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www.us-
tech.com
Innovative Marketing of Manufacturing Equipment
By Mike Schwartz, Manncorp Director of Marketing
lution was born. Soon, a young entre- preneur seized an opportunity. From his station wagon, Henry Mann began selling specially designed tools used to insert through-hole components in their holes in circuit boards. Back then, this was all done by
I
hand — but this was soon to change. As the electronics industry advanced, and automated component place- ment machines appeared, Manncorp moved to the forefront, and today continues to offer state-of-the-art machines that cover the entire sur- face mount production process, from
n the 1960s when transistors began to replace cumbersome vac- uum tubes, a new industrial revo-
prototyping to mid-volume assembly. The end products pro-
Inline wave soldering system.
duced by today’s electronics industry are not only excep- tional in themselves; they are also marketed with great skill. Just consider the savvy and successful techniques of Apple, IBM, HP, Intel and numerous others through the years. There’s another level of sales involved here — the machines that build these products —and that’s where there’s a big lapse in marketing strategy. Mann - corp stands out as a major exception; as a surface mount
manufacturing equipment source, it is likely to be acknowledged even by its fiercest competitors to be well ahead of the pack when it comes to marketing. CEO Henry Mann’s formidable
list of electronics marketing firsts started in the late 60s with the pub- lication of an equipment catalog con- taining detailed product descriptions and prices. In the boom era of the 80s and 90s, it was 400 pages thick and mailed to nearly 60,000 engineers. Other firsts included a fleet of 12 rov- ing “Mann Vans” which demonstrat- ed assembly equipment right at the customers’ facilities.
Marketing Firsts Not only did the company excel
automated solutions, Inc.
in marketing firsts, it achieved nu - merous design and manufacturing breakthroughs of specialized hard- ware, such as surface mount die sets used in the first LCD watches by Optel and Timex. Manncorp also pro- duced the milspec component-form- ing tooling and machines for the cir- cuit boards that Hughes Aircraft assembled for early NASA satellites. These were major achievements
• Micro-Spot Welding • Compacting • Splicing • Contact Welding • Resistance Brazing • Terminal Welding
AUTOMATION
• Automation • Resistance Welding • Laser Welding • Stamping/Bending • Controllers • Inverters
MANUAL STATIONS
for a high tech company whose leader had no engineering or manufacturing background. But those voids were overshadowed by Mann’s innate abil- ity to recognize and develop products that fill a need coupled with an intu- itive grasp as to how they should be marketed.
December, 2011
High-speed pick-and-place assembly system.
When the Web was in its infancy, CUSTOMIZED MODULES CU M
Mann was among the first in this industry to seize its potential as a marketing medium, erecting a website that was more than just a product showcase — it produced sales by gen- erating instant quotations online, direct-to-user without the aid of a salesperson. Early on, the company also began using e-mail to inform cus- tomers and prospects of new products — and still does so on a regular basis. Today, on-line shopping carts
Phone: Fax:
automated solutions, Inc.
Internet: Email:
39 Scenic View Drive • Deep River, CT 06517 860-227-0683 860-526-9296
www.strunk.de
www.strunk-connect.com info@strunk.de
are filled by OEMs and contract assemblers from all over the world — from $10 parts to $500,000 equip- ment lines. As a result, the company has been able to spin off two other websites. One is
www.smtsolder-
paste.com, which is an online source for solder paste sold and shipped direct to end users. In less than two years, the site has reportedly gener- ated significant market share by offering quality pastes a lower cost. And a recent launch,
www.man-
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