Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/1522641
12 PCB007 MAGAZINE I JUNE 2024 In the worst case, we can drive over to the supplier and pick up material. Local sourcing is certainly key to just-in-time inventory management if you aren't hold- ing everything in-house. But what about less standard material types? Beyond FR-4, our strategies for holding stock and managing lead times are, out of necessity, a bit different. Because we have such a wide variance of materials and lead times, we pro- actively inform our customers of material lead times when we're quoting the job. If a specialty material needs to be manufactured, we deter- mine the manufacturing lead time, shipping strategy, and cost and communicate that at the quote stage. Of course, it's the best informa- tion we have at that time. We live in a dynamic world, as you know. Does furnishing that information up front inspire confidence and contribute to building partnerships with your customers? It does, but we didn't always provide it. Over time, we found that it was better for everyone to be as transparent as possible at the begin- ning of the process. We started doing it about 10 years ago. When COVID hit, and supply chain issues became very difficult, it became even more important and expected. Now, when we have material lead time or other issues from time to time—an unavoidable part of this business—they can be easier to manage with the customer. What about the more exotic materials? Do you stock more of those or just work around lead times? For RF materials, we're either stocking them ourselves or making arrangements with cus- tomers. For many RF materials, when the cus- tomer commits to how much they need, we dedicate a shelf space for them; it can't be used for another customer. In that scenario, is the customer culpable for the cost of materials if you don't end up using it? Yes. We keep certain RF materials in stock without any customer names, and we are will- ing to risk carrying their inventory. However, many of the materials in the RF space are unique in terms of dielectric thickness, copper weight, and type of copper. For flex materials, we have standard materials we keep in stock between ourselves and our suppliers and have arrangements with them based on our usage and what's commonly available. We have FR-4, single-sided metal-backed materials, flex, and RF materials. Each has a slightly different story and arrangement to minimize the lead times and carry only the necessary inventory. Still, we easily carry a million dollars of inventory. We seek creative solutions for every material scenario because I guarantee that, every sin- gle day, I'll have several opportunities where I don't have all the material that I need. Regard- ing customer partnerships, the best-case sce- nario is when a customer asks upfront, "Do you have stock of Rogers?" and may have their own stock of certain materials they're willing to share with us. Anaya Vardya