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June 11, 2015 | Barry Matties, I-Connect007Estimated reading time: 5 minutes
At the recent IMS RF and microwave show in Phoenix, Arizona, I had a chance to catch up with Anaya Vardya, CEO of American Standard Circuits, which has been in business for more than a quarter-century. In this interview, we discuss market trends, recent equipment investments and where their growth as a company will likely come from.
Barry Matties: Anaya, the IMS microwave show, as you said, is a large part of your business. Why don't you give me a little history about American Standard Circuits—where you guys started and how you got where you are.
Anaya Vardya: We've been in business for about 27 years now, as of this August. The shop started with four people, so it was a very small facility. We've now grown to more than 100 employees. We're about $17 million in revenue, so we've grown fairly significantly over the last 20-plus years. A good portion, between 60–65% of our business, is focused on the RF/microwave sector. We have a pretty large portion in automotive telematics. We also do a fair amount of business in communication and a lot in mil/aero.
One thing that is pretty unique about us is the fact that we're able to build a lot of different kinds of metal-backed PCBs for the RF/microwave space. We have a couple of patents in that area. In addition, we've got some very unique offerings in the metal-backed sector, including the fact that we can do some very quick turns on this kind of technology. We're probably one of the only shops that can turn metal-backed technology in five days or less.
Matties: So your patents have given you some competitive advantages.
Vardya: Right, our patents give us competitive advantages because we have the ability to actually bond circuit boards to metal with our proprietary materials. Some of the proprietary materials have advantages over the commercially available materials and are preferred by many of our customers.
Matties: With the RF market, the automotive sector has grown a lot for you then.
Vardya: Yes, it has. In the last few years we've seen significant increase in the amount of electronics content in automobiles, with technologies like blind spot detection, automatic braking, and stop and go in crowded areas. What you're seeing in a lot of these applications is RF/microwave–type circuits, and because of that you're seeing a lot more RF microwave boards in the automotive sector.
Matties: What sorts of process requirements do your customers have?
Vardya: Several things: many different kinds of materials; a lot of very thin boards; very tight registration requirements; and then very fine lines and fine circuits. What's really important in the RF/microwave space is the tight tolerance on requirements.
Matties: You mentioned military as well.
Vardya: We're participating in a large number of different sectors. We've built boards that have ended up in IED collision avoidance devices worn on backs of marines. We've also done boards for satellites and the F-35 fighter jet program. We really have a very large variety of applications.
Matties: There's got to be a great sense of pride in your organization when you're building products for such important missions.
Vardya: Yes, there absolutely is.
Matties: All the manufacturing is done in your facility in West Chicago. Is that where you started?Page 1 of 2
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