Publication date: 17 November 2011
Christopher Associates is a pioneering supplier and distributor to the electronics and chemical processing industries. The company’s customer base includes more than 1,200 companies worldwide in the printed circuit fabrication and assembly industries. Christopher Associates has been delivering world-class technology for nearly 37 years. Roberto Segura joined Christopher Associates almost 20 years ago. Today, as the company’s Sales Manager for Latin America, he is responsible for more than 30 percent of the company’s sales.
As you mentioned, I joined Christopher Associates 18 years ago and, at the beginning, my primary responsibility was performing warehouse duties and coordinating trade shows. After three or four years, our president, Matt Holzmann, asked me if I wanted to move to sales, specifically for Mexico. At the time, our company was trying to grow the solder paste and capital equipment businesses in Mexico. It was the perfect opportunity for me and since I am fluent in Spanish, so I took the challenge.
There was a recession in the mid/late 90s, so my start as a salesperson was challenging. In general, however, the economy in Mexico has been stable since I started in the electronics manufacturing business. Many electronics manufacturing companies in Mexico had moved to China and this impacted our business in Mexico drastically.
We always see new opportunities. I have been working very hard with some of the biggest automotive and consumer electronics manufacturing companies in Mexico for some time now. When you deal with worldwide corporate companies, it typically takes some time for them to make a decision, but we are optimistic that these opportunities will close in 2012.
Some of the opportunities that I previously mentioned are for materials and we expect to see tremendous growth once we start delivering the product. Additionally, our current customers have increased their orders by approximately 20 percent over the past 12 months and they are telling us that orders will continue to increase.
As you know, the price of silver has increased dramatically over the past 18 months and the trends tell us that it will continue this way. Koki developed a high-reliability, low-silver paste that we are very proud to say prevents occurrence of hidden head-in-pillow defects and ensures the highest quality solder joints. Additionally, the paste features significantly reduces halogen from the flux formulation, which helps to protect the environment.
Very good question! Yes, we will hold our first technical conference in Guadalajara in mid-November. We have hired Dr. Francisco Briseño, who is one of the best solder paste experts in Mexico
Dr. Briseño has been in the electronics manufacturing industry for almost 30 years with many years of experience focused on the solder paste process. We are expecting strong customer interest and attendance numbers for this conference, both locally and from other states in Mexico.
During this year’s IPC APEX Expo, we closed an agreement with Retronix Mexico. Retronix is a PCB repair provider based in Guadalajara. The company also sells and distributes capital equipment in Mexico. David Alvarez is the general manager, and he has many years’ experience and knowledge in the Mexican market. We are excited to start working with David and his team. We will be sending an Akila X-ray demo unit to Guadalajara at the end of the month and we are confident that David will do well.
Currently, we have three sales representatives in Mexico and two engineers. We are considering hiring more engineers and direct sales people if our sales continue to increase next year. Additionally, we continue investing in marketing and trade shows throughout Mexico.
My pleasure!
