Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/1524164
50 PCB007 MAGAZINE I JULY 2024 than de-risking by innovating. is is largely because PCB fabrication is a low-innovation industry in general. Expectations are low, domain knowledge is scarce, and group-think dynamics around legacy solutions are high. Every project has consultants and experts who bring together all the best-established ideas. But where are the new ideas? To address this deficiency, we have been developing a U.S.-centric business model that allows domestic investors to enter the defense and aerospace market with a much smaller and more efficient investment protocol. Instead of investing $40–$80 million upfront in a copy- paste fab facility, one can build a fab with sim- ilar capabilities to what is being done at the higher capital procurement levels for far less by focusing on more efficient process solutions. In partnership with innovation-driven sup- pliers in the market, we have recently devel- oped a defense and aerospace starter fab pack- age with overall process kit investment levels in the $8–$24 million range and with a mature IRR of 16–35%. ese numbers exceed hurdle rates for most VC/PE investors without the need for government funding and can be stood up and commissioned in about 12 months, fol- lowed by a 12–18-month qualification period to achieve stable revenue. Based on lessons learned from recent domestic fab investments, we are combining multiple established tech- nologies in an innovative way to achieve a high return, with some of the key components described below. Consolidated Vertical Wet Processes In a typical U.S. fab shop, the wet process floor consists of a combination of horizontal and vertical equipment, with the subtractive steps mostly done horizontally and the addi- tive steps mostly done vertically. For the sub- strate industry, carrier-based vertical process- ing dominates and is being implemented in the new taxpayer-funded investments we cur- rently see going up in the U.S. One of the chal- lenges of this kit is that it is not integrated very well and is either labor-intensive to operate and maintain, or capital inefficient to automate/ integrate. To address this, we have recently partnered with Integrated Process Systems (IPS) in Cedar City, Utah, to develop a prod- uct line of vertical equipment with such a high level of efficiency that one operator, one chem- ist, and one technician can operate the entire wet floor within a factory in the $12–$40 mil- lion annual turnover range building high-mix products with negligible setup time. e secret lies in using a vertical hoist platform and mak- Alex Stepinski