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Markus Walther
Chief Operating Officer
ESCATEC Group |
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COO's Message (January 2008)
From the desk of the Chief Operating Officer of the ESCATEC Group
Dear Customers, Suppliers and Soon-To-Be Customers!
All of us from ESCATEC join in wishing you a Happy New Year, Gong Xi Fa Chai, Selamat Tahun Baru, und ein Gutes Neues Jahr!
ESCATEC Electronics in Penang is expanding. If you recall my July 2007 message, I commented on the increased NPI activities going on. Now, having implemented more than 150 new products during 2007 for both existing and new customers, we have decided that it’s time to expand our production space and are in the process of refurbishing a rented 3000 m2 facility near our existing factory in Penang, which we call Plant 4 or «P4». The new facility will house low volume / high-mix box-build assembly with its own SMT capability. Operations in P4 will commence on 1 March 2008.
This expansion is driven largely by major new wins from blue-chip OEM customers in Europe and the US. Among 2007’s biggest new customer acquisition success stories are:
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ESCATEC in Penang were selected as a «Preferred Supplier» (one of only 5 out of a previous base of 95 CEMs) by one of the world’s largest companies in the electronics locks and security markets. |
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ESCATEC Penang and Johor Bahru were also designated officially as a «Preferred Supplier» to one of the world’s largest industrial electronics companies, and major new programs are being ramped up for floor heating thermostats, electronic sensors and controls, and refrigeration and air-conditioning controls. |
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ESCATEC Switzerland launched its first «intrinsically safe» product (to ATEX EN 13980) for a product they helped develop for GSM modules to monitor and transmit fill levels of underground fuel tanks in petrol stations. |
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ESCATEC Switzerland developed and ESCATEC Penang are now ramping up production (with ESCATEC Shanghai 2K tooling) of a new handheld device for a sports medicine application. |
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ESCATEC Johor Bahru are now ramping up production of a complete box-build of a machine used by dentists that required 10 tools from ESCATEC Shanghai and takes our complex mechanical box-build capabilities to a new level. |
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Finally, we continue to build our presence in Sweden with several important new customers, including PCBAs for a leader in document handling machines built on an ODM basis for Xerox, Ricoh and Océ. |
ESCATEC Technology, our design and development company in Penang, are staffing up from 10 to 15 design engineers based on major new development projects and will move to a newly-renovated design centre in the new building.
Combined with the design and development capacity in ESCATEC Switzerland, this brings the Group’s design and development team to more than 40 engineers.
On the production side, both ESCATEC Switzerland and ESCATEC Electronics in Penang have invested in additional SMT capacity, installing additional new lines. This represents an over 25% SMT capacity increase in both facilities as well as an increase in technology as these lines are able to handle 01005 parts.
To further enhance ESCATEC’s MOEMS (Micro Opto Electronic Mechanical Systems) capability, ESCATEC Switzerland have installed an 86m2 clean room to ISO7 standards with an ISO5 cell inside. This year we plan to purchase a micro-manipulator to assist in MOEMS assembly.
Our twin facilities in China, ESCATEC Engineering and ESCATEC Mechatronics (Shanghai), have further upgraded their technology in tool-making and injection moulding and are now offering 2K tools and 2K injection moulding. Last but not least, ESCATEC Mechatronics have been honoured by BOSCH Power Tool in Hangzhou as one of their 10 best suppliers for 2007 (from among some 700 suppliers).
We look forward to another interesting and successful year with our partners!
The ESCATEC Group
Steadfastly,
Markus Walther
Chief Operating Officer, ESCATEC Group
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