The Bay Area Urban Manufacturing Initiative consists of 30 partner cities from around the Bay Area who are working together to connect our regional manufacturing ecosystem. As manufacturing evolves and becomes more advanced it helps build strong local communities by providing pathways to good, middle-class jobs. Each year, the group highlights companies throughout the Bay Area that are helping to Manufacture The Dream by creating economic opportunities for people from a variety of backgrounds with a diverse mix of skills. Bay Area Circuits is honored to represent the City of Fremont:
Brian Paper is passionate about the importance of local manufacturing as he speaks to a group of students from local Ohlone College visiting Bay Area Circuits for a factory tour.
“Our country’s manufacturing capability plays an important role” towards maintaining our economic strength, protecting our intellectual property and ensuring our national security, says Paper, who’s served as the company’s Chief Operating Officer for the past 6 years. “If we rely on others to manufacture our critical defense systems and communications infrastructure then our country’s independence will always be at risk.”
Bay Area Circuits was founded in 1975 and is a manufacturer of printed circuit boards (PCBs), a critical component in every electronic device. Its customers include high-tech electronics manufacturers, contract assemblers and design engineers, but all share something in common; they need their PCBs manufactured quickly! After 39 years in Redwood City, the company relocated to Fremont to a larger, modern facility that allowed the company to consolidate its entire operation under one roof.
“Due to the ‘quick-turn’ nature of our business, location is very important to us and Fremont has been convenient for both our employees and customers, the majority of which are in Silicon Valley. Allowing a customer to visit the factory, interact with our employees and have peace of mind knowing where their critical design data is being handled is invaluable. And in terms of our supply chain, it’s helpful to be in an area with convenient access to raw materials and vendor service for our critical equipment.”
When asked why the company takes time to host students at its factory, Paper responded “Telling modern manufacturing stories is important because we are still dealing with many misconceptions. The biggest one perhaps is that manufacturing means picking up a screwdriver or turning a wrench. A lot of the jobs that were traditionally labor intensive are now performed by state-of-the-art machinery powered by intelligent software. Operator skill sets have changed and require knowledge of programming and automation.”