Sigtronics turns to IP licensing business to survive European PCB industry slumpHarry YeatesThe poor state of the PCB industry has forced Scottish rapid prototyping start-up Sigtronics to relaunch as an IP licensing business.
The firm has turned to partner agreements and IP licensing to make money from its conductive polymer-based technology in a flaccid market.
The company has seen demand for its low-volume, rapid prototyping Kwikboard process and equipment tail off over the last 18 months, and is now concentrating on three promising variations on the technology. The change of focus has seen the firm reduce headcount to 15.
"Frankly the state of the PCB industry makes [Kwikboard] an impossible business at the moment," said Bill Matthews, Sigtronics' chief executive. "The premium that there perhaps was for rapid prototyping two years ago is not there, largely because there's such a glut of capacity."
"I think the niche that the UK has to focus on is in the generation of IP," said Matthews. "It's in the R&D and design fields, we know it's not in the manufacturing."
The new business areas are a high-volume, laser-patterned version of Sigtronics' polymer process; three-dimensional moulded circuits; and optical interconnects.
Work with local optical specialists on the last of these is aimed at putting optical and electronic interconnects on the same board, while the 3D circuits would replace existing injection-moulded versions. However, it is the volume production technique that is the most advanced.
"We've made significant progress on that - having now made real boards, on real equipment, for real applications," said Matthews. "We actually think this is an opportunity for Europe to regain some of the ground it's probably lost in the PCB industry to Asia."
Matthews claims the technique could halve the cost of PCB manufacture, and recent European directives on electronics waste should also drive the green market.