On Thursday, January 16th, 2014, in front of a crowd of 800 local business and community leaders, RBB was greatly honored to receive the 2013 Quality Growth Award from the Wayne Economic Development Council (WEDC) at the Annual Dinner of the Wooster Area Chamber of Commerce.
The first step before placing an order through a custom electronics job shop requires an accurate assessment of where your order will be best produced.
Since the rolling blackouts in California and the Northeast in the early 2000's, California has lead the way towards energy reduction in consumer products; creating initiatives such as the Energy Star Program for appliances such as refrigerators, heating and cooling systems, and computers.
Original equipment manufacturers whose products include circuit board assemblies have an interesting challenge. Whether you're looking to grow your business or sustain a legacy product line, you must be very detailed about the component inventory you carry and the way you plan for the future. The challenge comes in trying to forecast how many pieces you'll need and when. You need to keep circuit boards on hand for your end product - but how many? By managing your inventory and planning for growth effectively, you can better position yourself for success.
Finding a reliable contract electronic assembler that is qualified to handle your printed circuit board jobs can be a challenge for any business, but when your operation is small or mid-sized, it can feel downright impossible. In order for you to keep up with your production demands, to meet consumer needs and make a profit, you need your PCBs manufactured and returned to you in a timely manner. Unfortunately, if your batch sizes aren't large, you may find that your jobs just don't take priority. But why is this? Why should your orders go on the back burner simply because of their size? Your small jobs matter to you just as much as your high volume work does, but to a high-speed/high-volume CM, this isn’t the case. Because of this, your smaller PCB jobs may be treated as a hassle at best, and an annoyance at worst.
Last week I wrote a blog regarding analytics and why electronic manufacturing companies should be using them. I had recently attended a class called “Deep Dive into Marketing Analytics” and was hooked. Then, just a week or two later, Apple Inc. purchased a social media analytics company called Topsy, making me feel even cooler. I mean, if Apple thinks something is a big deal…it probably is. All jokes aside though, analytics really are something every electronic manufacturing company should be thinking about.
Most of the electronics manufacturers you'll see around these days are the giants – large batch powerhouses that can serve the largest needs and highest demands. But the market doesn't just consist of jobs with large batch requirements; and a traditional contract manufacturer often doesn't have the infrastructure designed to handle small batches. They may even be resistant to provide small batch services because the overhead is high and the profitability low.
The manufacturing economy is tough right now, and the way to stand out in the custom electronics field is to deliver customer service that doesn't just meet and exceed your customers' needs – it also has to provide them with resources and support that they can't get anywhere else. If you're thinking of your relationship with customers as primarily transactional, you're thinking of the bare minimum. What makes custom electronics companies thrive is the richness of service they provide.
