Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/582861
76 The PCB Magazine • October 2015 by Barry Matties i-connEcT007 There's excitement brewing at MacDermid. I recently sat down with Don Cullen, global mar- keting director, and Steve Kenney, business di- rector, at the company's headquarters in Water- bury, Connecticut, to discuss how they've tack- led cycle time reduction for their North Ameri- can customers, and how these requirements differ from their global customers. The growing excitement comes from two new acquisitions coming over the horizon that should redefine MacDermid and their place in the industry. Barry Matties: Let's start with a little bit about what you guys are doing here at MacDermid—I know you're making some acquisitions and things are moving forward. Don Cullen: MacDermid feels very strongly about supporting the electronics industry in general, and we are excited about how things are going and the future of our company. There is definitely excitement in the technology and the interconnect spaces. Looking at the global picture, we derive a lot of our revenue from Asia, and China is underperforming right now. In this brief downturn, we're investing in re- sources where other companies might not. Matties: In China, are there two fronts that you're battling? One is the economy, but is there a local supply base that is also emerging over there? Cullen: I wouldn't say it is emerging; it has al- ready emerged. We're pretty aware of the lo- cal suppliers. I wouldn't say that there's really much change in the dynamic of the local sup- ply base over there. Steve Kenney: Not in the last few years. Matties: It just seems that there's more of a na- tionalistic attitude over there of late, to buy local. Cullen: In electronic systems, it's been really big news. China is proposing to regulate the speci- fication of systems, which is favoring domestic manufacturers such as Huawei instead of Cisco, with policies like this. With chemicals, there's been a little bit of a regulatory change, where they're trying to tap into the formulations of MacDermid: Redefining Global Strategy FeATure inTervieW