PMCI Workshop Scheduled

PMCI will be conducting a workshop at this year’s SMTA International:

Identifying EMS Market Trends: Learn to Predict the Future and Help Your Company Lead the Pack

SMTA International, Rosemont, IL
Sunday, September 25 | 1:30pm — 5:00pm

Course Objectives
What Participants Will Learn: Do you ever wish your company could be offering services just as the market starts to recognize a need for them? The electronics manufacturing services (EMS) industry is still very young, yet demand patterns are established. This course will teach participants ways to identify external factors that may signal market change and suggest strategies for adapting to changing demand patterns. It will also teach participants to apply common sense and industry knowledge in ways which help their companies lead the pack instead of struggling to keep up with changing market dynamics.

Topics Covered

• Typical cycles which repeat in the EMS industry
• Key events likely to trigger changes in demand
• Useful strategic planning tools
• Creating business models which can readily adapt to changing markets.

Register here.

EMS Session at SMTA International Focused on Lean Manufacturing Strategy

If you are planning on attending SMTA International in Rosemont, Illinois mark your calendars for this Tuesday conference event that Mike Buetow from Circuits Assembly and I will be co-chairing:

Taking the Cost Out of EMS: Getting the Best Return for Lean Initiatives

Sept. 29, 2015

11 am – 12:30pm

In today’s world of variable demand and higher mix product, electronics manufacturing services (EMS) companies need to be flexible and agile to respond to changing customer needs. At the same time, EMS companies also need to address efficiency and cost reduction in an environment characterized by razor thin margins. Does a more holistic approach to implementing Lean manufacturing philosophy hold the answers to best addressing these challenges? Join us as a regional EMS provider and supplier of manufacturing shop floor control solutions discuss how a Lean, yet agile EMS operation can be created by rethinking how customers, the supply chain, support functions and manufacturing operations work together in an interconnected Lean environment. Following the presentations, there will be a panel discussion with the audience focused on ways this type of holistic approach can eliminate the common constraints to effective Lean implementation found in the EMS environment.

Agenda:

• Lean Flow on the SMT Factory Floor
  • Michael Ford, Mentor Graphics, Valor Division
• Applying Lean Philosophies to Supply Chain Management in EMS
  • Wally Johnson, Firstronic
• Panel Discussion

For more information and to register, visit http://www.smta.org/smtai.

Don’t Miss The Supply Chain Conflict Minerals Compliance Session at This Year’s SMTAI Conference

Don’t miss the session that PMCI co-organizes with Circuits Assembly Magazine at this year’s SMTA International Show

Supply Chain Conflict Minerals Compliance 

Chair: Susan Mucha, Powell-Mucha Consulting, Inc.

Co-Chair: Mike Buetow, UP Media Group

Wednesday, October 1, 4:00pm — 5:30pm Room 51

In the wake of the Dodd-Frank legislation mandating reporting of minerals mined in war-torn regions like the DRC, several initiatives and templates for defining and reporting use of these elements have been developed by worldwide organizations, including the Conflict-Free Tin Initiative, the EICC Conflict-Free Smelter Program, and the IPC Conflict Minerals Due Diligence Guide. This session looks at where these programs intersect, best practices for compliance, and some of the tools for compliance.

• Contract Manufacturing and Conflict Minerals: Creating a Workable Compliance System

John Sheehan and Allen Abell, SigmaTron International

• Lessons Learned from AIM’s Participation in the CFTI

David Suraski, AIM

• Panel Discussion

Aidan Turnbull, Ph.D., ENVIRON International

Chris Nowak, Actio

Conference details are available at: http://www.smta.org/smtai/at_a_glance.cfm.

PMCI Co-Organizing Contract Manufacturing Symposium with Circuits Assembly

Who says there are no free lunches? Pre-register for the Contract Manufacturing Symposium at Surface Mount International and you will get lunch as part of the session.

Contract Manufacturing Symposium
Organized by Mike Buetow, CIRCUITS ASSEMBLY Magazine and Susan Mucha, Powell-Mucha Consulting, Inc.

EMS Global Strategies for Lowering EMS Costs
Chair: Sue Mucha, Powell-Mucha Consulting, Inc.
Co-Chair: Mike Buetow, CIRCUITS ASSEMBLY Magazine
Tuesday, October 18 | 10:30am – 1:00pm | 204A

FREE with VIP or Technical Conference Registration! Lunch is included for those who pre-register.

The nature of outsourcing is changing due to greater awareness of the risks from geopolitical events, local legislation, and natural disasters. This session, aimed at OEMs, and EMS program managers and executives, looks at risk mitigation strategies from Asia to Eastern Europe, and selected SMT processing solutions that could benefit those companies grappling with RoHS and other environmental or leading-edge (high BGA pin count) technical issues.

Eastern European EMS Site Location Options: Why Kimball Electronics Saw Poland as the Best Choice
Tom Ferris, Kimball Electronics Group

Technical Trends in Networking from a Manufacturing Perspective
Clinton Liu, Tailyn Communication Company, Ltd.

Driving Improvements in Quality, Delivery and Cost in High Mix, Low Volume Manufacturing Operations
Kevin Camelon, Fabrinet

Vapor Phase Technology Supports EMS RoHS Challenges
Jochen Lipp, IBL Technologies, LLC

Speaker Panel – Building an EMS Cost Model

Register at: http://smta.org/smtai/registration_content.cfm