Abhay B. Doshi has been a board member of Fine-Line Circuits Ltd since 1990. As a founding director, he has been active in the company's management since its start. He holds a Bachelor's degree in Electronics and Communication Engineering from Mysore, India, and an MBA with a focus on Finance from the University of California, Berkeley, USA. Before founding Fine-Line Circuits Limited, he gained experience in high technology while working at Maxtor Corporation in San Jose, California, within Silicon Valley. Additionally, he serves as a director at SEESA (Seepz Exporter Energy Savings Association) and is a member of SEEMA (Santacruz Electronics Export Manufactures Association). In this interview, Dan Beaulieu sat down with Abhay Doshi who is the President and the Managing Director of Fine-Line Circuits Ltd to discuss his company’s journey and what are their competencies.
Beaulieu: Abhay, thanks for agreeing to take the time to me today. First of all, please tell us about the company. When was it founded, but whom, and what was the purpose at the get go?
Doshi: Sure, Dan no problem. I always like talking about the company. It was founded in 1990 by the Doshi family with a purpose to fulfil our National goal (Earn Foreign Exchange for the country), Societal goals (Be in manufacturing as it creates jobs and wealth) and Personal Goals (Put our Engineering & Business degrees to use)
Beaulieu: And what is your role with the company and what do you do?
Doshi: My role is threefold (a) to ensure a team is in place and motivated to keep our Customers ecstatic and (b) our Company in compliance of all the governing laws both where we are working and where we are selling and (c) making continuous incremental improvements
Beaulieu: How long have you been at the company?
Doshi: Since Inception. I have been fortunate to have received massive support, knowledge and encouragement from several people (two - Mr. G. Sudarsanam and Mr. Joy Chacko whose participation in our journey is immeasurable)
Beaulieu: And you are the company’s president right? What is your story? Your background?
Doshi: Yes, I am the president of the company. I always aspired to be in manufacturing and in technology and in a position to service the global markets whilst also using our education and applying the legacy values given to me by our previous generations. So, after my Electronics Engineering & Business degree at Berkeley, CA, USA I returned to India in 1990 and founded our PCB manufacturing in the Export Zone in Mumbai, India.
Beaulieu: You started the company in 1990. What was the progression after that?
Doshi: From initially building simple Double Sided FR4 PCB for the Audio Industry we have over the past three decades become a Space Certified facility exporting to over fifteen countries & building ALL types of PCBS. We also focused on rapid delivery and high reliability applications at competitive prices. We serve companies all over the world including serving Fortune 500 companies in over fifteen countries. Domestically here in India we serve the Space and Defense markets.,
Beaulieu: What is special or outstanding about the company?
Doshi: We always give a keen ear to the customers’ current requirements and continuously develop our view of the customer’s future requirements. AND we structure ourselves to keep up with Technology in a cost-effective manner thereby giving our customers Value Competitively
Beaulieu: How is the company made up?
Doshi: We are Listed on the Bombay Stock Exchange and have stable finances with no Long-Term Debt and a total Headcount of 140 to 150 team members with almost all people who have been with the Company now for over a decade & many for over 2 decades and few since the inception over decades. Our facility is over thirty thousand sqft with sales of USD 3 Million.
Beaulieu: What are your special products and Technologies?
Doshi: Hybrid FR4 Multilayer PCBs / High Temperature Polyimide Rigid and Rigid Flex PCBs / High Frequency PTFE PCBs All with extremely tight tolerances, wide design complexities and a variety of surface finishes. Electrolytic Thick Soft Gold Direct on Copper (no nickel barrier) for the optimal skin effect for PTFE PCBs used in very high frequency applications is one of our area of competencies.
Beaulieu: I know you handle a lot of military products in your own country, please talk about that.
Doshi: We build a variety of PCBs for the Defense sector with applications ranging from Radars, Antenna, Missile Systems. We service a host of divisions of several of India’s Defense Contractors and have earned their trust to be a vendor of choice for giving them value and ecstatically competitively.
Beaulieu: I also know you work with colleges and universities, please elaborate on that.
Doshi: Being present in Academia is critical to us as we can supply small quantities and give them flexibility and in return we get a sense of where the Industry is headed. This sector also gives us a sense of “Giving Back” to Society what we have learned for over 3 decades. Globally we ship to over 12 Universities in USA and in India. Also, today’s Researchers in Academia are tomorrow’s Industry leaders so this focus helps us in our journey in a continuing manner
Beaulieu: What kind of companies do you service?
Doshi: Over time we have diversified our customer base over several industries, over a range of sizes, over several currencies and over many geographies. Given the wide variety of our Capabilities we are fortunate to service ALL Customers that need the highest Reliability in their applications and that need a vendor who will do what he says. And who will hold the quoted prices for the duration of the project? These practices have enabled us to service a wide set of customers.
Beaulieu: What is your reach globally?
Doshi: We have been shipping to the USA since 1991 as I have lived there, worked there, got educated there and know the market and customer expectations very deeply. We have an office in Dublin, CA to enable giving our Customers “The Next-Door Board Shop” feel and since many years we are also an “A Lieferant” to many German Companies listed on the DAX. Since 2000 till date, we have added many other Geographies (UK, Switzerland, Singapore, Spain, The Netherlands, Norway, Czech Republic, Malaysia, Slovakia, Italy, Hungary) and today we ship to over fifteen countries.
Beaulieu: What is your reach in North America?
Doshi: We have over 25 Active Customers in North America spread over from the West Coast to the East Coast. We deliver to their door and give them a complete next door board shop feel from Ordering to Deliveries to their door and Payments made by a local wire to our state side office and Communication that is Crystal clear and meaningful.
Beaulieu: Where do you want to be in three years? Five years?
Doshi: We always want to be Technically Current & Competent with an increasing customer base and we want to execute every order smoothly and seamlessly. Sales & Profits are market dependent so we only focus on the above and in excelling on the task at hand as we believe the financial performance will automatically follow if we keep getting the above rights.
Beaulieu: How are you marketing in North America? Do you have a sales team?
Doshi: We have a large customer base that generates a new set of customers by word of mouth and with sales representatives as well as a direct sales team. That visits prospects (physically as required and at every necessary occasion)
Beaulieu: Why should a good salesperson join the company? What are the advantages of selling/working for the company?
Doshi: Because, We are Profitable, our products Scalable, our working Predictable, our management team Dependable. This is what we offer every employee who is or joins our team.
Beaulieu: How do you see the market today?
Doshi: In a way no different than before and as always: We need to adapt to a fast-changing environment. We need to be agile to fulfil the ever-increasing customer demands. We need to compete fiercely but know that there is room for everybody if conducted well. This focus has helped us service our customers now for three decades.
Beaulieu: There is a lot of controversy about China right now. How does that affect your company?
Doshi: China is unstoppable, and Economics will always prevail. As we have always been exporting from day one since 1990 we have always been competing not only with China but with all the countries of the Far East. Our focus of providing Customers Value & Competively has enabled us to successfully compete with the Far East in selling to the West.
Beaulieu: As we close up this interview do you have anything you would like to add?
Doshi: It’s been a pleasure speaking with you Dan and voicing our thoughts and we hope this ring a bell in the reader who can be our prospect and who can provide us business opportunities and we commit to providing VALUE COMPETITIVELY.
About Fine-Line Circuits Ltd.
Fine-Line-Circuits Limited - A Space accredited (ISRO- Space Application Qualified) publicly traded company located at Mumbai, India with a sales office in San Jose, USA manufacturing & exporting world-class quality of Printed Circuit Boards (PCBs) in small volumes & delivered rapidly for high reliability applications.
They specialize in the production (including Duroids Series) of Space Grade RF Microwaves/High Frequency PCBs using a variety of Low Loss/High Performance laminates especially from Rogers, Nelco, Taconic & Panasonic substrates with Electrolytic Bondable Gold finish with full integrity of the RF path.
