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MULINO, Ore. — Sunstone Circuits, the printed circuit board (PCB) prototype solutions provider, has enhanced their services by offering Rogers material 4350 (RO4350) for orders placed within the Sunstone quickturn product line.
The demand for Rogers materials is continuously on the rise. In their quest to continue being the easiest PCB company to do business with, Sunstone has responded to that demand and is now offering RO4350 on 2-Layer quickturn prototypes. Boards can be purchased in quantities of up to 25 per order, and will be shipped to customers within 24 hours of purchasing.
With the wireless communications industry rapidly evolving, this type of demand is becoming extremely common. Nearly all radio frequency (RF) devices used for test equipment specify Rogers materials. With its impressive and efficient dielectric constant, Rogers PCBs allow for very little current impedance. As a result, it has become the material of choice for designers developing high-speed circuits.
“For years Sunstone has been doing fantastic work for our customers. By adding Rogers materials to their quickturn prototypes, even more of our customers will be able to take advantage of their quality service and support.” — Duane Benson, Marketing Manager for Screaming Circuits.
For RF engineers who may have settled for low-quality prototypes or sub-par customer service due to a lack of quality suppliers, this will be a great opportunity for them to now engage in the Sunstone experience.
“Our goal is to ensure the success of our customers’ ideas and products. Our customers deserve affordable prototypes with quick turnaround times that do not compromise a quality end product. That is why we stay committed to delivering the most effective and efficient PCB prototypes with the most ‘extreme’ customer service in the industry. With live, 24/7/365 support, our customer service representatives are standing by to provide reliable solutions, every day of the year.” — Diane Economaki, Director of Marketing at Sunstone Circuits.
By adding Rogers materials to their arsenal of products and services, Sunstone Circuits is continuing to differentiate themselves within the marketplace. They understand that the need for high-power, high-frequency transistors is increasing rapidly and in serious demand amongst the wireless communications industry. With higher efficiency, increased bandwidth and linearity, more polarization and higher junction temperature, RO4350 adds a whole new component of value to the already impressive PCBexpress product line.
Sunstone Circuits believes in always putting the customer’s needs first. By adding Rogers materials to their products and services, they have done just that. The philosophy: Give customers what they want — not just because they need it, but because they deserve it.
All 2-Layer quickturn boards featuring RO4350 will be produced at a .020” thickness with maximum board dimensions of 8” in length by 8” in width, and in quantities of up to 25 boards per order with RoHS compliant immersion silver finish. All prototypes ordered will be shipped within 24 hours of purchasing.
While increasing costs are never good news for manufacturers, I look at it as a long term positive milestone. First, Workers in China get the benefit of higher pay which they desperately deserve. To me, this may cause a level playing field. We've seen manufacturing leave the US for the sake of lower costs. These lower costs come at a price to someone – meaning the Chinese workers. This may be the first step in a long road in bringing china's labor cost in line with the western world.
Manufacturers can elect to stay in China and bear the added cost, or move to another country that may present cost savings. The problem with moving manufacturing for lower cost is the cost of the move itself has to justify long term cost saving measures. However, if China's labor cost have to go up, who is to say that the next country they move to doesn't start to experience the same cost increase in a few years.
Maybe the labor cost increase in China will just present a more level playing field among companies. Maybe this will deter others from moving manufacturing abroad or better yet, bring some back to the US. I know that sounds incredibly optimistic and it probably will never happen, but that is why I say this is the first positive step….
I think this is less of an issue of workers “deserving” higher pay and instead an issue of workers NEEDING higher pay.
There's an article on CNNMoney I was reading today about China's inflation rate and the increases to its consumer price index.
As the article points out, one of the downsides to China's modernization is that not only is less food grown due to the land being re-purposed, but less people grow their own food, leading to increased demand overall.
Obviously, these things are more of a problem in the urbanized areas where much of the manufacturing is done, so raising worker pay is more of a necessity than a nicety: starving workers aren't very productive!
This is an issue that was bound to happen. As China's economy has grown, other areas need attention. In China inflation is rising, costs are rising, supply is starting to dwindle. The middle class of China is growing. These workers are realizing that some things are now within their reach financially. The government wants to increase tax revenue, which means the already underpaid workers have to fork over more money.
The rising cost of goods globally is inevitable. Supplies of key materials are running short and labor costs have globally increased. As manufacturing costs rise overseas, some companies might have second thoughts about locating jobs in other countries.
In another blog on EBN, a clear trend of manufacturing returning back to US has been mentioned. I had commented there, that the reason for this trend is the rising cost of living and hence the rising cost of hiring in the developing countries like India and China. The same thing hold true here. The US companies which have outsourced to Chia have either to increase their prices or relocate back their manufacturing to US. With globalization, some day, the labor costs will become at par in most of the countries . It will then make good sense to keep the manufacturing in your own local country. The country which is the source of raw material will be the producer of the final product.
It seems like the costs of globalization are similar to those associated with the product life cycle. There's an initial barrier to entry that has to be overcome, and as the global relationship matures, margin falls off. We can expect some further cycling as the US, the biggest importer of China's exports, balks at absorbing the costs incurred by China's industrial growth. Maybe there will be some “onshoring” to compensate. In any case, the balance of trade may converge on some kind of parity. This is good news for the middlemen, distributors, etc. , who facilitate the international transactions. Good news also for US workers if China holds out for more, but with energy and raw materials production remaining flat, it's likely both shores will have to take a haircut.
With almost all manufacturing happening in China, any price hike in labor cost or raw material will defintely prompt overall price rise. China has made or we can say the world has become totally dependant on China for manufactuing. Let us see if something changes in future.
If or when the playing field is level in China, it will be interesting to see if electronics manufacturers chase low-cost labor around the world. I'd rather they didn't–it continues to signal labor is the most important criteria in manufactuirng and for many electronics compnaies, that's not the case. Much of the manufactuirng is automated. I'm not sure about assembly and other processes, but for many electronics companies labor isn't the biggest piece of the pie.
It will also be interesting, if costs become equalized, how China will continue to compete in the global market. There are many variables, such as currency, etc., and the talent China has developed will play a key role going forward.
Very interesting article! Are all labor costs rising? (or are some that will rise more than others?)
If they decide to move somewhere else, what other countries are in the hunt for that extra income? India? Any in the Western Hemisphere?
Thanks!
Nice article with good information. As the living standards increasing day by day, there is hike in the wage rates in most of the asian countries. Now i guess most of US companies follow couple of options. First one, they may have to pay the higher minimum wages to the workers while being profitable. The other option is that they have to move back the manufaturing sector to US. This is in turn can create jobs in their country.
While U.S. want China currencies to become more expensive so that our trade deficit will decrease (higher export $ and lower import$), China is intentionally trying to keep the exchange rate low so that it will remain competitive for other countries to invest. So in the near future, U.S. will still rely on imports from China but it won't be as much.