Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/374650
September 2014 • The PCB Magazine 11 rience for the customers. I heard that about a dozen times from their team of managers and from those working on the factory floor: "Does it benefit the customer?" was their mantra. Almost unique Sales Model Sunstone has an interesting method of gen - erating sales, which isn't entirely unique. Other companies follow a similar system but I doubt to this extent. The company markets heavily on the Internet, casting a wide net, moving pro- spective customers into the automated sales sys- tem built into their website. Orders are placed there and files are uploaded, and it's all done pretty much without human contact. According to Heilman, their goal is to bring in 15–20 new customer orders each working day. That's some- where around 300–400 new customers each month, on top of the 4,000 or so orders they process from existing customers. To give you some perspective, with an average order value of around $500, you can work out some rough an- nual sales revenue numbers, which likely places them in the range of $20–30 million annual revenue. Having already attracted over 30,000 customers, I had to ask how many more pros- pects Sunstone thinks are out there. After all, it's a finite market. You can't reach 15–20 new customers a day forever. They felt comfortable with their strategy and thought that the goal could continue to be achieved for some time to come. Of course, they continue to nurture their current base of customers looking to grow that business, as well. My take is that they'll have to begin offering leading-edge technology capabil - ities to attract more business at some point. Industry veteran Harvey Miller, owner of the PCB directory Fabfileonline, reports the size of the North American market to be about $1.2 billion for prototype PCBs annually. Heilman thinks that number is closer to $350 million for rigid board prototypes. In either case, Sunstone has room to grow. The Sunstone model does sound attractive, though. They have a wide, diverse customer base (10,000 of the 30,000 placed orders over the last year), which builds in some security. Ap - proximately 50% of Sunstone's customers pro- vide about 75% of their revenue, which means they must do a great job of keeping customers; combined with the new ones coming in every day, it makes for good, predictable growth. Another interesting fact about this sales model is that about 80% of their orders are paid by credit card, which partially explains why their bad debt only amounted to $3,000 over the last year. Other contributing factors are the various other benefits to their credit card model, such as increased cash flow, security of payment, etc. But there is a cost associated with this model, which does detract from the bottom-line ben - efit. Nonetheless, when you look at their cost of sales, cost of manufacturing, overhead, lack of debt service and, now, virtually no bad debt, they pick up a couple of points in all these areas. Overall it's a simple and effective model. Customer is Always Right This is easier said than done. At I-Con - nect007, we love our customers and tend to side with them when things go awry, but they aren't always right. Sunstone tends to walk the walk that no matter what happens, it needs to ben- efit the customer. I don't think this was a show put on just for my benefit. I heard it too many times, in too many places, from a lot of differ- ent people at Sunstone. They genuinely want to care for their customers. Everything they do must be of benefit to the customer. Again, Deming says it a little differently: Care first for employees, which Sunstone appears to do (see "The Family" above) and they will take care of the customer. Regardless of the order of things in Sunstone's thinking, it is what's happening: Everyone's needs are being met. Philosophy The owners claim that Sunstone is quite profitable, and they'll continue to work to drive waste out of their systems, which translates into additional profitability and more capacity, and in turn, increased benefits to customers. I get this, and I am quite surprised at how few com - panies pursue excellence in manufacturing and in business. It's a no-brainer for me. Since 2005, when Heilman and Catt pur- chased the company from Electronic Controls Design (ECD), they've been able to pay off the previous owner and continue to upgrade capa- bilities while staying out of debt. Even the new THE FAMILy (SuN)STONE continues