May 18, 2008 
What is NBS�s company history?
NBS began in 1999 as a PCB layout specialist and expanded into contract manufacturing five years later, in 2004. We expanded the business because of customer frustrations with existing NPI contract manufacturers. Basically, unless a customer has large volumes and can pay well, they get no attention from the large manufacturing companies. The growth of our first facility in Silicon Valley proves that superior quality, service and attitude never go out of style.
NBS says that it never knowingly ships a defective board. How can you do this?
Our employees are the backbone of the business. However, a company must create a culture of quality and service from the top down, and NBS strives to accomplish that in every aspect of our business. We achieve our mantra with the following: Attitude, people, equipment, process engineering and inspection tools.
How is 2008 looking for NBS?
I think that legacy CMs will continue consolidating, and will not service �small� customers. I predict more Tier 1 mergers & acquisition activity as the single digit billion dollars players try to keep up with Foxconn and Flextronics. I also see a consolidation of the Tier 2 and 3 suppliers. I forecast that NBS will open two additional manufacturing sites, and that by the end of 2008, NBS will have a customer base of more than 300 customers.
What type of equipment does NBS use?
The equipment and suppliers NBS uses is one of our key strategic advantages. We realized early on that if we were going to follow through on our quality promise, we would need the best equipment in the business. Juki placement machines are a good example of this. Another example is X-ray technology. Correctly used, true 3-D X-ray inspection is the single most powerful solder joint inspection tool in the market. Agilent is a leading supplier of this technology and NBS uses the Agilent 5dx machines to inspect every board we build. We recently announced that we are taking delivery of the first Agilent x6000, the next generation of the 5dx, on the West coast.
Does NBS provide design facilities in-house?
Yes, in Santa Clara as well as Southern California, Dallas, TX and Nashua, NH. We understand the PCB layout business well and our history in PCB layout goes back to the mid-1980s.
Does NBS clean boards in-house or contracted this out?
All services that NBS provides in the assembly process are done in-house. This includes cleaning, along with other services such as BGA rework and X-ray inspection. Our reputation for excellence in these last two areas has created the unusual situation where NBS has numerous CMs among its customer base.
What type of applications do you generally manufacture for?
Basically, any application where quality and speed are paramount. All NPI and pilot builds fall in this category, along with medical and high-cost systems where 24/7 availability is a requirement.
How much of your work is lead-free?
Approximately half. This can vary significantly quarter to quarter based on the build quantities we are doing. In some quarters, 90 percent of what we assemble is lead-free, and in others the number is much lower. Anything that is beyond NPI or pilot levels is moving to nearly all lead-free, while in many cases the NPI builds are mixed lead/no lead.
We understand that NBS takes on even small lot work? How does this effect your business model?
We have 140 active customers ranging from several million dollars to $18.00. Legacy CMs typically strive to have a small number of large customers. The NBS philosophy is exactly opposite: we covet even the smallest of customers. It is not surprising that often the smallest customer can quickly turn into a large customer. Our business model was designed from the start to excel at NPI � pilot, medium- to high-technology, flexible, high-quality assembly.
When does a customer become too big? What happens to them? Do you have a presence or partners in Asia?
Customers enjoy the quality, service and flexibility that NBS delivers, so they typically stay longer then they planned and, in many cases, never leave even with mid-volume runs. Inevitably, some of the products that we build do move to high-volume offshore manufacturers and, in those cases, we work to ensure a smooth transition. We have successfully transferred products to many of the billion dollar players, but have no formal partnerships with any. NBS is a customer incubator. In the early stages of product development, customers require high-quality, very fast turnaround times and flexible service. Legacy CMs are not positioned to provide this. NBS nurtures these customers until the time comes for the customer to move to volume, and then NBS effects a clean transfer of product to the volume supplier where they focus on what they do best.
