February, 2012
www.us-
tech.com EMS Biz Is Returning to USA Continued from previous page
Vegas to learn more about it. I re- member that was when I first met Bob Black, now President of Juki Au- tomation Systems, and he was show- ing a Placement 360 pick-and-place machine from Zevatech. He was standing alone in a small booth, and as I walked by, he grabbed me out of the aisle to show me his machine and what it could do. He was so animated and excited about his product that he had me infected with the SMT bug before I left the show. I must have met 100 other vendors during this show, but Bob was the only one that I could remember after the show. He has had a very positive impact on the SMT industry for more than 30 years, and I have been a Zevatech/ - Juki customer ever since our chance meeting. Our Juki machines are a tremendous asset to our company and can handle any job including the new PoP and LED applications. “Having the right equipment
and working with the right vendors is one of the keys to our success. The best way to increase cash flow is to in- vest in the right equipment and main- tain overall materials management.” Asked about industry chal-
lenges that Libra faces, Rod said that component-level traceability has be- come extremely important in the medical and military sectors. “Less than 20 percent of all the
components we use are employed across our customer base,” he said. “It is a constant challenge for EMS suppliers to have enough compo- nents in a plant at any one time so that they can complete jobs. At Li- bra, however, managing inventory is one of our key competencies. We cur- rently have more than 7500 active components all with different part numbers in our system. We maintain customer part numbers as well. All of our components are inventoried in a vertical carousel system. We current- ly have eight bays of RotoMats that control inventory throughout our network as a part of our total inven- tory solution, enabling quick change - over and ensuring that the right stock is available at all times. “We are doing more in PoP and
seeing bigger board size require- ments for the LED industry. Kyzen and Aqueous Technologies have be- come key vendors for cleaning our high-reliability and medical applica- tions that require stringent parame- ters for cleaning.” When queried about just what
differentiates Libra from its competi- tors, Rod pointed out that the compa- ny delivers higher technology and re- liability board-level and box-build systems. “We have a new NPI center and an entire facility devoted to box- build,” he said. “We offer design to completion. Also, we offer complete testing services for all of our cus- tomers, and our entire staff is IPC trained and certified. “Our design and prototype
services staff has been trained to work closely with a customer’s engi- neering team to provide timely feed- back regarding manufacturability, testability, and changes recom- mended that can enhance the de- sign, reduce manufacturing costs and improve product quality. As a result, transitioning new products to full production will happen more quickly because the customer can work directly with our manufactur-
See us at APEX, Booth 3242
ing team to ensure that the materi- als, knowledge and documentation
developed during the NPI process are seamlessly transferred to man- ufacturing.” “Looking ahead,
Libra facility in Mentnor, Ohio.
after a record 2011 for Libra Industries, we are seeing a strong mi- gration back to the United States because many products that were sent to Asia nev- er belonged there in the first place. Much of the military and medical business is now very U.S. centric. We are emphasizing supply chain manage- ment because we have
found that 60 percent of a product’s manufacturing sell price is based on raw materials costs. Having the right part in the right place at the right time and at the right cost is a painfully difficult process to attain for most EMS companies. If you do not have proper supply chain man- agement, you certainly cannot be profitable. Libra Industries really is a materials management company that just happens to assemble prod- ucts.”
Contact: Libra Industries, 7770
Division Drive, Mentor, OH 44060 % 800-825-1674 or 440-974-7770 fax: 440-974-7779 E-mail:
Sales@LibraInd.com Web:
www.LibraInd.com r
Page 35
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100