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July, 2016 VirTex: Responsive, Agile, Flexible Manufacturing By Gayle Paterson, Scoop (@PatersonGayle)
facturer along with the responsiveness, agility and flexibility of a local supplier. With headquarters in Austin, Texas, and manufacturing facilities in Wisconsin and Mexico, VirTex has a list of ap- provals that would look impressive in the lobby of a much larger company. The company’s lines contain the latest equipment to manufacture complex electronics, and its systems and processes have won awards for manufactur- ing excellence and innovation. Working with brands large and small and
B
from all industries, Heath believes that by set- ting high standards that meet the demands of the mil/aero, automotive and medical markets, the company can meet any demands for quali- ty, performance or traceability. As a result, VirTex has had a lot of success in these de- manding market segments, as well as other commercial and industrial markets, where their customer loyalty is impressive.
Proven and Approved The company’s approvals include ISO 9001,
ISO 13485, AS9100C, ROHS, WEEE, J-STD-001, IPC 610, ANSI ESD S20.20, ITAR Registration, and FDA 21 CFR 820 Registration. Perhaps most im- pressive is its ability to build and manage very com- plex systems and products. These products often re- quire disciplines beyond SMT assembly, such as de- sign, the use of complex component technology, ca- ble harnesses, metal and plastics, outsourced parts, mass customization, complex box build, RF tuning, among others. This often requires the company to work with a multi-disciplined team to get the best results while managing the entire supply chain for successful fulfillment worldwide. Because of Heath’s background, the company
has organizational, process, management and op- erational excellence in its DNA, as well as the ex-
rad Heath first opened the doors of VirTex in 1999 to provide the equipment, processes and certifications of a large contract manu-
pertise required to deliver quality and lean manu- facturing. This approach to excellence requires sig- nificant investment and dedicated staff, which many local manufacturers struggle to provide. “Lean” can sometimes be seen as an industry buzz- word, and this business “journey” requires commit- ment from top to bottom of an organization. To drive the best value for its customers efficiently,
time that would be missed by just looking through a standard manufacturing process. This enables the company to identify the right responses and provide the right feedback to customers in a faster, more comprehensive manner
that allows cus-
tomers to utilize the data fully for their business processes and continuous procedural improvement. This means greater visibility into supply chains and greater agility in assessing what might happen when change or disruption occurs. Markets are fickle and dynamic, and as a re- sult supply chains need to be more transpar- ent, more flexible and more agile. The company has developed a number
Virtex production floor in Austin, Texas.
VirTex has undertaken a lean transformation, which embraces the entire company, from manu- facturing and supply chain, to back-office business processes, and this process never ends. The entire staff of the organization is encouraged to embrace the lean approach and bring ideas for incremental improvement to the table. In addition to becoming lean, the company has
embraced recent developments in “big data” and the connected enterprise, or Internet of Manufacturing (IoM), to improve the service it provides and the vis- ibility its customers get. The company recently won two Frost & Sullivan Manufacturing Leadership awards, one for its supply chain and the other for its use of big data and advanced analytics. Data collected on the shop floor are analyzed
instantly and in a number of different ways. In the high-mix, low-to-medium volume environment in which VirTex operates, trends are spotted over
of dashboards, all in-house collaborations, to improve operations with greater visibility and transparency, and also to provide pre- dictive and performance analysis, as well as supply chain planning and manufacturing optimization. The company understands that manu- facturing and operational excellence is a jour- ney that is never finished. As a result, it has a
substantial and flexible investment plan that allows the individual site managers to make decisions quickly and efficiently. Behind this investment strategy is a strong capital base and an approach that says if a customer needs a solution and it makes sense, get it done, and get it done quickly.
Locations and Capabilities With three facilities in the Americas, the
company believes that it can offer the best of both worlds in terms of local and low-cost manufactur- ing. If asked about reshoring trends, Heath re- sponds with the term “smart-shoring.” Smart- shoring is simply sourcing and doing the work where it actually makes sense, whether driven by economics, social well-being, technology require- ments, environmental issues, or logistic simplicity, and taking into account the total landed cost of
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