SMTC
For 25 years, SMTC has focused on providing electronic manufacturing services (EMS) to worldwide original equipment manufacturers (OEM), assisting customers with industrial, telecom, and datacom wireless infrastructure integration requirements.
Established operations in Canada, the United States, Mexico, and Hong Kong, SMTC delivers fully integrated and customized contract manufacturing systems to OEMs and emerging technology companies within the industrial, medical, computing, and communication market segments. SMTC specializes in PCBA production, systems integration and testing, product design, engineering and supply chain management services. SMTC services extend over the entire electronic product life cycle, from the development and introduction of new products through to the growth, maturity and end-of-life phases.
In 2012, SMTC was recognized for its excellence in quality and services by Frost & Sullivan with the Global EMS Award for Product Quality Leadership. More recently, Frost & Sullivan recognized SMTC with the 2013 North America Award for Growth Leadership. Each year, Frost & Sullivan presents this award to the company that has demonstrated excellence in capturing the highest annual compound growth rate for the past three years, and has recognized SMTC as one of the fastest growth companies in 2012.
Growth
Working alongside its existing customers to grow, share, and expand its service offering, SMTC’s growth strategy anticipates an expanded clientele base through acquisitions.
“I expect the next stage in our evolution to occur in Europe,” Paul Blom, Executive Vice-President of Operations with SMTC, told The Canadian Business Journal.
“As we continue to grow, we have an eye on establishing a European offering and adding Europe more to the global footprint.”
Three acquisitions in the last year-and-a-half is a testament to SMTC’s growth. With its recent entrance into the Asian market, SMTC has opened doors for Asia-to-Asia trading, in terms of manufacturing and shipping its product from Asia.
“The Asian supply chain is unparalleled,” said Claude Germain, President and CEO of SMTC. “It is the most significant place to manufacture, largely because the supply chain is so flexible, sophisticated, and quick.”
Like most outsourced business models, SMTC is doing well during this economy, adding to its growth. According to Germain, “SMTC offers very sophisticated technical services with a lot of flexibility. We’re well positioned because we have a global supply chain, global facilities, and strong engineering capabilities.”
SMTC invests its time and energy in customer relations, which ultimately leads to increased business with its existing customers and further drives company value as well as business growth, all factors which have significantly contributed to the company’s overall growth through the years.
Competitive Edge
SMTC’s global footprint allows it to offer more to customers – namely a pathway to different geographical areas to host engineering services, new product introduction, and ongoing manufacturing. Due to its systems, processes, people, and partnerships, SMTC’s supply chain appeals to customers because of its cost effectiveness and competitiveness, plus its flexibility as demand increases. Such a supply chain system is comparable to the industry’s tier-1 businesses.
“Customers may start with us in Mexico or San Jose, Calif.,” Blom said,” but eventually they want to migrate some of or their entire product into China.”
With limited global tier-2 EMS providers serving the marketplace, it leaves few competitors and is a prime reason why SMTC has developed such a customer centric culture and a desire to continuously reinvest in optimized engineering, as well as cost reductions and improved efficiencies within the manufacturing process. Germain added, “We offer customers the gamut – onshore, near shore, and offshore manufacturing options.”
Future
Looking toward the future, SMTC is focused on increasing its Chinese presence, as it recognizes that today’s customers seek not only China-based cost reduction, but Chinese manufacturing capabilities too.
SMTC also anticipates about a 10 per cent organic growth rate within the marketplace, as the company will continue to be a market leader investing in engineering and lean manufacturing.
As a cost competitive manufacturing partner, SMTC also continues to pursue new acquisition opportunities to further its client service commitment. SMTC hopes to broaden its engineering capabilities, growing the company in scale, while still maintaining the key customer relationships that have been a means to its success.
“We see continued growth opportunities in engineering services. We’re investing more and more in our value engineering team,” Blom concluded. “What will continue to be the key behind our success is our tenacious drive to create great customer partnerships.”
