Escatec's Attila Aybars talks EMS

How long have you been working for Escatec and what area are you responsible for? I have been working for Escatec for 22 years.  As Department Production Manager of Escatec Switzerland AG, I am responsible for a team of 120 employees working in SMT, THT, boxbuild, MOEMS and engineering processes. Electronics is very specific. What makes it great for you? Electronics is one of the most dynamic and innovative industries.  Continuous innovation and curiosity for new technologies is mandatory for everyone working in our company.  This continuous change keeps each day new and different, and work interesting and challenging.  My biggest motivation is sharing this challenge of fast action, latest technology and best quality with my team.

Attila Aybars © Escatec

Development is rapid. How do you cope with constantly changing demands? The answer is speed and a sense for tomorrow’s customer needs.  Our team of highly educated and flexible manufacturing and engineering experts allow us to follow the customer demand.  Escatec has always believed in investing in its people as they are the most valuable assets of the company.  Their skills help us stay ahead of the competition by providing a superior service and value for money.   We also watch what new machines and technologies are becoming available so that we can offer state of the art solutions for our customers.  So many of our rivals are all about shaving costs but this can compromise quality and reliability.  For us it is the other way round.  Our reputation is built on delivering quality and reliability all the time and we invest continuously to ensure that we can deliver this and be cost competitive as well. A good company thrives on teamwork. How big is your team? I am proud to lead a team of 120 top production experts, operators, technicians and engineers.  The technical product and process responsibility located in the production team allow us to continually improve our performance.  Despite the clear process focus of the production teams, the regular information and experience exchange on every hierarchical level allow us to learn from each other and keep the flexibility over the whole department. How do you see the future of European electronics manufacturing? The world is getting smaller and geographies are constantly moving closer together. We are able to purchase services and products with a simple mouse click from anywhere in the world. The European EMS is faced with a strong and technologically up to date EMS world market.  Due to the increasing standardization of components and processes, the location of manufacturing is becoming of minor importance. My vision of the European EMS in future is a highly flexible, technology leader with customer related production, logistic and service solutions.  It must be smart and agile to combine resources from wherever they are located in order to deliver the best service, the best quality and best value for money.   For example, combining production in low wage countries with research and design in offices close to the customer so that there is close and rapid interaction for these intensely customer-interfacing activities. We must continually delight our customers, to know and anticipate when an additional service would help, almost before they know themselves. In the movie "The Devil Wears Prada", there is a brilliant passage when Meryl Streep, as Miranda Priestly, asks Anne Hathaway, as her second Assistant Andy, to obtain the currently unpublished Harry Potter book for her two daughters.  After a while she returns with the script and places it on her boss’ desk.  Miranda asks what she is going to do with all this paper especially as she asked for two copies - one for each child.  Andy replies... and this is the brilliant point...  that she has already bound two copies into book form and given them to the two daughters who are actually travelling by train, so they have entertainment on their journey.  The copy on her desk is only for her information. Well, I don't recommend European EMS to start diversifying into clothes or books.  For me it is a metaphor of how our self-understanding and mind-set must change.  Don't just fulfil your customer’s requirements.   Delight him and surprise him with daily advantages over his EMS next door, by providing the most intelligent, flexible, fast and clever solutions on this earth.  This delivered together with a warm handshake from his personal representative, who would love to grab a good Swiss beer with him after work.   In summary, to succeed, you need to exceed expectations and make yourselves an indispensable part of your customer’s success.