Combining Strengths Synergistically: PDS and Green Circuits

Estimated reading time: 16 minutes

Matties: Where are most of your customers located geographically? Are they within a couple hundred miles?

Park: No, actually this is one of our strengths at Green, which for PDS is probably a little different. At Green, 50% of all customers are out of state, and California customers are probably the other 50%. I like the geographic diversification. So, the customer base we have is good for us. It’s not really risky and we’re not depending on one customer. There’s a lot of diversity. Now Joe's sales team can focus more on out of state customers, so we can diversify our customer base even more. Because we didn't do that, we were just busy building the boards.

Matties: You were paying attention to process and detail.

Park: Right. So that's something Joe and his team can bring in for revenue growth in 2018.

Matties: Well, you are both well experienced. And Joe, you’ve been in this industry for how long?

O’Neil: I’ve lost count; 25 years or so.

Matties: What haven't we discussed that you feel like we should be sharing with the world?

Park: I want to mention that almost 80% of my background, almost 16 years, is as a quality engineer. I can be successful in this business because for 14 years I was a quality auditor for a contract manufacturer and it was usually Flextronics or another big name. I audited their process, their quality, and how they built the board. That's the thing that made me realize how to enhance the process; that was good experience for me. I then worked for a small company that was created by the VP of Flextronics. He opened a new shop and I joined as quality manager and later on I took care of the operation and engineering side too. So in the sixth year, it was small company but had many customers. It was good for me to see I could manage a larger operation. It was a good experience. In 2006, I decided to open Green Circuits. Now I'm 60, so I should be preparing to retire in five or six years.

Matties: So this is a five or six-year exit strategy for you?

Park: This is my goal because Green Circuits is my baby, this is definitely my baby. I don't want to be leading; now I want to be in the backend and support. In five years I can retire peacefully to do something else. That's my goal.

Matties: Good for you. How are the employees reacting to the merger?

Park: When we announced it to the team they took it very positively because of the very strong growth, and good financial strength of the organization. They trust me, they know why I did this. I think they’ll realize I’m not doing this because I don’t care about them. But that it’s better for everyone.

O’Neil: I think the opportunities far outweigh any concerns. This is the combination of two strong companies, and those companies are the result of dedicated teams and people. They're the ones that are making this possible. It's two peers and both teams should be very proud of what they’ve created and very excited about what they are going to be creating going forward. They are teams of people who are very experienced. The quality of employees in both organizations is extraordinary and those types of people understand the synergy and what the future may hold. They're the ones working on the customers' product or interfacing with the customers every day and they see the benefit to the customer, not just to themselves, although there will be benefits for those employees as well.

Matties: Currently you have two factories. What's the plan there?

O’Neil: We're going to take the best practices of both, but as far as the SMT board level assembly we’ll be combining, and we will be utilizing both facilities to some degree for at least the near future, until we have a third facility.

Matties: What do you think the greatest challenge is in all of this, Joe?

O’Neil: The ability to discern the next step in terms of growth by acquisition. The California facilities are going to be growing and are going to be executing. The teams here are already there and in place. Strategically, the next step is the one we are going to be very cautious with and the answer will probably lie somewhere between our team and the voice of the customer. We’ll continue to listen to them now that we've solved their problem. What's the next one? Because they tend to always have a next one. We'll listen and will act accordingly.

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