We all want to improve profits– even in our everyday private lives? Who wouldn’t you like to increase his personal profit?
Often, especially in today’s world, profit is considered a dirty word. How dare a company make a profit while paying me beans, or while charging me an outrageous sum? Or so the thinking goes. Of course, profitability is crucial to just about any business; without it, a private company wouldn’t be in business very long. But in this tough, highly competitive industry of ours, how do you make that happen? PCB Material costs squeeze from one side and your customers squeeze from the other. Are there strategies you haven’t tried or don’t know about? Yes, I believe there are.
Naturally, we first wanted to hear your thoughts, so we conducted a survey. One of the first questions was, “What is your target percentage of profit?” I must say, I was a bit surprised to see that some people were expecting a profit of more than 30% (well, maybe not in manufacturing). Most were targeting 11– 15%, which seems a bit more realistic.
We asked another question: “What part of your process and business has the greatest impact on your profit?” We offered a few choices and left room for comments. The results were not surprising– raw materials and labor were the biggest costs of PCB manufacturing business. We had some interesting responses in the “Other” column.
A slightly different method put forth by Mike Jennings and Patrick Riechel of ESI has to do with optimizing laser processing for greatest efficiency to minimize cost of ownership. They touch on a number of issues including automation, utilization and extending system longevity. To satisfy the hardcore techies out there, we have a great article by Dr. Rita Mohanty, et al., of MacDermid Enthone Electronics Solutions. It covers a new direct metallization process specifically designed for flex PCB and rigid-flex PCB.
Steve Williams of The Right Approach Inc. leads us off with a case for reducing inspection as a means to profitability. Next, systems expert Dave Dibble furthers the cause for systems-based thinking and acting by recounting the true story of a company he worked with, and its remarkable double turnaround, from loss to profit, back to loss and then back again to profit. Dave Becker of All Flex Flexible Circuits chimes in with the case for Lean manufacturing and NPIP to reduce waste, thereby enhancing profitability.
Karl Dietz gives us a very thorough overview of the green legislation around the world that affects our industry, explaining each in clear language. He then details the impact these have had on the electronic materials and equipment used in the PCB manufacturing and assembly fields.
And we’re introducing a new columnist this month from Brazil! Renato Peres, with Circuibras, gives us a quick overview of the electronics industry in Brazil, and promises a column on process engineering for April’s issue. We’ll bring you Renato’s Brazilian perspective every month. Time to see what the rest of the world is up to.