About SigmaTron

International

SigmaTron International (NASDAQ:SGMA) is a full service EMS provider with a network of manufacturing facilities in the United States, Mexico, China and Vietnam. We focus on companies who want highly customized service plus a scalable global manufacturing footprint. We serve a diversified set of markets which include: aero-space/defense, appliance,

consumer electronics, gaming, fitness, industrial electronics, med-ical/life sciences, semiconductor, telecommunications and automo-tive. Our quality certifications include ISO 9001:2008, ISO 13485:2003 and AS9100C. We are also International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) regis-tered.

Inside this issue:

Acuna 2

EGV Expands SMT 3

Volume 3, Issue 4 Fourth Quarter 2015

the system. The award was based on on-time

delivery and quality performance.

“Our Union City team has done an outstanding

job supporting this mission critical customer.

Winning the award in consecutive years is a

testament to their ability to consistently deliver

superior quality and responsiveness,” said

Gary Fairhead, SigmaTron’s President and

CEO.

Union City Named Thoratec Platinum Supplier

Medical Customer Benefits From Two Facility Strategy

For the second year in a row, SigmaTron has

been honored as a Platinum Supplier to

Thoratec, the world leader in mechanical circu-

latory support systems for humans. Their

product is the Heart Mate. This is a system

that initially was used to keep patients alive

while waiting for a heart transplant. It has

been so successful that sometimes the trans-

plant does not take place and they live with

One of the benefits of SigmaTron Interna-

tional’s global network of facilities is the abil-

ity for customers to have manufacturing in

close proximity to their facilities, without hav-

ing to manage multiple contractors.

A medical instrumentation manufacturer that

started at SigmaTron’s Elk Grove Village, IL

facility is one of the latest to take advantage

of this option. EGV currently supports 30 dif-

ferent product types and through its Elgin, IL

engineering center is able to provide design

for manufacturability/testability (DFM/DFT)

analysis and product lifecycle management

(PLM) analysis as new products are devel-

oped. Project complexity has increased from

printed circuit board assembly (PCBA) level

to subassemblies as value streams were ana-

lyzed and the cost benefits of outsourcing at

the subassembly level became apparent.

EGV’s ability to support the customer’s Mid-

west headquarters opened the door to sup-

porting product development efforts at its

West Coast operations. In this case, the cus-

tomer was trying to decide between the con-

venience of manufacturing a new product in

(Continued on page 3)

Above, the Union City team poses with the Thoratec Platinum Supplier Award.

Page 2

Acuna Facility Focuses On Continuous Improvement

SigmaTron International’s facility in Acuna,

Mexico predominately serves a mix of major

appliance, consumer and industrial customers.

The facility is committed to continuous im-

provement.

“One of the perceptions of Mexico is that

most production is high volume and only ma-

ture products should be built here. The reality

is we average over 300 pilot production ef-

forts per year and on average a third of

them require a Product Part Approval Process

(PPAP) process. This year over half of our

pilot production projects required a PPAP. The

end result is our team needs to be very fo-

cused on ensuring fast product changeovers

and superior quality,” said Dan Camp, Vice

President, Acuna Operations.

While PPAPs are most commonly used in the

automotive industry, the process is also used in

consumer products where a robust process

and product validation effort is required at

the start of every new project. In addition, to

having an engineering team capable of sup-

porting the PPAP documentation process, the

team in Acuna interfaces with engineering

resources in SigmaTron’s Suzhou, China

operations for additional support in

providing Design for Manufacturability

(DFM) recommendations during New

Product Introduction (NPI) activities.

“The ability to have engineering bench

strength not only

in our own facility

but also availa-

ble ‘on demand’

in our global

network of facili-

ties is an asset.

SigmaTron’s

strong focus on

standardized

systems through-

out our facilities

makes this type

of activity very

seamless,” Dan

said.

One of the areas Acuna’s team has fo-

cused on is Single Minute Exchange of

Die (SMED). The goal of SMED process is

to reduce the amount of time required to

change over a line from one product to

another. In the SMT area, changeover

time was reduced from 14.5 minutes

with 4 percent idle time using two oper-

ators to 9.5 minutes with 1 percent idle

time. The end result was a 50 percent

improvement in labor utilization and a

35 percent in changeover time.

Similar focus in manual assembly areas

cut labor requirements by an average

20 percent in product categories and 12

percent on a third. Idle time decreased

to single digit percentages and produc-

tivity is in the low-to-mid 90 percent

range on all product categories.

In improving manual assembly there

(Continued on page 4) A production operator checks an assembly utilizing automated optical

inspection.

SMT line changeover time has been reduced to 9.5 minutes.

Spitfire Controls Gives

Page 3

EGV Upgrades SMT Equipment and Processes to Support Growth

grow better in the way we produce those

products. Many of our customers choose to

manufacture here because of proximity to

their facilities and the convenience of that

proximity to their engineering teams. We

want to keep this ‘Made in USA’ conven-

ient solution both cost competitive and

responsive,” Jim added.

California and the cost advantages of

going to Mexico. SigmaTron’s Tijuana fa-

cility was able to provide a solution that

addressed both of those requirements.

Tijuana built the prototypes and supported

several iterations of pre-production runs on

the new product. Volume production is

scheduled to start after the final pre-

production run is approved. The new pro-

ject is comprised of seven PCBAs.

Both EGV and the Tijuana facility are cer-

tified to ISO 13485 and utilize the same

(Continued from page 1)

The combination of additional equipment,

enhanced capacity planning tools and ear-

lier investments in selective soldering

equipment are making it easier for the

facility to support both higher volumes and

a broad range of customer requirements.

“We aren’t simply growing our business.

We are continually looking at ways to

The new SMT line configuration increases capacity and throughput.

SigmaTron’s Elk Grove Village facility re-

cently upgraded its SMT production area

by purchasing three new chip shooters and

reconfiguring its lines for higher throughput.

Now production lines utilize two high speed

SMT chip shooters followed by a machine

capable of placing fine pitch and/or larger

parts.

“Our business volumes are increasing and it

made sense to add the additional produc-

tion capacity. Dereck Moore, our Director of

Operations, has been leading an effort to

improve throughput throughout our opera-

tions so that as our business evolves we are

creating model that retains responsiveness

while supporting higher production levels,”

said Jim Barnes, EGV’s Vice President, Op-

erations.

As part of that effort, the facility has en-

hanced its capacity planning model to sup-

port faster “what if” analysis and optimum

line balancing. The model now supports the

ability to change variables such as mainte-

nance, holiday schedules or demand varia-

tions and adjust schedules as needed.

Focus has also been placed on improving

changeover time. Additional feeders have

been purchased for each line, enabling the

next job on the line to be loaded as soon as

the prior job clears the machine. This prac-

tice eliminates a step in the kitting process

and is approximately 40 percent faster

than a process utilizing only a single set of

feeders.

Older projects are being analyzed for po-

tential improvements through greater use of

automation, such as use of selective solder

or wave solder, on projects whose volumes

have grown to a level where the tooling

cost and/or non-recurring engineering (NRE)

expense would be cost effective.

Two Facility Strategy

systems for production status monitoring

and device history data collection.

“Our Tijuana team delivered the same

quality of support this customer had come

to expect at EGV, in spite of an aggressive

product development timeline. The custom-

er didn’t have to choose between conven-

ience and cost. We have identical systems

and certifications enabling the customer to

seamlessly work with both our facilities as

needed,” said Jim Barnes, EGV’s Vice Pres-

ident of Operations.

Copyright © 2015 SigmaTron International, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Have a suggestion or article idea?

Contact Curtis Campbell, VP Sales, West Coast Operations

Phone: 510-477-5004

Email: urtis.campbell@sigmatronintl.com

Another improvement was a move to physi-

cal samples vs. paper work instructions on

higher volume projects. Acuna’s production

staff has always had a “build quality in”

focus where production operators inspected

the work performed at the previous station

in addition to performing their own produc-

tion tasks. The switch from paper work in-

structions to a physical sample marked with

colored labels on inspection points and as-

sembly points for each station, increased

operator speed and accuracy.

“Our products are increasing in complexity.

This drives a need for higher levels of

Acuna

automation and a highly efficient work-

force on products that continue to utilize

manual processes. This focus on working

smarter gives our customers the best of

both worlds: superior quality and com-

petitive cost. And, our border location

represents one of fastest crossing points

on the U.S./Mexican border, enabling us

to provide responsive support over the

entire product lifecycle,” Dan added.

Increasing product complexity drives a need for x-ray inspection capability.

Production operators now stand on assembly

lines.

were several areas of focus. One im-

provement was moving operators from

a sitting position to a standing position.

Standing production lines reduced re-

petitive motion injury risk and eliminated

chairs which could scratch the surface of

floors coated with ESD protection. This

move also eliminated the potential ESD

risks that occur if a sitting operator in

ESD heel straps forgets to plug in an

ESD wrist strap and takes a heel off the

floor.

(Continued from page 2)