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Advanced Circuits
Prototype Printed Circuit Boards Fast
In
past years, engineers would design a product and then have to find some
way to cobble together a prototype of it to evaluate and test, often going
through several iterations. Then, after spending a ton of money on prototypes
and months of time finetuning the design, manufacturing engineers would
have to develop costly tooling for mass producing the design.
In this age of computerization, rapid prototyping and soft tooling technologies have changed all that. Designs are generated and tested on computer, and drawings can go straight from there to CNC machinery for fabrication. Perhaps nobody has taken advantage of this trend more than Advanced Circuits, a printed circuit board manufacturer in Aurora, Colorado, a suburb of Denver. As a result, the company prospers even in slow times for the economy and the printed circuit board industry.
Advanced Circuits was started by Ron Huston, an electrical engineer, and his brother-in-law in 1989 when they bought a floundering company called Seiko Circuits. Huston bought his brother-in-law out in 1996 and became sole owner, and he serves as CEO today. The company, which numbers 200 employees, produces myriad forms of rigid circuit boards used in all types of electronic devices. Customers include the likes of Lucent Technologies, IBM, Texas Instruments, and Sunkist Growers.
Huston explains how he turned the company around: "At a time when the U.S. PCB market is losing business to manufacturers overseas, we created a niche for ourselves in the market when we developed a system for building small-quantity, quick-turn prototypes with a low premium price." They use standard circuit board manufacturing equipment, but as Jim Hellmer, vice president of engineering, says, “We designed our facility, processes, and procedures specifically around the small quantity and quick turn. We’re highly automated on setups.”
President
John Yacoub says the quick turnaround “is very important for people
doing design work in small runs.” As Hellmer further explains, “one
of the things that’s continually happening in the technology sector
is the shortening of the design cycle. Design cycles have gone from years
to months now to days.” This in turn shortens a company’s
time to market with a new product. Companies may go through several iterations
in designing a circuit board, and saving a few hours and bucks each time
adds up.
But Advanced Circuits handles more than prototypes, Hellmer reveals. “We also have capabilities to do all the way up to large production lots as well. In our facility in Aurora, we do the smaller quantities. But we also have availability to other facilities that specialize in larger production quantities. We cover the entire spectrum.” They partner with other firms on production. Yacoub adds, “If they come back for production, they don’t pay for tooling again.” The company stores archives of tooling electronically.
Advanced Circuits has also made its mark in another way by integrating the Internet with design and manufacturing to not only shorten design cycles but improve customer service. They recently announced the availability of Check Plot Online, a PDF-format tool that provides engineers with a preview of circuit board designs prior to production. Huston says, “This allows engineers to avoid costly redesign efforts and project delays once a circuit board moves into the manufacturing phase.” Engineers upload files to a website and receive feedback within minutes that highlights potential manufacturability problems and suggests modifications. The company also offers customers a unique online quoting and order placement system and the ability to check on existing orders 24 hours a day. As a result, Advanced Circuits has no minimum quantity requirement and offers a standard delivery of three days.
The engineering department at Advanced Circuits numbers 30 people, including six degreed engineers and several with associate’s degrees. Disciplines range “across the spectrum,” as Hellmer puts it. They have mechanical, electrical, and manufacturing engineers as well as an industrial engineer.
When it comes to hiring engineers, Yacoub remarks, “It’s the only department where we never say no when we have a good candidate walk in.” He cites current needs: “At this point, we’re interviewing for a process engineer. It would be a chemical engineer or someone with a chemical background.” To recruit engineers, they work through universities and place ads in newspapers.
But despite the talk of engineering disciplines, Hellmer states, “Mostly what we look for in engineers are the general engineering concepts, not the specific discipline.” He adds, “We look for somebody not hesitant to get hands-on, learn the industry, learn our business, learn our processes, and eventually move into a management position.”
With the approach Huston has taken, Advanced Circuits has experienced growth in a declining industry. Although the U.S. printed circuit board industry shrank 40 percent from 2001 through 2003, Advanced Circuits grew more than 15 percent each year during that time. Having experienced 500 percent growth since 1997, the company shows promise to continue its good fortune well into the future.
Snapshot
Company: Advanced Circuits
Type: Printed circuit board manufacturer
Location: Aurora, Colorado
Website: www.4pcb.com
Phone: 800-979-4PCB
Contact information for submitting resumes:
Human Resources
jobs@4pcb.com
Progressive
Engineer
Editor: Tom Gibson
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570-568-8444 * progress@jdweb.com
©2004 Progressive Engineer