Understanding Rush PCB

Estimated reading time: 4 minutes

I had an interesting interview recently with Rush PCB CEO Akber Roy, who goes by Roy. I was stunned by some of the things he told me about the Silicon Valley company, such as how Rush PCB can turn around full turn-key quotes in less than three hours. He also told me they can deliver full turn-key product in five days or less, sometimes three days. I told him I was having a hard time believing him, but he said it was absolutely true. In Roy’s words, Rush isn’t like other PCB fabrication and assembly companies; they can quote and turn around complete assemblies fast, including the most difficult technologies out there today.

Dan Beaulieu: Roy, please tell me more about your turn-around time and process. It’s hard to believe.

Akber Roy:  It’s the truth; we have developed a completely homegrown and highly proprietary system that connects our vendors into a synergistic, concurrent program that allows all the moving parts to work together smoothly. Not only do we know always where every project is and whether it is on schedule, we can adjust to put it back on schedule if it is not. Our customers can track their projects in real-time as well. Often, we deliver product to our customers faster than our competitors can give them the quote.

Beaulieu: You call yourself an engineering company. Can you please explain?

Roy: Companies come to us when they need something built, especially when they need it built fast, and that’s when we go to work. We help them with the design of the product to make sure that it can be built as efficiently as possible, and when we have come to an agreement with the customers on what the end-product should look like, we put it into our system and they get the product in a few days.

Beaulieu: OK Roy, are you really going to tell me how you do this?

Roy: No, it is a proprietary system that we have developed over time. You know, Dan, I am not going to tell you exactly how we do it, but even if I did, I know that you could not copy it. I will tell you this about our system: It was developed by several very smart software engineers here and in India. Together we have worked for years on perfecting our system. Another thing I can tell you is that everything is user-friendly and customer-focused. The best thing I can compare it to is something like Expedia.

Beaulieu: Expedia?

Roy: Yes, Expedia. If you use Expedia, you know how it works. You enter where you want to go and they give you a list of the best flights, when they are and how much they will cost. Our system uses algorithms that are similar to Expedia’s.

Beaulieu: How many orders can you handle in one day?

Roy: In can be many. In fact, we enter 30−40 orders every day. When you enter an order in the system, the cost base is connected to three different vendors—concurrent manufacturing. The vendors are pinged for a status along the way. This is all automatically done by the system including finished boards, all by the vendors. Like I said earlier, everything is completely transparent. Our customers know at all times where their assemblies are.

Beaulieu: Do you just do assemblies and turn-key?

Roy: No, we can do anything. We can do bare boards, we can do assemblies, we can do turn-key, we can do value engineering and we can even do testing. Whatever the customers need we can provide it. That’s why we call ourselves a super value-engineering company.

Beaulieu: Roy, tell me more about technology.

Roy: We are not limited by a physical plant, so we can go anywhere and partner with the best in the business for whatever we need, from sub 2-mil lines and spaces, to RF metal-backed boards, to flex and rigid-flex boards and even large back-panels. We can do $33 boards and boards that cost thousands of dollars.

Beaulieu: How long has Rush PCB been around?

Roy: It was started in 2007 and we are growing at a pace that is much faster than the industry right now.

Beaulieu: To what do you attribute that?

Roy: Simple—giving our customers what they want, when they want it, and by providing value. There is no doubt that the U.S. is still the world leader when it comes to innovation and new product development, especially right here in Silicon Valley. We help these innovators convert their ideas to reality and do it very quickly. We like to think that we have found a way to provide a service that companies want and that is why we are succeeding.

Beaulieu: Well, they say that finding a need and meeting it is the true form of business.

Roy: Absolutely!

Beaulieu: Thanks, Roy.

Roy: Thank you.