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Adapting for Success in the PCB Industry Publication Date: 6/10/2008 By Terry Heilman, CEO, Sunstone Circuits, Mulino, OR Like many other industries, the North American printed circuit board (PCB) industry has been unable to maintain immunity from the effects of rapid globalization. Overseas competition contributed to a rapid decline in the number of domestic PCB manufacturing facilities, from an estimated 890 just five years ago to fewer than 400 today. Customers with long lead-time, high-volume products have moved production overseas, where producers offer attractive cost savings. Best New Product Pricing Practices Publication Date: 3/24/2008 By Jerold Bernstein, President, Price Improvement Team LLC, Ballwin, MO One of the most challenging tasks a marketing organization will face involves setting the "right" price for a new product.New product pricing is complex. It is important to use a process that breaks down the task into manageable elements.An effective process will integrate these elements while reducing risk and increasing confidence in the important decisions to be made. Don't Cry for Me: U.S. Semicon Industry Still Strong Publication Date: 12/10/2007 By A. A. Imberman, PhD, Economics Dept. (Retired), University of Chicago Recession is on the lips of all the doomsday-preachers; so calls have arisen for some sort of protective tariff on competitive imports from China, according to Professors Kenneth F. Scheve of Yale and Matthew J. Slaughter of Dartmouth in an article in the July/August issue of Foreign Affairs. But the tremendous rise in our semiconductor exports to China refutes these dire predictions of the demise of American manufacturing. Export Market Expands Even as Dollar Recovers Publication Date: 10/31/2008 By Dr. Chris Kuehl, Economic Analyst, Fabricators & Manufacturers Association, International, Rockford, IL & Managing Partner, Armada Corporate Intelligence, Kansas City, MO For the past several months the one bright spot for the U.S. economy has been the export sector. New records have been set in exporting every month for over two years now and the U.S. has even managed to make some inroads on its trade deficit. The reason for all this activity has been pretty obvious — a weaker dollar. This weak dollar has meant that virtually all U.S. goods are being sold overseas at a 30 percent discount. This has helped U.S. manufacturers get past high tariff barriers, consumer resistance and competition to build volume in foreign sales... Financing and Market Opportunities Publication Date: 12/11/2008 By Jeffrey Servin & George Stasen, Arcadia Capital Partners, West Chester, PA Surprise: common stocks are risky. But the stock market is necessary for the survival of a free market system. Without a stock market, financing economic growth is problematic. Private companies have three mechanisms for funding growth — reinvest profit, borrow from lenders or sell stock to a limited ... Getting Ready for Europe's New EMC Directive Publication Date: 7/20/2007 By Sam Wisner, Technical Director, Advanced Compliance Solutions (ACS), Buford, GA Manufacturers are bracing themselves for the new EMC Directive that goes into effect July 20, 2007. The current Directive, 89/336/EEC is being repealed and replaced by a more refined Directive 2004/108/EC. All organizations that resell, develop or manufacture electronic devices used in Europe have to comply with the new directive from the European Commission, which is accompanied by an atmosphere of more stringent oversight and potential penalties for noncompliance. I&J Fisnar France: Making it all Work Publication Date: 6/10/2008 Loic le Naou and Helene Aubry confer on a product shipping order. By Walter Salm Cergy-Pontoise, France — What? Translate the entire I&J Fisnar catalog, data sheets and engineering bulletins from English into French? Who on earth would willingly take on a task like that? The answer: Loic le Naou, the president of I&J Fisnar France S.A. Located in a northwestern suburb of Paris, the company provides complete technical and engineering support for its products. The French subsidiary started out in 1990 with just 2 employees; Loic was one of them, and he has been leading the company's French operation ever since. Internships & Apprenticeships Win-Win Manufacturers Publication Date: 7/22/2008 By Jim Warren, Director of Education, Fabricators & Manufacturers Association, International, Rockford, IL Manufacturers in the U.S., regardless of size, specialty or location, are reporting a dire shortage of skilled workers such as welders, fabricators, laser operators, electricians, press brake operators and machinists. A survey of FMA members conducted in 2007 revealed the biggest challenge they face is the dwindling supply of skilled workers, cited by some 40 percent of those polled, far surpassing other concerns. The annual talent shortage survey by Manpower, Inc. of the 10 most difficult jobs to fill corroborates the FMA finding. The poll states that engineers, machinists, and skilled trade workers are the three positions most challenging to fill in 2008. Measuring Your Website's Return on Investment Publication Date: 9/24/2007 By Linda Rigano, Director of Strategic Alliances, ThomasNet For today's industrial business, a website is no longer just a place to post company information. Online, your website is the first point of contact for a potential customer. With research showing that nine out of ten industrial purchasers start their buying process not by picking up the phone or consulting a supplier's catalog but by searching the Internet, your website could easily be the most critical tool in your marketing arsenal. Aim it accurately at the right targets, with your online marketing efforts, and a wellcrafted website can be the vital link to a world of new customers and business opportunities. Shoot blindly and chances are good that your competitors will reap the bounty. And thanks to the anonymity of the Internet, you'll never even know it. So how do you know if your website is engaging your targets or just shooting for the moon? The key lies in an astonishingly simple concept: measurement. OPINION: Getting Our Technology Back on Track Publication Date: 8/21/2007 By Tim Davis, General Manager, GPAX, Inc., Reynoldsburg, OH Price, Value, Availability, Quality — these are the words we hear whenever the discussion turns to our next planned purchase. We only think in passing how those important ingredients are balanced and how they make a profound impact on where these goods are made. The Americas and much of Europe ... Overcoming Risk in the Service Supply Chain Publication Date: 10/1/2008 By Mike Landry, Founder and CTO, Servigistics, Atlanta, GA According to the 2008 Duke University/CFO Magazine Global Business Outlook survey, which asked more than 1,000 CFOs about their expectations for the economy, optimism among chief financial officers reached its lowest point since the optimism index launched over six years ago. Add rising fuel prices, increasing unemployment and significant cuts in consumer spending, and it's no wonder that CFOs are pessimistic about current economic conditions. Doing business under current conditions is risky business. One of the areas evoking the most concern over risk management is in the supply chain. Significant supply chain disruptions can reduce a company's revenue, cut into market share, inflate costs, tap out the budget and threaten production and distribution, according to property insurer FM Global in a report on risk management in a global economy. A companion study of more than 600 financial executives found that supply chain risk, more than anything else, had the greatest potential to disrupt their top revenue drivers.   Pre-Owned SMT Feeders: Cost-Effective Options Publication Date: 6/10/2008 By Melissa Bergeron, Manufacturing and Feeder Division Manager, Lewis and Clark, Inc., Nashua, NH Obtaining the correct types and quantity of feeders with pre-owned SMT equipment is just not in the cards. Invariably, buyers almost always end up with feeders they don't need or shortages of the ones they do need. To make up for the shortages the only option that had been available was to purchase feeders from the OEM. The result: end-users often have found themselves stockpiling feeders with no foreseeable requirement. After all, what's the likelihood of purchasing a pre-owned system and ending up with exactly the feeders needed in the correct quantities? Probably better than winning the lottery, but still not in your favor. Resellers soon realized feeders really had their own sub-market and considerable activity began to take place with the buying, selling and trading of pre-owned feeders. Rewarding Environmental Excellence Publication Date: 6/14/2007 By Daniel Fiorino, PhD, Director, EPA's Performance Track Program Reduced costs, public recognition, and a growing range of regulatory and administrative incentives are just some of the benefits that electronics manufacturers may receive by joining the National Environmental Performance Track, a program of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Since June 2000, Performance Track has been forging a new pathway for environmental protection, one that complements regulatory approaches with new tools and strategies that recognize and drive environmental excellence. EPA designed the program to help move the curve in environmental performance — to encourage businesses to do more than the minimum, with the expectation that, working together, government and industry will continuously raise the bar that defines an environmental leader. Taking the Sting Out of Warranty Costs Publication Date: 8/20/2008 By Chris Rehl, Director of Marketing, Cimtek, Needham, MA It's a big nightmare for electronics manufacturers: A sure-bet product — with years of development pumped in — is delivered with great fanfare and ringing cash registers. Two months later, a glitch affecting overall system performance is discovered in a few of these systems. The number grows and weeks later, thousands of products await repair or replacement. The media will have a field day, making news about the shoddy state of manufacturing and calling the manufacturer to task for poor customer service. It's publicity for sure, and surely not the kind that most companies would want. The costs are spiraling out of control. Suddenly, the product that was supposed to make millions puts a big red mark on the balance sheet.   The Manufacturer's Paradox: Safer Society, More Product Liability Publication Date: 1/25/2008 By David H. Wright and Peter Gray, attorneys, Halleland Lewis Nilan & Johnson, PA, Minneapolis, MN As a society, we have conquered many of the health and safety risks faced by previous generations. Vaccines guard against previously widespread diseases such as smallpox, polio, measles, and diphtheria. New technologies, and increased attention to safety, have greatly reduced product-related injuries and deaths. Even so, we are bombarded with stories of "risks" to our health and well-being. Using Technology to Simplify Business Property Search Publication Date: 10/31/2007 By Dennis J. Shea, Managing Director, FastFacility.com, Westbury, NY One of the most pressing challenges for any business executive is balancing the wealth of information available on the Internet, while finding the time to make that information useful. This is particularly true for those involved with finding new properties for their companies' expansion and relocation goals. Traditional commercial and industrial real estate listings were always the basic tool used by site selection executives, consultants, and developers. The Internet has made this search process somewhat less time consuming, but the information available through online real estate listings — square footage, costs, perhaps a photograph or two — is not necessarily complete enough to make a decision.