Forgive Keith Favre if he’s experiencing déjà vu. As soon as previous employer Speedline Technologies was sold by its private equity owners, he joined another private equity-backed venture: stencil maker Photo Stencil (photostencil.com). The new chief executive sat down with Circuits Assembly editor-in-chief Mike Buetow last month.

CA: What attracted you to this job?

KF: It was the right opportunity at the right time for me. It was really the next logical career step, having had strong exposure to several key areas, starting in manufacturing engineering, moving to product marketing, sales and, most recently, executive level marketing management. The chief executive position gives me the chance to integrate my experience with the vision I have for Photo Stencil going forward. I’m extremely grateful for the opportunity.

CA: What can you tell us about your plans for the first six or so months? What do you feel is highest priority?

KF: Photo Stencil has been doing very well, and there’s a seasoned management team in place, so I don’t feel my initial focus is in any way directed toward fixing problems. Whenever you begin with a company, there’s a period of time when you have to absorb information – about the products, the customers and the team with whom you’ll be working. My number one priority will be formulating a strategy that builds upon the company’s success to grow the business in a manner that serves our customers and provides appropriate financial return. Our product lineup supports the entire spectrum of stencil requirements in today’s market, so we don’t have to have a narrow focus. With our AMTX electroform product, we have tremendous opportunity to grow in global markets and leverage our process expertise.

CA: What are some of the special circumstances of working with a private equity firm?

KF: Quite frankly, I look at our ownership as I would any other shareholder group. As chief executive, I am accountable to our customers, employees and owners. That doesn’t change from one business structure to the next. In the past five years, acquisitions by private equity firms hit historic highs. Interest rates have been low; the stock market has been strong, and acquisitions have been commonplace. There is some evidence of this phenomenon slowing as instability filters into the investment markets, but that doesn’t affect our situation. I’ve been very impressed with Kachi Partners, and I hope Photo Stencil will prove a great investment.

CA: Similarly, how did your time at Cookson and Speedline prepare you?

KF: That’s an interesting question. When we were owned by Cookson, Speedline enjoyed tremendous success followed by the dramatic industry downturn that hit in 2000. I gained good insight into product line management and then sales. The growth and subsequent decline provided valuable experience in terms of managing in both the good times and the bad. I was part of a core management team that led a leveraged buyout and then reengineered the focus of Speedline. We emerged smaller than the pre-2000 years, but we came out profitable and had renewed focus on both products and customers. From a personal perspective, I had the technical background from my early career engineering experience, but I gained valuable sales, marketing and general management skills.

CA: What are some of the differences between the OEM environment and a company that sells what is more of a consumable?

KF: I think you just hit on one of my challenges! I view Photo Stencil as a supplier of solutions, not consumables. Our products are used early in the assembly process and we are at the core of defect prevention. Providing quality products and the process expertise to support them is what gives us our competitive edge and our customers the process excellence in today’s demanding markets. In that respect, we are not unlike a capital equipment supplier. The good ones not only sell equipment, they provide solutions. We do the same thing. But, that’s not to say there aren’t differences. We don’t sell $100,000 products, so we have to deal in higher volume. We can’t look at any order with the attitude of, Well, we may not sell these folks anything else for a few years. We look at our business as ongoing with every customer.

CA: Photo Stencil has OEM agreements with some, but not all, major printer companies. Do you intend to pursue further relationships?

KF: We hope our products and services will be of interest to all printer manufacturers. I will be evaluating new possibilities in the coming months.

CA: You have spent the past several months learning the ITW 80:20 approach. What, if anything, from this philosophy do you plan on implementing at Photo Stencil? And what are some of your other business management influences?

KF: I don’t believe there are a lot of “one size fits all” solutions in the business world. I prefer to view Photo Stencil as a clean slate and don’t plan on trying to “fit” another company’s philosophy into our business. There are some fundamental tenets of sound business, however, that I will use: Stay focused to your core competencies; your customers are your business; improvement is a continuous process, and financial success is the key to the future. If we follow those four principles, I am confident Photo Stencil will thrive and grow.

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