EMS@C-LEVEL

Global Operations, Advanced Automation, Cobots, and the Future of EMS with Mickey McCallion from SMTC

• Philip Spagnoli Stoten

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I enjoy a conversation with SMTC's EVP of Global Operations Mickey McCallion about synthesizing global operations in a company with many different equipment sets. We dig into the world of advanced manufacturing technology and uncover how SMTC is orchestrating the integration of diverse machinery and ERP systems through the  CFX platform and strategic partnerships. Mickey provides insights into the transformative potential of AI, the crucial role of automation, even in regions with lower wages, and how these powerful tools are reshaping the talent landscape and competitive dynamics within the industry.

We explore the absence of larger collaborative robots, or cobots, at APEX  and other a recent industry event, as Mickey points out what he has seen and how he brings a large team to these events to really explore technologies that can shift the needle in their facilities.

As EMS companies broaden their supply chain influence, we'll reveal how the integration of these sophisticated technologies is improving lean manufacturing, offering a  glimpse into an era of ever increasing efficiency.

Like every episode of EMS@C-Level, this one was sponsored by global inspection leader Koh Young (https://www.kohyoung.com) and Adaptable Automation Specialist Launchpad.build (https://launchpad.build).

You can see video versions of all of the EMS@C-Level pods on our YouTube playlist.

Speaker 1:

Hello, I'm Philip Stoughton. I'm here at Apex 2024 and I'm on the Co-Young booth. I'm joined today by Mickey from SMTC. Mickey, just start by giving me an overview of where all your facilities are, because a lot of them have been acquisitions over the years and developed that way. You have a presence here over the years and developed that way. You have a presence here in the US. You have a presence in Mexico as well.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, we have facilities in the Bay Area. We have a small MPI-type facility, high-tech, in Fremont, a very large box-build facility in Milpitas, focused on the electric vehicle market but has opportunities to do box build for other companies and where we're quoting other companies at the moment. Boston area a facility there, aerospace defense, medical market. A large facility in Florida, space Coast, primarily 60% probably aerospace defense, and then high complex utility market would be a cornerstone customer. And then with four facilities down in Chihuahua, two very large facilities and then a fabrication plant that supports our own internal needs for metal box build and then an interconnect shop for cable interconnect.

Speaker 1:

And as VP of global operations, you must spend half your time traveling around all those Because they were acquisitions. You won't have one line that you've put through every factory. You'll have a whole bunch of legacy equipment. How do you synthesize all that?

Speaker 2:

Absolutely correct. We have a footprint of nearly everybody you see here, Whether it's Universal, Fuji, Hanwha, Panasonic and stuff. We've got something from everybody. The new CFX platform it's really starting to take hold. We're able to take that information back through the CFX. We're partnering with a company called Arch so we're able to get our OEE measurements across the sites. That's in its infancy, Started from Apex last year and we've been rolling that out across our sites. We'll bring that big data analytics up into a click platform that allows all the sites, even though they've got different machine footprints, to get it up into one universal platform at an executive level, a management level, GM level, that everybody can see the same KPIs, the same dashboards. It doesn't matter what ERP system you're in or what footprint platform you've got. Everybody's speaking the same language.

Speaker 1:

Brilliant, and you can then drill down from those dashboards and get the really detailed information that people like you need.

Speaker 2:

That's the beauty about it. With that CFX language and the click reports, you can actually click, click, click, just drill down, make it easy. I think it gets a smaller or mid-tier company like ourselves as you said, the acquisitions. It gets you to that manufacturing 4.0 a lot faster than having to invest a lot of capital up front to do it.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, and you don't want to be buying new equipment straight away. You want to be replacing equipment when it ages out. Absolutely as we've gone through the last few years of the EMS industry, we've seen a lot of growth. We've seen this whole supply chain bubble going through and some of that seems to have got to the customers and we're seeing a little bit of easing in terms of capacity. A lot of companies are using that as a time to look a bit inward and focus more on manufacturing excellence. This year feels like a bit of a year of efficiency. Is that something that you're focused on, and what kind of tools are you using to improve the performance?

Speaker 2:

Another great question. Coming to Apex itself allows me to bring my team together. We actually have what we call our technology council. We tend to focus on a couple of things. One is improving on quality. Which equipment sets, what are the best practices out there to improve our quality? What equipment sets are out there to enhance or reduce the labor content? You take away that variation of the human factor, you're going to get better quality, you're going to get better efficiencies. So we actually bring the the team together. Uh, there's like a window shopping exercise today or this this week's window shopping exercise, and then we can roll what we roll out over the next six months. Uh, where we really want to go, yeah, and that ties in with uh, you know we're we're doing lean six sigma projects that support that, that justify that ro, roi on the equipment sets that we want to do.

Speaker 1:

And when you're looking at that equipment and you're looking to bring everything together. Everybody was talking about industry 4.0 five years ago. Now everybody's talking about AI. Is that starting to have a role within the industry or is that just something that we need to be keeping an eye on because at some point in the future it's going to deliver some value? I think it's both.

Speaker 2:

There's a certain point of the AI coming in. I did visit a couple of booths this week to take a look at how that analytics coming from the AI is going to develop and help whether it's a warehouse, whether it's a setup reduction areas there how the machines can communicate and then the AI itself can do the analytics for you rather than have to do it yourself. But I think there's still another two or three years before a mid-tier can really take advantage of that.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, it'll take a while to roll through. You mentioned reducing labor content. Part of that is for quality improvement. You take out human error. Part of that is to make you more competitive, but part of it is also to mitigate talent shortages. You want equipment that you can train people on really quickly. Less people can operate more machines. Do you see that automation as a way to grow the business without necessarily growing the headcount?

Speaker 2:

I think without having that equipment it's nearly a barrier to entry at the minute. If you don't have it or you haven't got a path to get there, you're not going to be competitive. Even our plants in Chihuahua with the early wage rates that have happened over this last two to three years, if that continues, that's going to even make Mexico uncompetitive. Our teams from Chihuahua are here this week specifically to look at how can we automate that and differentiate ourselves against our peers.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, and as you've been walking around and your team have been walking around the show for the last day and a half, anything that's made you go wow, hadn't thought of that before. That's a new one, absolutely a couple.

Speaker 2:

My first day in. I'm walking past my first table, we're walking for an appointment, and I had to stop. There was a small cobot doing a process that myself and one of my engineer managers we think we could use that. We've got an opportunity to use it in one of our factories. And again to your earlier question, the AI we did take a look at one of the booths where the camera system will do the logarithmic of your operators specifically around either your warehouses or your offline setup. I think that's something that we're going to take a look at.

Speaker 1:

I think using automation in the box, but we think a lot about how we can improve the efficiency of the SMT line. And that's just part of what you do. A lot of what you do is, after the PCBA comes off the end, Finding really good adaptable automation solutions that work in high mix, low volume. That's a real challenge, isn't it?

Speaker 2:

To be honest, that's one of the disappointments I've seen at the show. I haven't actually seen the larger cobots. I was expecting to see more. We've seen plenty of the small cobots for the inspection type of things, the small screw foot. I didn't see any of the larger robots, the cobots that are out there, the universal cobots, the Finuc Cobots to actually install a high-end box, build large units, the six-foot rack-type unit with the torque spec. I think that's something that's missing at this show. If you go to the Fabtech shows for the metal shows and stuff, you see a lot more of that equipment there, with the EMS companies moving more into the full value add, the full supply chain. I think that's something that has to come to the show.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, I absolutely agree and I think it's an area of great opportunity. I think really strong, adaptable automation that can fit in that back end, in those U cells where you are doing that lean manufacturing and can actually learn from the operators that are in there, will be really valuable in the future. Mickey, thanks for your time. Pleasure to talk to you. Look forward to talking again and look forward to visiting some of those facilities.