Robert J Black Jr., North American Sales Manager, Essegi Automation S.r.l.

The impact of the Global Pandemic has given pause to the traditional manner in which commerce has been conducted. With new and creative solutions in focus to overcome, the Pandemic Era business realities are facing most sectors of the Global economy. As the 2021 Global Technology Award Winner in Rework, and runner up in X-ray, PDR's impact on the industry in 2022 and beyond is born of PDR’s laser focus on product development and innovation.

Thanks to the participation and dedication of PDR's global teams and loyal customer base, our next generation of products offers enhanced capabilities, new product platforms and precision tools, available in both the rework and X-ray categories.

Given that supply chain shortages, inflationary pricing pressures, restricted access to plants and facilities, travel, trade shows, and staffing shortages, have all combined to create the perfect storm in our industry, PDR managed to become an early adopter of new and creative solutions to navigate through this unprecedented Global Pandemic era.

From customer outreach alternatives, to flexible business model/systems refinement, as well as workforce accommodation constraints, all have impacted firms across the board. Just in Time models (JIT) for vendor deliveries have been skewed dramatically, necessitating the need for alternative sourcing, a rise in inventory holding costs, adaptable manufacturing flows, and horizontal integration activities in order to reduce book to bill ratios.

Needless to say, the old adage, adapt or die is a pre-requisite for all firms in this Pandemic driven age.

2022 forecasts for our industry do look promising on many levels to include increases in R&D activity, new plant investments, geopolitical risk tolerance in semiconductor manufacturing, and perhaps some normalcy returning to the workplace for employees. Encouraging indeed!

All in all, PDR's unwavering commitment to designing tangible solutions, manufacture them well, and supporting our customers' journey to achieving better than expected results, is at the very core of PDR's overarching business philosophy.