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46 The PCB Magazine • March 2016 ship with them. This often leads to discounted prices because they appreciate the business you bring them, and they may even offer lower pric- es if you buy in bulk, or pay in cash each time. Keep your Business Stateside If you are thinking about going offshore in hopes of saving money, don't. You are run- ning the risk of ending up with poor quality workmanship that can affect your reputation considerably. You can also end up paying hefty fines if the parts used are not genuine or fail to comply with U.S. standards. Hire a Contract Manufacturer While this may seem like an additional ex- pense, partnering with a team of experts may be saving you a lot of money over time. These pro- fessionals have access to equipment and resourc- es that you may not have, and they can now work for you without you having to pay them a salary for their expertise! Otherwise, you may accrue unnecessary costs for added manpower. There are many ways for you to save money on the PCB fabrication process without com- promising the integrity of your product. Learn how to cut your own costs without sacrificing quality. The tips listed here are only a few ways for you to cut your costs without losing your profit margin. Work with members of your company to come up with other strategies to effectively reduce expenses, while at the same time de- veloping and manufacturing a PCB that meets public expectations and demand. PCB Guest columnist Akber Roy is the CEo of Rush PCB Inc. and has 20 years of experience in electronic contract manufacturing. Cost saving tips for pCb fabriCation by Tony Bellitto, FirsTroNic one of the biggest challenges faced by u.s. manufacturing com- panies is finding ways to attract, engage and retain workers. To- day's generation of 20-something workers are unfamiliar with manu- facturing as a career option. Factory work is something their grandparents did. At the same time, some com- panies, such as Firstronic, are proving that u.s. factories can be cost competi- tive and the jobs they create are transformative, in that production operators have a career path beyond entry-level work if they choose to pursue additional company-sponsored training. In 2014, needing to double its workforce, Fir- stronic began a hiring and training program to add new workers. however, by early 2015, the turnover rate was deemed excessive, especially on the late and weekend shifts. Ana- lyzing the program, determined that some new employees were not well-suited for the jobs, the intensive training was overwhelm- ing and in classroom theory not as effective as on-the-job (oJT) based training. Working with a third party employment screening firm, a new program was developed that not only pre-screened employ- ees for suitable positions but also involved focused oJT training, mentoring, and a comprehensive process to engage the employee's interest from day one. Turnover dropped by more than two-thirds and teams became more focused on the responsiveness and quality their customers expected. "Design the onboarding process with the goal of making employees feel valued by the company." Read the entire article in this month's sMT Magazine. An Onboarding Process Can Build a Strong Organizational Culture