MC Assembly Demonstrates Its Success with Lean Manufacturing

MC Assembly, a leading mid-tier electronics manufacturing services (EMS) provider, recently presented its lean manufacturing journey during Neptune Technology Group’s annual supplier symposium.

The symposium is an annual event where key suppliers of Neptune Technology Group gather to review the achievements and goals for the coming year.

“For us, this is an opportunity for the company to bring its suppliers together to ensure that we’re all on the same path to success,” said Wayne Pitchford of Neptune Technology Group. “We appreciate the commitment of business partners like MC Assembly.”

MC Assembly’s Chief Operating Officer Luis Ramirez was the main speaker for the lean journey presentation, based on the company’s Incito lean manufacturing workshops held earlier this year.

“It was an interactive discussion where we shared lessons learned, what has worked and what has not worked, and we showed examples of the accomplishments that resulted from these investments,” Ramirez said. “The goal of the presentation was to encourage other suppliers to learn more about the positive impact of introducing a Lean manufacturing culture.”

MC Assembly has worked with Neptune Technology Group for the past decade. They continue to invest in their mutual success and the past few years have increased its focus on lean initiatives and continuous improvements together.

“Neptune is in a highly competitive business and is counting on the collective strength of their supply base to keep them globally competitive today and for years to come,” Ramirez said. “I know we are 100 percent committed to these efforts to support Neptune’s future successes.”

Since MC Assembly first started its lean manufacturing journey, the manufacturer has seen marked improvements in its quality and service results, company officials said.

“The lean journey is not a singular event and with every investment the company makes in its people-centric culture, the improvement needle moves just a little,” Ramirez said. “It’s a continuous process MC Assembly embraces with its clients and we welcome their participation in their manufacturing journey.”

In addition to Ramirez, MC Assembly’s participants included CEO and President George Moore; VP of Program Management Vicki Cooke; Director of Operations for Mexico Jose Santos; Program Manager Gary Slater and Araceli Garcia, MC Assembly’s lean coordinator for its Mexico facility, located in Zacatecas.

Ramirez said his company’s lean manufacturing efforts take time to produce results.

“One important thing for companies to understand is that lean manufacturing is a journey, like a slow cook recipe,” Ramirez said. “You can put in the ingredients, but it’s going to take some time to see the results in quality and efficiency showing up in your company’s key performance indicators.”

After the presentation, Ramirez said several companies in attendance shared their interest and excitement in starting their own lean journey or re-committing investments and support of their continuous improvement initiatives.

Ramirez said he believes that MC Assembly contributed to both the excitement about the contributions lean can add to the manufacturing process and to a deeper commitment of the Neptune supply chain to this process.

“We definitely feel we’re on the path to future success,” Ramirez said.

For more information about MC Assembly, please visit www.mcati.com.

About MC Assembly MC Assembly, based in Melbourne, Fla., with additional operations\in Billerica, Mass., and Zacatecas, Mexico, is a national leader in the contract manufacturing arena with annual revenues of approximately $200 million. It provides turnkey solutions to original equipment manufacturers and focuses on assembly of medium volume, medium mix printed circuit boards assemblies (PCBAs) and box builds. MC Assembly’s capabilities include surface mount and pin-through-hole interconnection technologies, PCB and box build, DFM, DFT, DFA engineering, incircuit, functional and environmental testing, and full box-build direct order fulfillment.