The PC Systems Blog

This last week of the year is a time that most companies will look at the past year and acknowledge what went well and what didn’t go so well.  We will do the same thing at PC Systems and I thought it would make sense for me to share some of those discussions with you.  Overall, 2011 was a very good year for us.  We expect that we have done the right things to make sure we continue that pace and 2012 will be just as good.  Here is what went well in 2011:

New Design and Development Procedure – We threw out the book (literally) with the Design and Development procedures from our Quality system and started new.  We developed a much more robust system using many APQP principles and most importantly, multi-stage Design Reviews.  This will definitely benefit our customers in the future.

Improved Engineering and Quality Staff – We added Kevin Genevro to the Engineering team and Andy Gahr as the new Quality Manager.  They both made significant contributions to the business in 2011.

http://blog.pcsridgway.com/2011/04/addition-of-kevin-genevro-to-the-team/

http://blog.pcsridgway.com/2011/10/addition-of-andy-gahr-to-the-team/

Executed Continuous Improvement Plan – 2011 was the first year that we developed and executed a Continuous Improvement Plan.  It included multiple Kaizen events, including Value Stream Maps, 5S Events, and SMED.  The structure kept us on schedule and made improvements across our plant.

Harness Production Improved – Our largest harness cell produced over 1000 harnesses per month multiple times in 2011.  Before 2011, we never produced more than 600 harnesses out of that cell, although the demand was higher.  The team was able to do this while maintaining their productivity and 5S KPIs.  We look for even greater throughput and demand in 2012.

Lead Free Solution for Automotive Glass Electrical Leads – Working with a couple different customers, we were able to identify a Lead Free solution for Automotive Glass leads as the RoHS exemption 8b expires at the end of the year.  We will continue to work on this through 2012 and if you need more information, please contact us.

Continued Growth – We continue to grow at a brisk pace and meet our Sales goals.  We were able to do this primarily with the growth of our current diversified customer base, which leaves a lot of room for growth with new customers.  We continue to monitor capacity from both a production and support staff perspective, to make sure we grow at a pace that will not put our customers at risk.

These are some of the highlights, but there were many small successes that added up to significant achievements for our entire team for 2011.  I am proud of how our team performed in 2011 and expect similar results in 2012.  To get there, we will develop strategic company goals for 2012 with cascading personal goals for our staff (ala Hoshin Planning).  We are excited for the prospects and will share some of these goals through the early part of next year. 

Until then, we wish you a happy and successful New Year.  If there is anything we can do to assist you, please do not hesitate to contact us.

We have been spending a little time trying to increase our online exposure.  If you participate on LinkedIn or Google+, we encourage you to take a look at our “brand” pages. 

You can find our LinkedIn page here: http://www.linkedin.com/company/paesano-connecting-systems-inc

You can find our Google+ brand page here: https://plus.google.com/110450868811597243721

I stopped in at a local used car (Rogo’s Auto Sales http://www.rogosauto.com/) to talk to the owner (Tim) about a set of keys that he was going to order from me.  A quick conversation with them gave me an idea for a blog post, so I thought I would share it with you.

I bought my first vehicle from this dealer about 6 months ago and I was absolutely amazed by their customer service.  They are small, they know me by name, and they can justify their pricing.  Notice that I didn’t say that they had the lowest price around.  When I had a problem with the new truck, they gave me a loaner and took the truck to the OEM dealership to get it fixed for me.  They didn’t have to do that, but Tim said that was how he wanted to make it right.  That is just one example of the customer service they provided.

I want our customers to feel the same satisfaction after working with PC Systems that I felt after working with Rogo’s.  I have to admit, one of the reasons I stopped in today was to ask about some new vehicles for my wife.  I want to buy from them again.

This morning, I overheard Tim and Kenny talking about how to look up my VIN number.  Kenny told Tim to look under “deals” in their computer database.  I pressed Tim on that a little bit.  I thought it was interesting that they call it “deals" instead of “sales”.  Tim joked and said that he hopes everyone thinks they got a deal there.

I don’t expect that anyone sat down and really thought out what they were going to call “sales” in their database.  Only employees look at it, so there isn’t any incentive or marketing gold to be had by calling it “deals”.  Rather, I feel this is just a reflection of the culture at the dealership, which is what had me excited in the first place.

Using terminology that frames up the customer satisfaction internally will obviously translate into using the same terminology while speaking with the customer.  This is always going to have an effect on the buying experience.  I don’t know if that was intentional at Rogo’s or not, but I thought it was worth writing about.  I’ll have to think about how we do that here at PC Systems (if we do) or how we can start doing it.  How about you?  Can you think of any way you use vocabulary that takes into consideration the customer’s point of view rather than the company’s?

If you check the blog often, you may have realized that we have changed a couple things.  I will try to provide a quick summary of what has changed:

• Name – We have changed from PCS Engineering Blog to The PC Systems Blog.  This is because we have added contributors and hope to round out the content.
• Theme – We changed our blog engine to WordPress so it required a change in theme.
• Categories – We are going to start organizing our posts a little better using categories and tags which should help direct you to the content you want.
• Content Strategy – With the addition of team members willing to contribute, it is our hope that we can develop a schedule and update the blog on a regular basis.  Also, we hope to develop additional content, such as whitepapers.

We appreciate your patience during the transition!

What an exciting time to be part of PC Systems!  Not too long ago, I introduced you to Kevin Genevro, a new Engineer to our team.  I have similar exciting news on the Quality front as Andy Gahr joins our team as Quality Manager.  Andy carries a stellar resume and we consider his addition a big step in our growth as an organization.  Take a look at his LinkedIn profile:

http://www.linkedin.com/pub/andrew-gahr/7/956/7a0

Andy has been certified as a Six Sigma Black Belt, Army Veteran, and is well known locally for his excellent Quality background.  More importantly, he has immediately contributed and had an impact at PCS.

With Andy’s guidance, we have rewritten our Design and Development procedures to provide more value to our customer.  This was a follow-up to some of our Value Stream Map exercises to get rid of Waste in those processes.  Hopefully you get an opportunity to feel the benefits of these improvements on your next RFQ with PCS.

Please help me welcome Andy as we continue to transition our company into a solutions provider for all of your electrical interconnect needs.

An additional note, some of you who have had the pleasure of working with Dave Gillen (former QM) in the past may wonder what his status is.  He is still here and will be working with Andy in the Quality department helping in all the ways he has in the past.

In a recent interview that featured PC Systems in Wire Harness News, I made the comment that PC Systems was dedicated to providing solutions for customers rather than commodity product.  This answer was a response to a question from the interviewer in which he asked me why I was trying to come up with a Lead Free solution for window glass connectors, rather than their R&D teams finding the proper alloy and specifying it for us. 

As evidence of that commitment to providing solutions, I would like to introduce Kevin Genevro, an Engineer, who is the latest addition to our Engineering staff.

Here is a link to Kevin’s LinkedIn profile:

http://tinyurl.com/3czcegv

A Mechanical Engineer by training, Kevin has been with us for about 3 months so far and is already making major contributions to our team.  His primary responsibilities at PC Systems will include a wide range of activities, including new product introduction, tooling design, raw material acquisition, back-up Quality Auditor, LEAN facilitator and recipient of mild hazing, to just name a few.  All jokes aside, we are very proud to welcome this local Engineer to our team and we hope that you have the good fortune or working with him on a future project with us. 

Unless you are an industry insider, you probably have not heard that Volvo CE is moving/adding a significant chunk of their global manufacturing and headquarters from Asheville, NC to Shippensburg, PA.

A couple links to this story can be found here:

Chambersburg Public Opinion: http://www.publicopiniononline.com/localnews/ci_17870137

Diesel Progress Online:

http://www.dieselprogress.com/Industry-News/3242/Volvo-CE-Announces-$100-Million-Shippensburg-Expansion/

What does this have to do with PC Systems?  It seems that Volvo has recognized what we have known for a long time.  The same type of employees that will be working in the Volvo plants are working in our factory as well.  The storied “Pittsburgh” steelworker work ethic is alive and well here in Pennsylvania.  The skilled workforce and low base cost in our area allows our employee productivity to remain at optimum levels so that we can provide you with a low price and high quality product. 

This would be great news for any local area, but it is especially welcomed here in Pennsylvania.  I am sure it is bad news in Asheville, but I am also sure that the community in Shippensburg will welcome the individuals who choose to transfer locations.  To be honest, if you can get used to the winters up here, Pennsylvania is not too bad of a place to live. 

The best news for PC Systems can be found in this quote, from the former CEO of Volvo CE (Mr. Persson recently was promoted) :

““The global demand for Volvo construction equipment is rapidly increasing and we need to make investments to meet future demands in the region. Producing Volvo wheel loaders, articulated haulers and excavators in Shippensburg will result in shorter lead times for our customers. We will work closely with local suppliers to increase the North American content of our products…”

- Olof Persson – Volvo CE

We, along with many other local suppliers, will be trying very hard to become part of Volvo’s supply chain.  In fact, we expect there to be other major manufacturers noticing that the playing field is starting to level now, making it less competitive to move manufacturing out of the Northeast where the workforce is so strong.  Based on this, part of our future sales strategy is to focus on local manufacturing, taking advantage of proximity in an effort to reduce lead-time and freight costs.  So far we have seen it work with a couple of our customers, and hope to have the same success in the future with others.

Our General Manager, Jason Brigger, and myself recently took a trip out to Las Vegas to attend the CONEXPO-CON/AGG show. 

http://www.conexpoconagg.com/

This event occurs every three years and is one of the biggest shows for the Construction industry.  Our goal was to visit with current customers and also identify some potential new customers.  We were successful in both endeavors.

A little about the show:  It is HUGE.  Also, anyone that every played with Tonka trucks as a kid would be like a kid in a candy store here.   To give you a feel for the size, the exhibitor space covered 2.34 million square feet (40 football fields!).  There were 120,000 registered attendees, which is more than the population of Peoria, IL!  Here are a couple photos:

What did we learn?  Our product is a great fit for this industry.  Our largest customer is a positioning solutions supplier in this industry and there is no reason that we shouldn’t be selling similar harnesses to the OEMs of this market.  In every engine bay we found PVC coated Nylon braid, Split loom, and both Deutsch and Amp connectors.  Through our customer, our harnesses are already ending up in these same bays. 

We have focused very heavily over the past 6 months on improving the production methods in our Harness department.   I recall reading a statement from Peter Drucker that said that if you want to sell the same mousetrap to a new customer, you better be 30% cheaper that the incumbent competitor.  Although we may not be able to get to 30% cheaper (we might get close), we feel that with our improvements, increase in capacity, and better mousetraps, we will be able to find a good customer from this huge show. 

We handed out a newsletter at the show.  If you didn’t get one or lost yours, here is a link to a copy:  http://www.pcsridgway.com/Media/Files/CONAGG%20NEWSLETTER.pdf

Here at PCS, we use multiple Manufacturers’ Reps to serve as our sales force in the field.  This has been a successful sales model in the past which allows for us to cover greater territory while still keeping the overhead and cost down for our customer.

One of these rep firms, Innovation Sales, has recently updated their website.  If you have a free moment, you may want to go ahead and take a look.  As many of you are aware, updating a website is not typically a trivial task, but I think you would agree that the Innovation Sales team did a pretty good job. 

http://www.innovationsales.net/

The team at Innovation Sales is a strong one with a very good blend of experience and youth.  For PCS, they primarily cover the Midwest area, but have accounts in multiple other locations due to their excellent customer support, particularly within the areas of Automotive Glass Connectors and Electrical Harnesses. 

Their mission statement is: 

To "bridge the gap" between customers and suppliers by providing solutions to the problems many of today’s Original Equipment Manufacturers and their supply base encounter.
We do this through sound application engineering combined with strong problem solving methods which have been developed throughout our history of service.

The portfolio at Innovation Sales includes fasteners, castings, powdered metal and electrical components.  The products in the portfolio are typically complimentary, therefore there may be something offered there that will be of interest to you. 

The description page that is provided for PCS is pretty good as well in case you are interested in reviewing that:

http://www.innovationsales.net/pc-systems-electrical-harness.htm

If you have any questions or comments, I encourage you to contact us at PCS or the team at Innovation Sales.  I am sure that the team at Innovation Sales would welcome feedback on their new website if you are willing to provide it to them.

As predicted, the end of 2010 has proved to be a very busy time for the Engineering and Product Management teams.  In addition, our Production group has been extremely busy as well, which was somewhat unexpected.  Looking at our order log for the next couple months, it looks like none of these teams will get a break as we move into 2011, which is great news for us as a company.

You would think that with all this activity, there would be a flurry of blog posts.  Unfortunately, I am fast becoming aware that it is difficult to blog about custom product as it is often confidential in nature.  Our customers’ confidentiality is very important to us, so it limits what I can share with the world.  That being said, here are some things we have been working on:

1) New Products: We are seeing many new Heavy Equipment harness designs being proposed and also being converted into quick orders.  In addition to the normal work instructions and paperwork, every harness order requires at least one layout board and mating test harness to be built.  This has kept our Quality and Engineering teams busy.  I expected by this time I would see a larger number of harnesses eliminating Deutsch components and using the Amphenol AT series as replacements due to Deutsch delivery problems in early 2010, but that has not been the case.  You should be aware that we are happy to use either of these manufacturers on our harnesses.  Below is a terminal block from one of the new harnesses and another harness being laid out.

2) Research and Development: We have begun to dedicate a significant amount of time to generating a lead free alternative for soldering electrical connectors to automotive window glass.  This has traditionally been a RoHS exempted solder joint due to poor performance of the traditional SAC (Tin/Silver/Copper) solder alloys in this application, but that exemption is due to expire soon.  We at PCS are focusing on identifying a much more cost competitive solution when compared to the current alternatives available commercially (for example, alloys containing high content of Indium and/or Bismuth).  We are hoping to get through some very important testing in early 2011.  A photo of of the initial testing samples can be found below.

3) Innovation: We are working on an alternative design using flat flexible conductors for an automotive customer that is stretching the boundaries for how we have used this product in the past.  Although this doesn’t look to be an extremely profitable project, we hope it will open doors for us.  In addition to that, who doesn’t like to read about their products on automotive news blogs?  To the right is a prototype of the wire to foil overmolded transition used on that product.

4) Continuous Improvement: We are writing CNC code for our machine shop so that we can replace some of the existing tooling in our equipment.  In the past, we have used mostly manual equipment for maintaining our tooling and building new test fixtures.  With the completion of  recent training, we have successfully started writing our own CNC code to replace some of this tooling, which should provide better costs for our customers and a more standardized product.  Here is an example of the tooling that we are working on this month.

5) We are implementing a new ERP system, Epicor 9, which has been an exciting adventure.  Anyone who has upgraded such a major database such as an ERP knows how overwhelming it can be.  The amount of data that needs to be transferred is absolutely mind-boggling.  We intended on doing the implementation in Q4 as it typically is our slowest time of the year.  It has been difficult, but we are finding time to fit this into our daily schedules.  There is high hope that this system will provide better cost models (thus better pricing for the customers), better real-time production data (more accurate lead-times) and a more user friendly quote module (faster turnarounds on RFQs). 

That is a pretty good cross-section of what has been going on here at PCS.  As always, if there is something in this post that catches your attention and want to talk more about it, contact us for further discussion.