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Standard of Excellence: Moving Into the Future by Growing Your Technology

It’s a well-known fact that if your company is not growing and moving forward every single day, it is dying. The same rule applies to technology companies: To stay alive, you must grow your technology by keeping up with your customers’ product technology needs. Too many printed circuit board fabricators are dying a slow death because they are not willing or able to invest the time, energy, money, and passion to always work on their technology.

You are in the technology business. We realize that we do not really build our own products; we build components for our customers’ products. In the end, our product is our process; our product is our capabilities, and our product is our technology.

Our customers count on us to be there when they need us as they compete in their markets. Our customers rely on us to keep up with their needs. They expect us to spend time with them, learning what their needs are, both present and in the future. It’s up to us to make sure we are doing whatever it takes to meet and even surpass their needs.

In recent years, our responsibility to our customers has increased. As they innovate, design, and produce new products of the future, we must step up our game. We have entered the time of 1-mil lines and spaces, producing PCBs and PCBAs with special materials and mixed technologies. We are quickly headed to a time when, to compete in our market, shops will need direct imaging, laser drills, and other cutting-edge equipment that was once considered for only the most elite of our PCB fabrication competitors. We are soon approaching a time when all fabricators will need the most advanced equipment on the market today.

Here are some of the most important things that every PCB fabricator should be investing in if they want to stay pertinent in today’s market:

• Invest in research and development (R&D): Allocate resources to continuously innovate and develop new technologies or products. You are your customer’s PCB expert. You must know more about your product than they do. Makes sense, right?
• Embrace artificial intelligence (AI): Incorporate AI to automate processes, analyze data, and improve decision-making. We are already seeing evidence of AI in our newer equipment. Stay tuned as the best is yet to come.
• Develop a digital transformation strategy: Implement a comprehensive plan to digitize and modernize your business processes. All of them. There are many companies running their companies with their smartphones and from other parts of the world thousands of miles from their facility.
• Foster a culture of innovation: Encourage employees to generate new ideas and provide them with the tools and resources to do so. Company culture will be the new technology of the future. We have to spend more time with our employees going forward.
• Build stronger cybersecurity: Protect your company's data and technology infrastructure from cyber threats and attacks. I personally know companies that have been hit by ransomware and it is an awful experience. Avoid even the possibility of that at all costs.
• Invest in cloud computing: Utilize cloud services to enhance scalability, flexibility, and cost-efficiency.
• IoT integration: Connect devices and gather data for better insights and process optimization.
• Big data analytics: Analyze large datasets to gain valuable insights and inform strategic decisions.
• Improve customer experience: Enhance customer satisfaction by focusing on user-friendly interfaces and seamless interactions. I know this is not exactly technology, but it is critical to our success as fabrication houses. I have a friend who likes to say that when it comes to board shops, the higher the technology, the lousier the customer service, and I tend to agree with him. Let’s start working on that customer experience.
• Implement automation: Streamline repetitive tasks and processes with automation tools.
• Upgrade hardware and software: Ensure your technology infrastructure is up-to-date and capable of supporting growth.
• Partner with tech startups: Collaborate with innovative startups for fresh ideas and solutions.
• Continuous training and skill development: Invest in employee training to keep your workforce updated on the latest technologies.
• Customer feedback and engagement: Actively seek feedback from customers to tailor your technology and services to their needs.
• Mergers and acquisitions: Consider strategic acquisitions or mergers to gain access to new technologies and markets.
• Environmental sustainability: Incorporate eco-friendly technologies and practices to align with sustainability goals.
• Focus on employee wellbeing: A happy and healthy workforce is more productive and creative, which can lead to technological innovations.

The key to sustainable growth and technological advancement is staying adaptable and responsive to changes in the business environment and customer preferences. Continuously assess your strategies and make adjustments as needed to thrive in the ever-evolving technological landscape. To succeed, make friends with change. Embrace and love it as a true driver to innovation in all things, particularly technology.

Anaya Vardya is president and CEO of American Standard Circuits; co-author of The Printed Circuit Designer’s Guide to… Fundamentals of RF/Microwave PCBs and Flex and Rigid-Flex Fundamentals. He is the author of Thermal Management: A Fabricator's Perspective and The Companion Guide to Flex and Rigid-Flex Fundamentals. Visit I-007eBooks.com to download these and other free, educational titles.