Ventec Shares Their Insights on the Laminate Market, Part II
September 13, 2017 | Barry Matties, I-Connect007Estimated reading time: 11 minutes
![](https://iconnect007.com/application/files/1216/3123/8328/Mark_Goodwin.jpg)
Editor's Note: To read the Part I of this interview, click here.
Matties: What's the key to Ventec's success in Europe?
Goodwin: Quite simply it's the tunnel vision of others. They thought they were in the material business, I recognized that the world would change and we were in the service business. And the world now follows our model, not the ‘old’ model, which was all about square meters.
Now it's all about delivering what the customer needs, in the batch size they need, within the lead time they need it, managing supply chains, making them efficient, and keeping people's stocks to a minimum, keeping costs down. We're in a very competitive business and you had to get out of this mindset of square meters at least in the non-Asian business. I used to look after the biggest accounts in the UK. One of the biggest accounts in the UK back in 1999/2000 would consume more laminate in a month than we sell in a year now. But those days are gone, it's a different business, and if you think they're coming back in Europe, forget it.
It's now about beginning of life, end of life, specialty products, getting the customer what they need, when they need it without them giving you any information, you need to know their business as well as they do, if not better. That's it. Service, service, service.
Matties: Let’s talk about the UK market—what’s your share?
Goodwin: I don't know the exact size of the UK market; it's very difficult to estimate. When I started in this business 10 years ago, I thought it was about 12−15 million pounds. I think it's significantly smaller than that now. I think at best it's 12, probably closer to 10. If I am right, and you take out the business that this business unit does in other markets, we're at least 50% of the UK market, possibly more. And our mix is more towards thin core and prepreg than it is towards rigid. In the UK, the chances of growth for us in the laminate business now are limited. We're generally defending what we’ve got, whilst always pointing out to new and existing customers the benefits in service, quality and low overall cost of ownership of working with us.
There are some chances particularly in thermal management, but a lot of that business isn't here in the UK. Some of it is controlled from the UK, so a lot of the OEM activity is here, but the sales are made in other markets. It’s another reason to be present in all markets, by the way, and another reason to be a laminator, not a distributor. There's still a lot of OEM activity and where products get made now is to some degree secondary. You need to get all the approval work done and you need to get the prototypes made. So even having a small business unit in a relatively small market, still makes a lot of sense for us because it drives sales activity in Asia. A lot of the big volume thermal management products for automotive are manufactured in Asia. Small and medium quantities are manufactured here, but all the other activity, all the OEM specified activity, happens here in the UK and mainland Europe.
We’ve got an OEM team, who more and more have a hybrid role with some of the big Asian volume PCB shops, and our sales guys who are servicing the PCB shops here are having to do more OEM activity with some of the local OEMs in Europe.
The roles are becoming hybrid with a lot of crossover and I think that's again one of Ventec's advantages. We're small enough and nimble enough and have a small enough management team to have this matrix management and we bring the information to the center and react to it in a quick way.
Matties: If you're at 50% market share, where do you go from here?
Goodwin: Well, we’re set up for continued growth. Okay, so there was a shortage in copper foil and everybody said to me that it was all bullshit and it was all made up and all this kind of stuff. I had customers who six months earlier, when I told them I was planning on bringing copper foil to the market, told me I would never get started with copper foil. And I've got several now that are our customers because they were let down by their distributors of copper foil. I've also got several that bought off me because they were in deep trouble, and I'm having discussions with them now saying this really isn't over, the shortage will come again.
So for me the question is… do you want to work with a guy who buys his copper foil on the back of buying 450−500 tons a month for his manufacturing plant in China? Or do you want to buy it from a distributor who buys 7−8 tons a month just for their distribution business? Who's got the clout in the supply chain? Who can guarantee continuity of supply? The fact is that when others had no foil to supply, we did, and we are the new kids on the block here. For our customers it’s our focus on supply chain and supply chain management and security that makes us a reliable partner.
There's a bit of a lull, but the storm is coming back. Nothing has fundamentally changed on the copper foil capacity side for supply, and we all know the demand for copper foil for batteries is only going one direction.
Matties: On a rocket ship, it's going off.Page 1 of 2
Suggested Items
Atotech to Participate at KPCA Show 2024
09/03/2024 | AtotechMKS’ Atotech will participate in this year’s KPCA Show 2024 in Incheon, held at Songdo Convensia from September 4-6, 2024.
Victory Announces Breakthrough in PCB Technology with New Product Launch
08/29/2024 | openPRShenzhen Victory Electronics Technology Co., Ltd., a leader in the printed circuit board (PCB) manufacturing industry, is proud to announce the successful development of a groundbreaking new product.
Connect the Dots: Designing for Reality—Electroless Copper
08/28/2024 | Matt Stevenson -- Column: Connect the DotsRoll up your sleeves because it's time to get messy. In a recent episode of I-Connect007’s On the Line with… podcast, we discussed electroless copper deposition. This process deposits a copper layer into the through-holes and vias of what will eventually be a PCB. Electroless copper deposition feels like a black box to many people. It sort of looks like a black box, too. The boards go in one side, come out the other, and emerge differently. So, let's crack open that black box and look inside.
Maximizing ROI Through Better Wet Process Control
08/20/2024 | I-Connect007 Editorial Team“When things get out of control, the variation in your wet process begins,” says Mike Carano,. “Just because they look like good boards and may even pass electrical test, it does not necessarily mean you have good boards. Once the chemistry is headed toward the right or left side of the process control parameter cliff, the plating is compromised. If the copper is thinner than it should be, when the customer puts it into service, the board may fail after 500 cycles vs. the requisite 1,000 or 2,000 cycles. The root cause issue is that you plated 7/10ths of a mil of copper instead of one-mil of copper because you were not controlling your process. The fact that you passed your own electric test becomes inconsequential.”
The Chemical Connection: Controlling an Alkaline Etch Bath With Low Copper Loading
08/07/2024 | Don Ball -- Column: The Chemical ConnectionThis month, I wanted to continue my discussion on how much process control is actually needed for high-density circuit production. However, in the last month, I have been called on to help with a specific process control problem: how to control an alkaline etch bath when you’re not etching much copper. This problem has been cropping up more frequently as smaller shops (and a few larger ones) concentrate on low-volume, high-value plated through-hole panels such as prototypes, resistor cores, etc.