend yet, but it shows that some customers want to be independent from Asia. e output from these new facil- ities is not as much as com- pared to Asia, but the shi is significant. How do you see the market shifting? Is there momentum? Kunz: What we find inter- esting is the impor tance of new equipment in America. Maybe five years ago, the equipment for America from our customers was 3–4% of our turn-over. In the past two years and next year, I'm expecting 20% of our turnover coming from America. Gentlemen, thank you. PCB007 The highly accurate Schmoll Optiflex II post-etch punching machine. Modul-XL drilling machine.