Imagineering: 100 Million Sold
July 29, 2014 |Estimated reading time: 5 minutes
Some things just take time.
Imagineering has been manufacturing PCBs for almost 30 years. During that time, the Elk Grove, Illinois-based fabricator has been slugging it out in the trenches, making a name for itself as a prototype company.
But not long ago, CEO Parvin Dhanji, COO Khurrum Dhanji, and Vice President of Sales Sulaiman Roy made a surprise discovery: The company will soon produce its 100 millionth PCB.
I caught up with Khurrum recently, and we discussed this milestone and what it means to the future of Imagineering.
Andy Shaughnessy: First, give us some background on Imagineering.
Khurrum Dhanji: Founded in 1985, Imagineering is devoted to being a value-added electronic contract manufacturing company, supplying rigid, flex, and PCB assemblies.
Our core philosophy has not changed since the inception of the company 29 years ago. Whether it be a simple prototype, complex multilayer HDI, or complete turnkey production, our number one priority has always been to understand what the customer values. We evaluate each customer’s needs and deliver the best-in-class value-added service and products within the customer’s constraints. It’s old-fashioned philosophy in a high-tech environment. With this philosophy we’ve grown from prototype fabricators in the 1980s to a company that can help you take your ideas from prototype to production with a single point of contact. Last year alone, we successfully took over 9,000 prototype parts to production.
Shaughnessy: What would you say is your “sweet spot” as far as technology?
Dhanji: Since we are so well diversified with manufacturing capabilities in the USA and overseas, our sweet spot comes in many flavors (HDI, rigid-flex, metal core, micro-BGA assembly, etc.). But if I had to pick one, it would be our ability to make all of the above on a quick-turn basis. Actually, it’s the technology infrastructure that allows us to make PCB and PCBA on quick-turn basis.
Shaughnessy: I understand you’re about to celebrate a huge milestone. Tell us about it.
Dhanji: We came upon this milestone by accident. We were just doing our internal ISO audit and somehow stumbled upon it. The milestone is that we have reached 100 million pieces sold. Even though we have been in business for last 29 years, majority of the 100 million pieces sold really came in last 10 years with an accelerated marketing campaign.
Shaughnessy: What did you all do to put Imagineering over the top, into the 100 million board range?
Dhanji: We can’t take all the credit; it was really our customers and their confidence in our ability. It was a combination of marketing, investment in infrastructure, enterprise resource planning and CRM software. Automation, automation, automation, followed by top-notch customer service. And it’s evident in all the testimonials we receive from our customers on weekly basis.
Shaughnessy: Many see Imagineering as a prototype shop. But nine figures is definitely a production volume level. How do you see Imagineering? Are you a proto company or a production company?
Dhanji: Twenty-nine years ago we certainly started out to be a quick-turn prototype company, but along the way, with massive investment in infrastructure and our customer support and encouragement, we have evolved into this quick-turn proto/production one-stop shop. As I said earlier, we are very well diversified into different technology, with facilities in the U.S. and Taiwan.
At Imagineering we think of ourselves as a “protoduction” shop. Here is an example of protoduction: When a prototype may go to production one day, we prep the Gerber and fabrication files for production by doing a full CAD/CAM review and the all-important DFM review. It does not matter if it’s a 30-layer HDI prototype, or a simple two-layer $25 special. All Gerber files will go through our CAD/CAM engineering department’s scrutiny in Elk Grove Village. Once the prototype is ready for production, then the tooling along with all the fabrication process notes and issues will be transferred seamlessly to production.
Shaughnessy: Has this been a steady trend, or have production levels ramped up recently?
Dhanji: It really came about in last 10 years, primarily due to an accelerated marketing and advertising campaign. By the way, all of our graphics, including our creative advertising, are created by our president and CEO, Parvin Dhanji. She holds an ADR certificate from De Paul University, and she studied at Ray-Vogue College of Design. Parvin is the creative genius behind all of our strategic marketing and advertising campaign and the brains behind our success.
Shaughnessy: When I interviewed you last year, I noticed that you don’t spend much time complaining about foreign competition. Do you see yourselves as competing with the high-volume manufacturers in Asia?
Dhanji: We don’t compete with an overseas market; we actually complement them. We can do things that they are either not able to do, or do not want to do. In the overseas market you can either be a quick-turn prototype shop or a production shop; you can’t do both. And that’s where Imagineering has carved a niche. Due to our infrastructure, we are a handful of companies in the world that can do that, and I mean successfully.
Shaughnessy: What would you say are the biggest challenges in our industry?
Dhanji: That’s an interesting question because hidden inside these challenges we have always found opportunities. For example: Onshoring. I feel that close to a billion dollars’ worth of PCB and PCBA business will be coming back to the U.S. due to increasing labor and infrastructure cost in China. But it won’t be easy. You will have to fight for this business, and not just with competitive on pricing. We will all have to offer the level of quality that customers are used to is China. Yes, I said quality. Just look at your iPhone; it’s made in China, and when was the last time you had a quality issue? Dropping your iPhone into the toilet does not count!
Shaughnessy: What advice do you have for PCB makers in North America?
Dhanji: They need to continue to strengthen its existing advantage in this competitive market by locating and developing advanced HDI techniques, increasing the precise automation of mass production, exploring distinctive markets for highly value-added PCBs, and introducing global logistics management like Kanban for lean and just-in-time production in conjunction with on-demand warehousing. And lastly, they need to open up both domestic and overseas markets.
Shaughnessy: It’s been great talking with you. Congratulations on reaching this milestone.
Dhanji: Thank you. It’s been a pleasure.