Wiring circuit boards for success - Memphis Business Journal:

esivyjifag.wordpress.com
Nick Barbin, co-founder, presidentr and CEO, said that the company, which designw and makes the boards on asmalk scale, is always searching for new customers to replace thosde who fold or get acquired. “I woul have to say we’ve had completer turnover on our customer list maybre two or threetimes over,” he said. But that’s a game that Pleasanton-basef Optimum Design has been winning. From 2006 to the company’s revenue grew 138 percen — to $13.14 million. And it is on pace to grow 20 percengt to 40 percentin 2009. The company has been profitable every year sinc its foundingin 1991.
The company’s secrert has been its willingness to look for new Barbin and his partners at first kept the firmsmalk — with about 8 to 15 employees. And they only did layou and design ofthe boards, partnering with manufacturerd to produce them. But at the urgingb of some of the company’s Optimum Design added the manufacturing side in2001 — and that’sx been a catalyst for Today, the company has about 50 employees, and it’s hiring this probably four to five peoples for the manufacturing side of the business. Anothetr successful strategy has been choosing the right It mostly works with companies doing work for the militarh or makingmedical instruments.
Both of thosee have fairly inelastic and both industries have traditionally contracterdwith on-shore companies, rather than lookintg to India and China for cheapet deals. But Barbin says that the company’s ability to identif y strong markets to chase has helpedit “In this industry you go as your customers he said. “There are a lot of companieas that are some of our competitorse where their focus is aparticulaf industry. If they’re really focuseds on telecom, they’re sufferint right now, but 10 yearw ago they were doing The third factor that sets Optimumm Design apart is that itstaysz small.
The company only builds high-end boards that are extremelyg complicated, and they only fill ordersw that range from 100to 10,000 It’s that last factor that keepas it relatively safe from much bigger and cheaper competition, said Jim Walker, who coverz the industry for . Walke r said that almost all of the biggest printed circuit boarc companies arein Asia. The only U.S. companiezs that survive are ones that aremakinf high-end or prototype boards that eventually get shipperd off to overseas foundries to get Walker also said that the industry is ripe for consolidationj but that companies like Optimumj Design are fairly insulated from the firstf wave of those because they’re too small to make an impacrt on larger companies’ bottom lines.
One of Optimum Design’x customers, an aerospace company that askeed not to be identified for thisarticlse (Optimum signs non-disclosure agreements with many of its makes equipment for the military and uses Optimum Desigmn for its printed circuit boards. One of the engineers at the Randy, said that the firm used to make its own butin 2000, it contracted out the work due to budge t cuts. Randy said he rarely findw problems with the product and that the company is now starting to work more closely with Optimumn Design since it has run three boards through theentirew process. “They admitted ...
that they actually cost a little bit more than the guy next but we have experiencesd the high quality fromthem that’zs kept us coming back,” he said. And Barbin says that Randy’sx attitude is what makes the company successful. Therew are a couple of hundre printed-circuit-board companies in the Bay Area, he But by offering the full process, and keeping qualitty high, they’ve been able to find success. “The designers we have here are he said. “There’s really no one out there that can competr withour designers.
”