Advanced Circuits Inc. - A Failed Company in the 1980s

A Failed Company in the 1980s

Advanced Circuits was established in 1979 as Seiko Circuits but ten years later was going out of business. A pair of brothers-in-law, Ron Huston and Paul Bustabade, entered the picture to bail out the business. Huston, 25 years old in 1989, had earned a degree in electrical engineering from Wichita State University and moved to Los Angeles to work as a design engineer with McDonnell-Douglas Corp. After he was on the job four years, Bustabade called him from Colorado to tell him about an area "board shop" that they might be able to pick up on the cheap. Huston flew out to find a two-layer fabrication operation located in a 5,000-square-foot garage. The business lacked a computer or even a fax machine, but it had enough serviceable equipment that Huston and Bustabade decided to make a lowball offer, which to their surprise was accepted. They turned to family and friends to raise the purchase price, renamed the business Advanced Circuits, and with just one other employee went to work for themselves.

The early years were difficult. The partners' only goal was mere survival. Huston wore any number of hats, sometimes on the phone as salesman and often in the back building boards with Bustabade. In addition, he acted as head bookkeeper, chief operations manager, and collections manager. The company offered customers a 1 to 2 percent discount if payments were made within ten days, but they had to allow a person to pick up a check to make sure the money was received quickly. In the first few years Huston personally retrieved local checks. A courier service was employed for out-of-state clients.