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James Hofer, general manager of Accurate Circuit Engineering (ACE) in Southern California, shares his insights about his specialty, quick-turn company, the market, and the interesting times in which we find ourselves. James remains optimistic about bringing manufacturing back to the United States and takes great pride in the work that ACE does to support military, defense, and aerospace. As James looks toward a prosperous 2025, he reflects on his 40 years in the business and learning that the secret to success is not trying to be everything to everyone.
Marcy LaRont: James, please introduce yourself and Accurate Circuit Engineering.
James Hofer: Hello, Marcy. ACE is a small business in Santa Ana, California, founded in 1983 and specializing in quick-turn, high technology, high-mix, low-volume printed circuit boards. We truly live up to our tagline, “Nobody does it faster.”
I’m often asked how we manufacture our boards so fast. What works well for us is that we haven't tried to be everything to everyone. We do it better because we've stuck with our core competency throughout the past 40 years. When you do one thing for 40 years, you become really good at it.
We've had many opportunities to be bought out, and we are not interested in that. I believe there's a market for a single small, boutique-type shop. In shops like ours, you know who is building your product, and you know where it's being built. We don't try and mix in production with our quick-turn. We are quick-turn, period.
LaRont: What technologies are you playing in?
Hofer: Being a prototype shop, we do a little bit of everything. However, our real expertise is RF, microwave, high speed, and antennas. We don't build flex and rigid-flex. Therefore, we wanted to excel in a technology that doesn't compete with the low-cost shops out there, and that really is in RF, microwave, and antennas. It’s also because we understand that frequency matters, and in RF and antenna it truly does. You have to be specialized and cognizant of the nuances of the manufacturing that goes into RF boards—and we are.
To read the entire interview, which originally appeared in the April 2025 issue of PCB007 Magazine, click here.
