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Europlacer Helps Silicon Forest "Hang on for the Ride"Founded in 1999 and located in Vancouver, Washington, Silicon Forest Electronics Inc. is an electronics manufacturing services (EMS) company that provides manufacturing services building electronics circuit assemblies and "box build" assembly and testing. By providing custom manufacturing services for SMT, the company is able to fulfill all customer requirements, including those of its main customers: Insitu, FLIR, Olympus, Schmitt and Hach. The company focuses on five product segments:
While it currently boasts a stronger military and aerospace market, it is focusing on increasing the medical markets. Frank Nichols, President and CEO, describes the company as being primarily a regional provider that is trying to break out into the national competitive environment. "The market is hard to classify because we focus only on those products that truly fit the "low-volume, high-mix products" that are not likely to be outsourced offshore. I estimate that marketplace in the US to be between $1B and $2B."
Up to 126 employees, from 10 when it opened its doors close to 10 years ago, Frank explains his vision for the business - both then and now. "When we started it was built as a growth business to be sold 5 to 7 years later," he said. "Now, we are transitioning for the long haul and structuring around a new 30-year business plan that includes expansion into other territories but maintains the culture of service, quality and speed." Silicon Forest opened for business at the height of the electronics growth cycle. The "dot com" bust came soon afterward and the outsourcing of business to Asia hit right behind that. Frank continues, "We were blessed in our choice of strategies and the business survived the double whammy, and is now thriving on that original business model." After surviving such hardship so early in the business's history, Frank says that it is by the "Grace of God that we are here at all." The focus of the company has created a culture that has at its roots a "must grow to survive" attitude. Its purpose statement,
"We are passionate about responding to the extreme, ‘hang-on-for-the-ride' atmosphere created by our customers' rapidly changing needs", is about embracing change and encouraging growth. Growth is a natural result of adopting a culture that embraces that purpose. The other part of the equation is that its values support the culture and give it strength. The company's key values statement, "We value individuals, relationships and conduct all matters with integrity" is the engine that makes the culture of change and growth a cornerstone of the Silicon Forest Electronics story. Silicon Forest hopes to continue growing the company and to have multiple locations serving different geographical regions. This is where Europlacer comes into play. Silicon Forest has been with Europlacer since Day 1 in 1999. The Europlacer equipment set matches the high-mix, fast changeover time requirements perfectly. It recently purchased its fourth machine and will be looking at another soon. After considering all options, the company chose Europlacer based on a decision driven by cost, available support and relationships. Today, Europlacer systems are the only production placement machines in use at Silicon Forest. "We process from 8 to 12 new orders per day, and changeover and flexibility is mandatory," Frank said. Being able to program off-line and move trolleys from machine to machine is necessary to reduce downtime, and Europlacer's systems help Silicon Forest accomplish this. Silicon Forest owns three Finesse systems, recently purchased a new dual-gantry iineo machine as a standalone line, and is considering adding further machine to increase throughput later this year. "We have already planned another line for the day that this current iineo becomes full. At the same time we are considering opening one or two new sites in other geographic locations. We are only considering Europlacer equipment to deal with the anticipated high-mix operations," commented Frank. For Silicon Forest, the strength of Europlacer lies in the relationships that exist between the people of Europlacer and the customer (in this case Silicon Forest) that keep the company close to the user; consequently, the service levels provided are very high. "Add the technical capability of the machine to the equation and that is what makes Europlacer our machine provider of choice," said Frank. Also, the service aspect is key to Silicon Forest. This has allowed the company to maintain maximum uptime, and the technical aspect allows it to reduce changeover time. Both of these factors have allowed Silicon Forest to increase productivity while allowing them to focus on the future addition of capital equipment. In the future, Frank believes Silicon Forest will need more equipment that meets its current needs. "We anticipate our niche to continue to grow and are focused on maintaining similar customers." He says that it is harder work than pushing for the longer runs; however, with the low-cost regions of the world, this niche will remain the most viable. In order to help the company through it, Silicon Forest needs to have ways to reduce scrap and tools for allowing parts to be handled with minimum human touch. Minimizing the "teaching" time required is also beneficial. Europlacer will be there, as it has been since 1999, to help Silicon Forest meet these needs and provide the high-quality systems required to serve this niche. |
Silicon Forest offers rapid board lot turns on low- to mid-volume projects, specializing in complex assemblies. With both lead and ROHS (lead-free) capabilities, it is a fully integrated manufacturing facility providing superior quality and service while being 100 percent flexible to customers' specific needs. It is Silicon Forest's culture of customer service, high quality and quick turn processes that give it the competitive edge it needs to move to the top of its market. Additionally, the company's value proposition is heavily weighted around flexibility and a deep desire to exceed the expectations and needs of its customers. It implements time-critical, high-quality solutions with extraordinary customer service while maximizing value. The bottom line, Frank says, is that Silicon Forest partners with its customers and that partnership brings significant value and supports its customers' successes.