Sharpe comments on Cookson repositioning.

Circuits Assembly recently had the opportunity to interview Ray Sharpe, president and chief executive officer of Cookson Electronics (Foxborough, MA), to discuss his take on the recent Cookson Electronics "repositioning." As reported last month in Circuits Assembly, the businesses formerly known as Speedline Technologies, Alpha-Fry Technologies and Polyclad Technologies are now known as Cookson Electronics Equipment, Cookson Electronics Assembly Materials and Cookson Electronics PWB Materials and Chemistry, respectively.

Circuits Assembly: Why change the name to brand each company as Cookson Electronics? Why now?

Ray Sharpe: As we expanded our product offering and geographic reach, we felt it was time to leverage the entire strength of Cookson Electronics. By leveraging our product brands and our product breadth, we can offer those customers, which so desire, a full line of products and services--from printed circuit fabrication to printed circuit assembly. It also makes it clear to our employees that we are working together for the same objectives, as well as sending the message that there are many opportunities for them across Cookson Electronics, not just their group. Lastly, our shareholders will benefit as Cookson continues to strengthen its image and position in the market.

CA: But, some users have seen the equipment branded individually as MPM, for example, then as Speedline Technologies, and now as Cookson. Will this change create confusion in the marketplace?

RS: I think we create less confusion in the new scheme. In the past, if you looked at a piece of Speedline equipment, for example, you would have seen the name of the product, the name of the sector and a Cookson Electronics logo. Now, you will see MPM and Cookson Electronics together. Additionally, as we expand our offerings, new products can be added with much less confusion.

CA: Any concerns about the name change negatively affecting Polyclad and Alpha-Fry, which have such strong brand name awareness?

RS: Our objective is to maintain the Polyclad and Alpha/Fry brand names. We will continue to market these as premium products, offered by Cookson Electronics.

CA: How does the repositioning change the internal structure of Cookson?

RS: Internally, this change makes it easier to share knowledge, combines support and services and creates opportunities for our employees. From the external view, look at what is happening today with contract manufacturers. Many are becoming more vertically integrated. The result is that many customers are looking for process solutions. Our new structure places more emphasis on specific markets and processes, which facilitates our ability to service the customer.

CA: Final, how does this repositioning affect Cookson's long-term plans?

RS: If you look back over the past five years, you will see that Cookson Electronics has expanded its process capabilities through a combination of acquisition and organic growth. We believe the new structure will allow us to continue to expand and make it easier to leverage R&D capabilities, across the various groups, to produce a broad range of product and process offerings. Our work in lead-free and optoelectronics is just one example of our capability to leverage our total process knowledge. Our ultimate goal is a horizontally integrated, process solution company.