Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/1524164
64 PCB007 MAGAZINE I JULY 2024 guided me, and I had access to some very good resources that helped my learning curve sub- stantially. Having just experienced the tour you took me on, I would never have known that you are new to the industry. You are obviously a great student of the subject matter. Tell me about how you planned the flow of the production process. e best thing about setting up a building from scratch is that you can build it for optimum manufacturing process flow. We designed it so that process A is next to process B because you don't want somebody walking five minutes down the hall just to get to step B. It's a waste of time. We have a well-thought-out process flow where you have minimal movement, or "dead time," as we call it. effort as well. But I believe strongly that, in the end, it will be worth it. From what I am told, there are not many people out there willing to make this kind of investment. You were also delayed more than a year with COVID, so you're a bit behind schedule. Yes, COVID put us back 18 months from the standpoint of equipment availability and deliv- eries, personnel, getting the electrical breakers wired, and having power. at kind of thing put us back substantially. That is certainly nothing you can project when you start off on an endeavor like this. Who would ever have thought a world pan- demic would have been a delay factor? You also mentioned that you were surprised by how much you had to learn personally. Not being from the industry and trying to set up a brand-new facility was a personal chal- lenge, learning about the equipment—even just the wet process equipment—the other pro- cesses, the chemistry, talking to the vendors, and getting a feel for what you treat, what you batch process, and what you pH adjust. I had to set up all this stuff myself. It was a steep learn- ing curve. But I also had a very good team that