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October 2016 • The PCB Magazine 23 Respect Your Suppliers • Value suppliers as part of your team • Remember: Value, quality, service and then price • Buy your suppliers lunch; invite them over for dinner • Listen to your suppliers—even if you have to admit you're mistaken Cash is King: Company Eats before Family Dad was adamant when it came to fiscal responsibility—for the company. During the stock market crash of 2000, he was personally invested heavily in technology stocks and saw his portfolio drop by as much as 70%. By the end of the year, he was personally loaded up on debt in the form of margin loans, mortgage, and personal lines of credit. However, he rebuffed any calls from his partners on pulling money out of Saturn. As a result, Saturn went into the PCB market crash of 2001–2003 as a debt-free company with heavy cash reserves. I always say that Saturn eats before the family does and I don't think there's any better example to de- scribe it than this. He would only invest when it was wise and absolutely necessary. In the same way, keeping cash resources available was equally important as well as not spending money you do not have. Not only would the company not be allowed to take on debt in the form of mortgages, lines of credit, or lease equipment, he was adamant about paying suppliers quickly. In fact, our A/P is always $0 on the 15th and 30th of every month. The same discipline was used in our capi- tal investment programs. He was wise with his money, but that did not mean that Saturn never invested. He forced us to think long and hard before making capital equipment invest- ments—even when they were only a few thou- sand dollars. Not to say that he was being stin- gy, but rather to instill discipline in us so that we would not flagrantly spend money on items that may not be fully necessary. If he saw an opportunity in an emerging market he would take calculated risks and invest in cutting-edge equipment and even expanding the facility for such equipment. It was amazing how long I had to argue to buy a $3,000 via-plugging module, but the decision to drop $1 million on a press system and building took less than 10 minutes. With proper evaluation techniques, making large scale investment decisions is actually an easy thing to do. He was still looking for the best possible return on investment and that's what happened with the "Plating Rack Deal." In that deal, Dad was negotiating the pur- chase of all new plating racks. The supplier came in at $100k. Dad only wanted to pay $80k. They couldn't come to an agreement be- cause the supplier knew Dad wanted the racks he was making as opposed to the competi- tion's. So Dad made a proposal that they flip a coin. If he won, then the racks would be $50k. If he lost, the racks would be $150k. The sup- plier sweated this one pretty good, and in the end agreed to a straight-up sale at $80k. I guess having a solid balance sheet also allows having fun and taking risks. Cash is King: Company Eats before Family • Keep cash resources • Pay accounts payable to zero on the 1st and 15th of every month • Only buy equipment with cash • No banks; no debts; no leases • Take calculated risks • Be wise with your money LESSONS IN LEADERSHIP FROM MY FATHER Figure 5: Nagji receives an award from Corp! Magazine's 2014 Salute to Diversity.