Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/1519075
20 PCB007 MAGAZINE I APRIL 2024 If you have such a BOM, you can make money very quickly in the defense and aerospace arena because the pric- ing is typically very high, and the market price is driven significantly by high labor operations. All the folks who are in this business have a lot of highly paid labor costs and a lot of equip- ment that all needs to be maintained. So, if you come in with a very nim- ble operation with fewer people, simple automa- tion, low BOM cost, and low operating co sts— because everything's on the small side—you can run circles around them. A little PT boat turns a lot faster than the aircra carrier. I think the swarm approach with multiple smaller-sized satellites is much more productive than one giant one. Yes. ose are my two key focuses: the envi- ronmental/sustainability side, and distributed manufacturing. at ecosystem is the most sustainable, and it drives innovation. Many more companies are involved with more ideas. Having been in charge of both small and large operations, I did 100 times more invention and innovation at the smaller organizations than I did in the bigger operations where you're deal- ing with more bureaucracy. Those are exciting and worthwhile initiatives. We will definitely stay in touch and look forward to hearing more about them as you progress. Thank you, Alex, and good luck. PCB007 With this new approach, it's just under $10 mil- lion to do everything—laser drill, SAP, embed- ded products—but on a very small scale. Once you have your minimum viable product and are qualified, you can add more equipment. It's really the starting point that's missing. ere is a lot of concern in the market that there will be too much consolidation in the North American and European markets. Con- solidation is not necessarily a good thing, because it's not an innovative ecosystem. We want and need the mid-sized, sub-$50 million turnover companies in the market. But they won't start out at $50 million, and you can't be begging everyone for tens of millions of dollars. We need to take this down to a much lower level to have more investments, which further de-risks things. Are these people more engineering-minded or more marketing- and business develop- ment-minded? ey run the full gamut. We're trying to right- size a system with good operating costs that's green and automated and lets you get started. Alex Stepinski