Catching Up With Echo Yang of Archer Circuits

Estimated reading time: 8 minutes

I’ve always believed the most interesting thing about a PCB company is the person who decided what kind of company it should be. Echo Yang chose to build Archer Circuits around engineering support, manufacturing options, and long-term customer relationships. I caught up with Echo to talk about the road that led her here, what customers are asking for today, and what it takes to earn their trust. I think you will be surprised and, frankly, as impressed as I was by Echo and her company.

Dan Beaulieu: Echo, let’s start with you. How did you get into the PCB business, and what made you decide to build Archer Circuits?

Echo Yang: I got into the PCB industry out of my passion for electronics manufacturing. I had over 20 years of hands-on experience in PCB engineering and supply chain management. I decided to found Archer Circuits because I saw a lot of customers struggling with long/unstable lead times, inconsistent quality, and weak technical communication. Our vision is to build Archer into a credible platform to make PCB sourcing as easy as possible: one single window for multiple requirements with fair cost and consistently high quality.

Beaulieu: When you started, what did you see customers struggling to get from their suppliers? Which of those problems were you determined to solve?

Yang:  In the beginning, I found that customers were sourcing RF PCBs from the U.S. or Canada at crazy-high costs and with limited manufacturing capacity. I understood that the top three concerns when sourcing RF PCBs in the China market are quality, engineering communication, and long material lead times. Our engineering team developed a general PCB specification based on technical and engineering communication with customers to avoid EQs back and forth on the same group projects, using IPC-6018D and IPC-6013F as references.

Once the first RF NPI was approved, our team convinced customers to share EAU for different projects. Then Archer worked with factories to stock RF laminates quarterly, and finally we were able to support much more flexible lead times without waiting for weeks, even months, to get RF material available. We were successfully growing our RF business for many years. 

However, the PCB industry is facing tight material supply right now. Copper-clad laminates, prepregs, especially high-frequency/low-less materials for RF applications, are a big challenge, and we are striving to lock stock for consistent delivery. On the other hand, for stable projects with longer lifetimes, we explain to customers to book POs much earlier to get a safe lead time on material supply for on-time delivery.

Beaulieu: Every company says it cares about quality and service. What did you want Archer to do differently from the first day?

Yang: Yes, every company is talking about quality and service. It’s easy to say but hard to deliver. Archer is built on an integrity culture, and our goal is to deliver consistent quality, transparent communication, and predictable lead time. Archer turns promises into standards from RFQ, FA, mass production, to after-sales service. I think our biggest difference is execution without compromise and candid cooperation.

We put engineering support upfront especially for higher density and complex designs. We manage material supply risks and keep customer updated with WIP status for projects with urgent schedules. From FA to mass production, all PCBs have to be manufactured at the identical facility. Archer shall not implement any alterations without formal written approval from customers.

Beaulieu: You have described taking a harder road in building the business. What was difficult about that choice, and was there a moment when you knew it was the right one?

Yang: Building the business is a tough journey, just as you must travel a long path on your own before you see the faint light of dawn. You keep solving problems, and in different stages of Archer’s growth, you need to overcome all kinds of challenges. When you solve one problem, new ones continue.

Due to uncertainty and rapid market changes, you’ll sometimes experience frustration, self-doubt, and confusion, but you always keep moving with determination and persistence. In the very beginning, I was very sure it was the right choice because I always strive to do things right, build a team right. People often expect a milestone, a big success, to confirm the choice, but for me, I have held this conviction from the first day, and it has grown gradually stronger with every tough day, every small and big success.

Beaulieu: If a North American engineer or buyer has never worked with Archer, how would you explain the company in two minutes? Where do you provide the most value?

Yang: Archer started as a small but pretty enterprise. Today we are growing to become bigger but more pretty. We focused on quality, precision, and consistent professional teamwork. Work with Archer through a single window, and you’ll get reliable PCB solutions from offshore Asia and local U.S., FCA/DAP/DDP Incoterms.

Archer specializes in high-density and unique designs, including RF boards, multilayer blind and buried via boards, FPC, rigid-flex, and copper-based PCBs. For special designs like back-drill, backplane, hard gold, buried copper-coin, ATE big size over 800mm, mixed laminates using high frequency/high speed, and FR-4 high Tg, you can always rely on Archer for both NPI quick turn and volume runs. We conduct DFM review prior to production and we support consistent performance from prototype to mass production.

The most value from Archer is that for any job Archer quotes, we keep the commitment. Any commitment Archer makes, our team delivers.

How do we provide this value? I think there are two key points: The first one is a professional team. Archer owns a great team with an average 25+ years’ experience in PCB manufacturing, engineering, quality, sales and customer services; the second is a group of powerful, world-famous manufacturing partners: public companies that average over 30+ years’ experience focused on PCB manufacturing for reliable full-process production, with complete systems control like ISO13485, AS9100, ITAF16949, ISO14001, ISO45001, ISO17025 and holding safety material inventory to face changing market.

Archer understands the unique aspects of customers’ designs, and we understand which types of technology each factory excels at. Archer builds a safe bridge and provides full service to make everything easy, fast, and dependable.

Beaulieu: Your website describes services beyond PCB fabrication, including layout and other custom electronic parts. When does bringing those needs together make a customer’s project easier? Can you walk me through an example?

Yang: Let’s ignore this, since our PCB layout is more about lighting LED boards, as our customer required this service. We started to support layout in order to continue metal PCB manufacturing, but in all cases, lighting customers without a design team took the design file, verified the PCB prototype and performance, then moved the production batch to PCB shops in India directly. Then I do not think this is a good story to tell but a lesson Archer learned.

Beaulieu: Archer lists capabilities that include HDI, high-frequency boards, backplanes, and ATE test boards. Which kinds of projects best show what your team can do, and what makes those projects challenging?

Yang: I think Archer can support HDI, RF, and ATE, but if you need an example, I can share RF projects where we started at the beginning. For RF boards, the biggest challenges are material availability, laminate stock, equipment for special processes like routing, and years of experience building RF boards in production.

Beaulieu: Let’s talk about the point where a good design meets manufacturing reality. How early should a customer involve your engineering team, and what problems can that conversation prevent?

Yang: In the NPI design stage, the customer can share the stackup and design file with us, and we can suggest/agree on material choice, trace design, annular ring, copper, stackup, impedance, symmetry, and others, in order to make sure it’s not only an ideal design, but this design can meet reality in process.

Beaulieu: You’ve written about what North American customers really want from an Asian PCB partner. What do customers tell you they need most: speed, technical answers, visibility, accountability, or something else? What have they taught you?

Yang: The North American market is unique and requires strict quality, timely feedback, and consistency. They are more focused on quality, schedule, technical support, and also value reliable partnership. They are picky, but they are fair.

I have been working in the North American market for over 20 years, and I have learned a lot from my customers. Honest and transparent communication is very important, which helps you to open the door. A professional, persistent, hardworking, and down-to-earth working style will help build long-term partnerships. In business, no cheating, no under-table and respect integrity culture.

Beaulieu: What does a customer experience when a job is going well at Archer? More importantly, what happens when a job is not going well? Who takes responsibility and communicates the next step?

Yang: A new customer is very careful to test the first sample order, then continues with the first volume order, and then Archer becomes its preferred key partner for PCB supply.

When a job is not going well, Archer sales takes responsibility and communicates immediately about the next steps; at the same time, related team members, such as engineering, technical, customer service, shipping, accounting, sales assistants, etc., will do their best to find a solution. If the matter is serious, the management team will get involved to fix it.

Beaulieu: Your site discusses manufacturing options in China, the United States, Vietnam, and Taiwan. How do you decide where a particular board should be built? What should customers understand about the tradeoffs among capability, lead time, cost, and supply risk?

Yang: We are in the process of making a new version of the Archer website to update the non-China options in the U.S. and Malaysia.

In the past several years, the Archer team has invested significant time and effort to help U.S. customers qualify facilities in Thailand to reduce tariff pressure. Several customers qualified the process onsite, built samples or low volumes, and also approved the quality. There are several huge challenges from the Thailand factory: incomplete supply chain and crazy long lead time; immature manufacturing process with limited experience, high cost, lack of experienced engineering team, and shrinking tariff advantage.

We got very clear on where the board shall be built. Archer has a U.S. local quick-turn options from two to seven days for NPI on FR-4, RF, and HDI. For FR-4 and Rogers, high-mix, low- to medium-volume, if the customer has to build outside China, Archer will offer a Malaysia option. But  Chinese manufacturing is always the top choice.

Beaulieu: You have said every PCB factory has a superpower. What is Archer’s superpower? Tell me about a job or customer situation that proves it.

Yang: Archer Circuits’ superpower is making global PCB sourcing work like a single, dependable manufacturing solution. Archer is more than a trading company. It has built a carefully developed network of PCB manufacturing resources that allows customers to access the right technology, capacity, quality, and cost for each project. Instead of simply passing orders to factories, Archer manages the entire relationship, from engineering and supplier selection through quality, production, logistics, and delivery. The result is global reach without global headaches. Archer Circuits gives customers the flexibility of worldwide sourcing with the responsiveness, accountability, and personal attention of a trusted PCB partner.

Beaulieu: What changes are you seeing in customer requests right now? Are designs becoming more complex, schedules tighter, or sourcing decisions more demanding?

Yang: I realized two obvious changes in customer requests. For standard lower-technology applications, customers were competing on lower costs before; today, they focus on schedules. For higher-density applications, designs become more complex, with higher layer counts, tighter trace spacing, and greater demands on material performance and lead time. They mostly choose quick-turn offers for NPI to get shorter lead times.

Beaulieu: Where do you believe the PCB industry is headed over the next few years, and what is Archer doing now to be ready?

Yang: This is very interesting just as the Matthew effect from Bible: To those who have, more will be given; from those who have not, even what they have will be taken away. I think the PCB industry is experiencing this Matthew effect.

In the next three to five years, PCB demand will continue growing, but it’s no longer the old world where everyone grows together. The old winner, fighting for the lowest cost to survive, will see its market share significantly reduced; PCB industry leaders focused on HDI, AI, ADAS, EV, radar, and 6G will gain the biggest share of the pie.

It’s tough for Archer to enter the AI market, however, we can expand our market share on ATE, RF, 18 layers+ HDI, and high-speed PCBs. Archer never fights for the lowest cost; we focus on value.

Beaulieu: Finally, Echo, what do you want a prospective customer to know about you personally before they place their first order with Archer?

Yang: I love nature, painting, and being alone. I think the business world is like a war, but I believe I can build a little amazing place where people can trust each other, and team members can grow to their biggest potential. I’m more introverted but when I decide to do anything, I am all in.
Beaulieu: Echo, thank you for the conversation. You’ve given us a closer look at the thinking behind Archer Circuits and, more importantly, at how that thinking shows up when a customer has a difficult job to get done.