Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/1518339
36 SMT007 MAGAZINE I APRIL 2024 box build and product assembly. Second, we have customers that don't have the internal resources to do this. ey may have a labor shortage, or a certain constraint on their business that motivates them to outsource. ird, it may be a core competency issue. We have customers specializing in the final finished product, but they don't want to do any subas- sembly work outside their core competency. In that case, they may need a contract manufacturer or EMS provider to do that portion for them. From our standpoint, the more value-add we can create, the better it is for our business. But we have to determine whether the need is within our core competency and whether we can take the risk of the additional service. Our core competency is in skills like soldering and assembly. ere may be other required skills outside our core competency, such as wire har- nesses and cabling. We recently took on a product assembly that involved copper brazing, so we're now doing that type of work. We had to decide whether that should be in our core competency. It's dif- ferent than soldering. In this case, we said we should. But why? Because we decided that if we expanded our core competencies, we could expand our skill set. We could use qual- ified operators who have those skills, just in a slightly different way. That makes a lot of sense. Part of that deci- sion-making process, I suppose, is asking how generalizable that new skill set is. Yes. Is it truly just for this one customer, or can we offer it on a larger scale? If it's something we can replicate, we're more likely to add it to our business. We really have to think about whether it's in the best interest of our business. Can you share an example of deciding to pursue a new skill set for box build? I'll tell you more about the cop- per brazing project. It was an opportunity for product assem- bly work, a box build that went above and beyond our core competency at the time. e customer found us because we do both box builds and prod- uct assembly. In their case, their definition of box build included copper brazing refrigeration tubing. We asked them to explain everything involved with the product. When we looked through the product requirements, specifications, and schematics on the prod- ucts, we discovered that there was refrigera- tion work. We knew we didn't have the skill set, so where and how could we add it? We partnered with local refrigeration experts with HVAC and refrigeration expertise, including our local community and technical schools. We asked them to teach us the skill set; aer all, it's not all that different from soldering. We trained a team that became skilled in that core competency and expanded our work into that arena with that customer. Just adding that one skill led to future business. How is that relationship going? In fact, we've taken on even more box builds from that customer. e customer had a labor shortage and couldn't get qualified applicants, so they were looking to outsource. Now, it didn't come without roadblocks and barri- ers. We weren't experts overnight. It took six to 12 months for us to develop the necessary skill sets. We had to work through that timeline with our customer. What other challenges did you have outside of training? Typically, an EMS provider receives a standard doc package from its customer. You also must build to IPC standards. In the case of a fin- ished product, you must add and meet safety Jon Schmitz