-
- News
- Books
Featured Books
- smt007 Magazine
Latest Issues
Current IssueBox Build
One trend is to add box build and final assembly to your product offering. In this issue, we explore the opportunities and risks of adding system assembly to your service portfolio.
IPC APEX EXPO 2024 Pre-show
This month’s issue devotes its pages to a comprehensive preview of the IPC APEX EXPO 2024 event. Whether your role is technical or business, if you're new-to-the-industry or seasoned veteran, you'll find value throughout this program.
Boost Your Sales
Every part of your business can be evaluated as a process, including your sales funnel. Optimizing your selling process requires a coordinated effort between marketing and sales. In this issue, industry experts in marketing and sales offer their best advice on how to boost your sales efforts.
- Articles
- Columns
Search Console
- Links
- Events
||| MENU - smt007 Magazine
Schweitzer: Building Inner Strength
March 15, 2023 | Nolan Johnson, I-Connect007Estimated reading time: 2 minutes
Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories (SEL) has been building out a greenfield captive facility for board fabrication and assembly. As we conducted this interview, SEL was nearing production; just before this magazine went to print, SEL announced that the facility had moved into production.
In this second part of a larger, wide-ranging discussion (see the February 2023 issue of PCB007 Magazine for part one), we spoke with John Hendrickson, engineering director; Frank Harrill, vice president of security; and Jessi Hall, senior director of vertical engineering. The discussion encompasses what goes into the mindset of a captive EMS facility.
Nolan Johnson: Schweitzer is currently building a captive facility. There isn’t much of that happening in North America right now, so I think your perspective on this is unique and likely very insightful. How do you view the current marketplace when you have just one dedicated customer?
John Hendrickson: It’s both exciting and challenging. It’s challenging because a typical shop in the United States has many customers. Those customers have their needs and are always pushing those facilities into looking and researching capabilities or new areas. For us, since we have just one customer, the challenge is in being proactive in how we address that. We must be in tune with what the next level downstream suppliers are providing to our design engineers and how that impacts our product development.
What’s exciting about that is we get to partner a lot closer with our R&D folks. We become integrated into the project teams early, so we understand the challenges that they’re trying to solve and the components they’re using to solve those challenges.
We also get to do a lot of proactive research and help drive the designs in the manufacturing space as well; we’re driving things like consistency and simplified designs. There are a lot of buzzwords in industry: HDI, blind buried via, sequential lamination, etc. That’s when we take a step back and really look at the reliability of our products. Do we really need to go to those levels? If we do, we have to consider how that impacts our reliability, because we have a 20-plus-year lifecycle in our products.
Johnson: Most of the EMS providers in the industry right now have to be reasonably good at a lot of things. In contrast, you have a thick set of constraints you can rely on.
Hendrickson: We do have a diverse product mix. We might decide not to invest in something because it’s a low volume piece and the justification for that investment isn’t there. Balancing that vs. keeping things captive is part of the challenge.
This excerpt is from the March 2023 issue of SMT007 Magazine. Follow this link to continue reading this conversation.
Suggested Items
Boeing Opens Research & Technology Center in Japan
04/23/2024 | BoeingBoeing today opened a Boeing Research & Technology (BR&T) Center in Japan that will focus on innovation to enable the commercial aviation industry meet its goal of net zero carbon emissions by 2050.
Ansys Joins BAE Systems’ Mission Advantage Program to Advance Digital Engineering Across US Department of Defense
04/16/2024 | ANSYSAnsys announced it is working with BAE Systems, Inc., to accelerate the adoption of digital engineering and MBSE across the Department of Defense (DoD).
Incap Estonia Teamed Up With Solaride to Fuel Youth Excitement for The World of Engineering
04/11/2024 | IncapIncap Estonia partnered with Solaride to ignite enthusiasm among young people for the world of engineering and sustainable technology. Together, they organised an inspiring day for students from grades 7 through 12 in Saaremaa. Held at Incap’s Kuressaare factory, this event brought together over 130 young minds eager to explore the innovative world of technology and learn more about advanced electronics manufacturing.
Mark Schulman Rocks Zuken Innovation World + integrate24
04/10/2024 | ZukenZuken USA, Inc. is excited to announce that the renowned drummer and motivational speaker, Mark Schulman, will be the keynote speaker at this year's Zuken Innovation World Americas (ZIW) conference, co-located with integrate24. Scheduled for September 17-19, 2024, in the vibrant city of Cleveland, Ohio, the conference aims to bring together the brightest minds in the PCB, Wire Harness, and Digital Engineering fields.
Saab Announces Plans for New Munitions Facility in U.S.
04/03/2024 | SaabSaab announced plans to build a new munitions facility in the U.S., continuing the company’s strong investment and growth domestically.