I am very adamant here in the office that if you want something back in one piece, whether it is a sample, finished part or your son’s new toy, don’t leave it on my desk.  My curiosity often gets the best of me and my reassembly skills are often not as good as my destructive abilities.  I have just about everyone trained, but I still manage to get myself into some trouble occasionally.  Last Friday was one example.

Here at PCS, we continue to look for Lead free connectors for Automotive glass that will stand up to the SAE/USCAR-40 testing requirements.  We are confident that we have found a braided solution, but we are now focusing on finding a solder alloy that can be used on a solid Copper footprint and be robust enough to withstand the CTE (Coefficient of Thermal Expansion) mismatch between the Copper and glass.

Kevin and I completed some testing on Friday using an alloy that we thought held promise.  We were attempting to test a couple different application techniques.  We found that the bond between the solder and the glass proved to be a little better than expected which resulted in some excitement.

The glass shattered on the third pull and the peak tensile force was measured at 80.5 lbf.  This is rather impressive considering the specification is 10.0 lbf.  Unfortunately, the other clips on the panel could not be pull tested due to the fracturing of the glass.  On the other hand,   some days we need reminded that work can be fun, and this was one of those times.  We are working on soldering clips to a new panel this week, with a slightly different testing technique which should help us preserve the panel.

Waiting for us upon our arrival back from the Christmas holiday, was the audit report from our registrar’s (SAI Global) 12 month surveillance audit.  The report was a well-earned Christmas gift as PC Systems successfully passed surveillance audit with only one opportunity for improvement identified.

Over the past few months, the PC Systems’ management team has been working very diligently to streamline our design and development process.  We documented the design and development process with a process flow diagram to show the critical steps and interactions of the engineering, product management, quality, sourcing and customer service department throughout the process.  We also development new design review forms to easily identify and record the design inputs, design outputs, design changes, validation and verification during the design and development phases.  This hard work paid off as in the auditor’s report, he highlighted the improvements to the design and development process.  Other areas of PC Systems’ quality management system which was highlighted in the auditor’s report were the 63 closed continuous improvements and preventive actions complete in 2011, the training matrix and the internal audit program.

As we look forward to 2012, we will continually improve the quality management system at PC Systems.  Our focus will be on improving the corrective action process, improving process yields and better understanding our process capabilities.  PC Systems will continue to use the ISO 9001:2008 standard to better our quality management system and not just to be certified.

Copy of the PC Systems, Inc. ISO 9001:2008 Certificate found here.

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.

Here is some connector news that has been flying under the radar, but may have significant implications with regards to harsh environment connectors in the future.  TE Connectivity has acquired Deutsch from Wendel.  I am not a financial analyst by any means, but I expect the uncertainty in the European markets made this an attractive acquisition.  It is important to note here that the acquisition includes Ladd, which is the single source distribution partner for Deutsch.

http://investors.tycoelectronics.com/phoenix.zhtml?c=209396&p=irol-newsArticle&ID=1634437&highlight=

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/2105afbc-1b4c-11e1-8b11-00144feabdc0.html#axzz1fl52pmdV

If you are unfamiliar with Deutsch, they hold a large marketshare when it comes to connection systems on heavy equipment, from construction (backhoes, dozers, graders, etc.) to more industrial (man lifts, telehandlers, truck bodies, etc.).  TE Connectivity has had some success breaking into that market with their AmpSeal line, but Deutsch is still the king.

This will be interesting to see how this all plays out.

• What will happen with Amphenol and their recent introduction of the Amphenol Sine AT Series (which is a direct replacement to Deutsch DT Series)?
• Will there still only be one place to purchase Deutsch components?
• Will TE Connectivity use their leverage to increase pricing, or will they use their breadth to reduce pricing?
• Will there be consolidation and how will that affect Quality and Reliability?

All questions that you can be sure we are asking of our contacts within the industry.

By the way, has TE Connectivity gained a firm footing in anyone’s lexicon yet?  It still feels awkward to say it, and every time I typed it in this post, I typed Tyco, backspace, backspace, backspace, backspace, TE Connectivity…

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?

I want to share a continuous improvement effort that was presented by one of our Quality Engineers, Dave Gillen.  Dave has worked at PC Systems since “the beginning” and has consistently been looking to improve peel performance of welded wire to Copper solder tabs, which is one of our core products.   Through a series of corrective action activities, he had declared that the “flaring” of wires when welding smaller gauges (18/20/22AWG) caused a lower peel value on the weld.   Even worse, the “flare” was unpredictable, leading to variability. 

Dave found that the “flaring” was caused by the upper electrode design.  It was cut as a radius, which did not always capture the wires before the weld.  He designed a new upper electrode in a trapezoidal shape.  In Dave’s words, “the results were remarkable”, and I agree!

Variability of the weld was reduced significantly with respect to weld peel.  Also, the aesthetic difference is impressive as well, as you can see in the photographs.  We look forward to using this new design and improving our capability at the welders.  As we are all aware, this reduced variability will likely lead to reduced scrap and increased throughput, allowing us to manage our costs for your benefit!

• 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!

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.

PC Systems held a full Single Minute Exchange of Dies (SMED) event on August 24, 2011. More details are to come about the event in its entirety, but for now I want to dive into a story detailing the almost immediate benefit that team LEAN events can have on a manufacturing process.

Participants of the SMED LEAN event at PC Systems came from many branches of the company, each had one goal in mind: Reduce changeover time of mold tooling. The suspects included company quality manager, engineering manager, engineer, production manager, two plastic injection mold operators, and machinist. The integration of thoughts from each branch led to many noteworthy ideas. Among these ideas was the thought of knurling the allen wrenches used by the mold operators for die change out. Moving forward, it was suggested that rather than using a manual socket allen wrench, it would be more effective to use the services of a battery powered electric drill. These baseline ideas provided the foundation to what was considered to be the best option: An air powered allen wrench.

The iterative process of coming up with this seemingly simple idea portrays the impact that conducting team LEAN events can have. It took the minds of many to come up with such an elementary yet effective solution.  Participant contribution and teamwork allowed for immediate success. The new idea was implemented just days after the event, and is proving to be a solid starting point on the road to tooling changeover time reduction.