For years, we’ve been told that the secret to serving our customers lies in empathy. We are urged to step into their shoes, see what they see, and feel what they feel. By truly understanding the obstacles they face in their own marketplaces, we transform from a mere supplier into a vital partner.

It is time we apply that same rigor to our relationships with our vendors, especially our PCB partners.

Too often, the industry has operated under the cynical "golden rule": He who has the gold makes the rules. I have said it many times, and I will say it again: that mindset is dead. It is finally being replaced by the original, far more powerful Golden Rule: Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.

Cooperation Over Confrontation

Nothing of lasting value has ever been built on an adversarial foundation. Whether we are dealing with customers or the vendors who keep our supply chains moving, the friction of "us versus them" only slows us down.

In today’s landscape, success is defined by cooperation. We are all being challenged to listen more, empathize deeper, and find ways to support one another. If we want our vendors to prioritize us and innovate alongside us, we must first recognize that they are not just entities on a balance sheet, they are partners facing complex daily battles.

I want to challenge every one of you to reach out to your contacts at our PCB vendors. Ask them, "What is keeping you up at night?" Listen to their answers, and then actively look for ways we can ease their burden. When they succeed, we succeed.

Understanding the Front Lines

To help you get started on this shift in mindset, I’ve outlined six of the most significant hurdles our PCB vendors navigate every day, along with practical steps we can take to help them overcome these challenges.

• Bring the PCB shop to the design table early. Too often, our designers treat a board as a finished concept before ever speaking to the PCB shop that actually has to build it. By involving our fabricators at the design stage, we can identify production hurdles immediately. You will be amazed at the time, effort, and cost we save simply by tapping into their manufacturing expertise before the design is locked.

• Share the "why" behind the board with your PCB fabricator. It is a missed opportunity when our PCB shops don't understand the end product their boards are powering. When a fabricator understands the context and the application, they can offer invaluable design suggestions to make the PCB more adaptable, reliable, and efficient for that specific use case.

• Be transparent about forecasts with your PCB shop. We often keep our long-term program data close to the vest, but this limits our PCB fabricators' ability to support us. When we share accurate forecasts and the projected life of a product, our partners can optimize everything from material procurement to capacity planning. This transparency builds the buffer they need to remain flexible when our delivery requirements inevitably shift.

• Respect the complexity of the PCB fabrication process. A modern, high-tech PCB requires over 100 individual, precision-driven steps to produce. I encourage you to visit our PCB shops and witness this firsthand. When your team, especially those in design and procurement—understands the technical rigor involved, they gain a newfound respect for the process. This isn't just a commodity; it’s high-precision engineering.

• Design with environmental regulations in mind for our PCB fabricators. Environmental compliance is a critical reality of PCB manufacturing. We need to be fully aware of these constraints before we finalize a design. If we call out materials that are difficult, restricted, or dangerous to handle, we create unnecessary roadblocks for our PCB shops that could have been avoided with better communication.

• Acknowledge the PCB shop as the expert of their own process. While it is our design, our product, and our "baby," it is their process. They are the masters of their own equipment and capabilities. We are always better off when we stop trying to dictate their methods and instead listen to what the PCB fabricator has to say about the best way to use their process and build our product.

The Bottom Line

Ultimately, this shift is simple: step into your vendor’s shoes and truly understand their business. When you foster genuine respect for what these PCB shops do—and specifically for how much they contribute to our success, you don't just become a better customer; you guarantee that they will become a better, more committed supplier to us.