Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/1507822
SEPTEMBER 2023 I PCB007 MAGAZINE 79 tral Pennsylvania is a bit far from Idaho, we can get there. SEL has a very large cross-functional team, and once they visited Chemcut and met our team, they decided very quickly on buying our equipment. The SEL team certainly has taken on a huge project, going from outsourcing all its printed circuit boards to building its own fab. What was it like to work with them? It ranks up there as one of the most enjoyable business ventures we've had in quite some time. As you know, they're very big on partnerships with vendors and suppliers. From my perspec- tive, they handled the transition smoothly; it went without a hitch. When they visited Chemcut, they brought in representatives from management, purchasing, project management, engineering, and mainte- nance. As the project progressed, they learned a lot about Chemcut. At one point, we were dem- onstrating some of the construction techniques to their engineering and maintenance staff, and their engineers jumped right in. e best way to describe their whole organization is they just go and do it. Likewise, the communication channels were excellent. With any project, there are some bumps and bruises, particularly in the current supply chain environment. SEL offered their help when suppliers were having difficulties. e SEL team is quite impressive for taking on such a large project. It starts with the peo- ple; not just senior people are involved; a core of younger people—who probably had never man- aged a project like that—were involved. It was just a positive attitude that really fostered team- work with the suppliers. eir staff was techni- cally competent, and they gained more compe- tency as the project went along. ey do a great job in terms of cross-functional teams and com- munication. As we got to certain milestones in the proj- ect, we started video conferences. SEL came in at certain stages to prep for factory acceptance testing. We've found that when we start a turn- key installation, the customer's perspective is, "at's Chemcut's equipment." Because we have them assist with the installation, aer we've fin- ished and gone, their new perspective is, "at's our equipment." ere is such a fundamental shi when the people can embrace the concept of the equipment during the construction and installation phase. Everybody at SEL was hands- on. ey wanted to do it. ey wanted to dig deep. at's a tribute to them, and it made our job so much easier. Were there any new product innovations put in place for SEL? ey went with our CC-8000 product for the DES equipment. is is Chemcut's premium product offering for fine line features and thin material transport. Chemcut's XLI was selected for all their processes. All this was driven simply by the needs of their product demands. Mike Soble