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The Chemical Connection: Onshoring PCB Production—Daunting but Certainly Possible
A Conversation with Andy Michniewicz
February 10, 2015 | Dan Beaulieu, D.B. Management GroupEstimated reading time: 8 minutes
Gul Technologies (Gultech) is not your traditional offshore supplier. It is a true industry leader when it comes to technology. A few months ago, I sat down to talk with Mayne-McKenney’s Andy Michniewicz. His company represents Gultech here in North America and they were just starting a project to expand Gultech’s market reach on this side of the globe. I found that interview interesting enough that I wanted to follow up and see how things were going now that a few months have passed.
More than a few things that surprised me about this interview. The first was the far reach of Gultech’s manufacturing capabilities; with a number of facilities in China and sales offices all over the world, it is a true global company. The second surprise was discovering that they are such a high-tech company. Their capabilities cover just about every type of technology available in our industry today. To those of you who think that Asian companies can only build the low-tech, low-mix, high-volume product, this interview is going to be a real eye-opener.
Check it out.
Dan Beaulieu: Andy, when you and I spoke a few months ago, you were talking about expanding Gultech’s reach into other North American markets. Can you tell me how that is going so far?
Andy Michniewicz: The revised marketing strategy started in October and has generated a lot of interest from the reps we contacted. The reps have been forwarded the documentation provided by Gultech on their facilities, capabilities, and product lines, and it appears to be a very good fit with the many reps that I have spoken to. The first quotes have been submitted to Gul and we believe the sky’s the limit as we move forward and clients realize what Gul has to offer.
DB: How are you being received?
AM: Gul is being received as an extremely good alternative supplier, based on the capabilities, resources, technical expertise, and local support that we are able to supply. Gul has come to the rescue for customers who needed quick delivery or were having quality issues with their existing supplier.
DB: In doing my research for this interview, I was frankly surprised at how big Gultech is. Can you describe the company to our readers?
AM: Gul has recently added a third facility to its campuses. There are facilities in Suzhou (800,000 square feet of boards per month, with 1,500 employees), Wuxi (850,000 square feet per month, with 1,800 employees), and the new facility in Wuxi adjoining the other (1.2 million square feet per month) which started production in the fourth quarter of 2014. All the facilities are located in China. Gultech Suzhou is the standard technology facility, which does standard 2-12 layer boards: automotive/industrial, high-reliability, HDD/SSD, semi-flex bendable FR-4, IMS thermal management. Gultech Wuxi does 2 to more than 14 layers, HDI, automotive/industrial, high-reliability, flex-rigid with flex core polyimide, regal flex with flex core FR-4, LED, chip-on-board (COB), and IMS (thermal management). Gultech Jiangsu is slated to do high-layer boards, thin/fine-line boards, HDI and anylayer HDI, flex-rigid with flex core polyimide, regal flex with flex core FR-4, LED, and COB.
DB: Now talk to me about your capabilities. From what I saw in my research, it looks like you guys can do just about anything. Page 1 of 3
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