ABSTRACT
The semiconductor equipment industry continued through one of its cyclical slowdowns. Of my seven major customers, five had noticeably slowed. Up to this point, I had only been able to diversify with one new customer in the medical device industry-a contrast to the semiconductor equipment industry in that it appeared less cyclical and price-sensitive. This industry was a reasonable size in the Bay Area so I had decided to pursue new customers in this sector. I had built about eight different parts for the new customer and only one had repeated, for a total of nine orders. It was a start but not enough to offset the effects of a major downturn in the semiconductor equipment industry.
