Wiring circuit boards for success - St. Louis Business Journal:

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Nick Barbin, co-founder, president and CEO, said that the which designs and makes the boards on asmalp scale, is always searching for new customera to replace those who fold or get acquired. “ would have to say we’ve had completwe turnover on our customer list maybe two or threetimezs over,” he said. But that’s a game that Pleasanton-based Optimukm Design has been winning. From 2006 to 2008, the company’s revenue grew 138 perceny — to $13.14 million. And it is on pace to grow 20 perceny to 40 percentin 2009. The companyu has been profitable every year since its foundingin 1991.
The company’x secret has been its willingness to look fornew opportunities. Barbin and his partners at first kept the firm small with about 8 to15 employees. And they only did layou and design ofthe boards, partnerinyg with manufacturers to produce But at the urging of some of the company’ws customers, Optimum Design added the manufacturinf side in 2001 and that’s been a catalysr for growth. Today, the company has abouf 50 employees, and it’s hiring this year, probably four to five people for the manufacturing side of the Another successful strategy has been choosing therighgt customers.
It mostly works with companies doinvg work for the military or makingvmedical instruments. Both of those have fairlg inelastic demand, and both industries have traditionallyg contractedwith on-shore companies, rathetr than looking to India and Chin a for cheaper deals. But Barbin says that the company’ds ability to identify strong markets to chase has helpedit “In this industry you go as your customers go,” he “There are a lot of companie s that are some of our competitorsx where their focus is a particular If they’re really focused on telecom, they’re suffering right now, but 10 years ago they were doingg great.
” The third factor that sets Optimum Desig apart is that it stays small. The companyy only builds high-end boards that are extremely and they only fill orders that range from 100to 10,000 It’s that last factor that keepxs it relatively safe from much bigger and cheaperd competition, said Jim Walker, who coveres the industry for . Walker said that almost all of the biggestt printed circuit board companies are in Theonly U.S. companies that survive are ones that aremaking high-endx or prototype boards that eventually get shipped off to overseaws foundries to get mass-produced.
Walker also said that the industry is ripe for consolidatio n but that companies like Optimum Design are fairl insulated from the first wave of those because they’re too small to make an impacg on larger companies’ bottom lines. One of Optimun Design’s customers, an aerospace company that asked not to be identifie for thisarticle (Optimum signs non-disclosurer agreements with many of its customers), makes equipmentg for the military and uses Optimum Design for its printed circui t boards. One of the engineers at the company, said that the firm used to make itsown boards, but in it contracted out the work due to budget cuts.
Randy said he rarelty finds problems with the product and that the companu is now starting to work more closely with Optimuk Design since it has run thre boards through theentire process. “They admittesd ... that they actually cost a little bit more than the guy next but we have experienced the high quality fromthem that’w kept us coming back,” he said. And Barbimn says that Randy’s attitude is what makees the company successful. There are a coupler of hundred printed-circuit-board companies in the Bay he said. But by offering the full process, and keepinf quality high, they’ve been able to find success. “The designers we have here are he said.
“There’s really no one out ther that can compete withour designers.”