Are You Ready to Thrive? Keep an Open Mind

Estimated reading time: 1 minute

Anaya Vardya joined American Standard Circuits in 2007, and his leadership strategy has focused on teamwork, technological advancement, and a strong marketing strategy. He leans on his extensive industry background and is inspired by former Intel CEO Andrew Grove, whose philosophy centered on proactive adaptability and emphasized thriving over mere survival.

Anaya champions a management style rooted in trust, empowerment, and change readiness, ensuring continuous growth and innovation in the competitive PCB manufacturing sector.

Anaya, what was your biggest challenge when you came to ASC, and how did you manage it?

The company was started in 1988, and I came in 2007. At that time, we had two facilities shipping about $10 million. The majority of the product was very basic technology. One of the two facilities also had RF capabilities. However, a majority of that business was in 4–5 volume part numbers. There was little or no marketing at that time, and most of the sales were made word-of-mouth. My role was to modernize the systems, update the technology, and grow the business. I had previously worked at several larger PCB facilities, such as IBM, UCI Continental Circuits, Merix, and Coretec, so I had developed a good experience base that helped me develop a clear vision of what American Standard Circuits could be.

We made a change early on: consolidating the two operations. This was an interesting experience since one was run like a mom-and-pop shop, and the other was an MIL-certified facility. Early on, we needed to navigate the clash of cultures.

We then worked on improving and growing our technology. Our first challenge was implementing flex and rigid-flex PCBs. Since then we have been continuously engaged in improving our technology offerings. 

To read this entire conversation, which appeared in the July 2024 issue of PCB007 Magazine, click here.