Vesa Keränen, SVP of Elcoteq’s After Market Services Business Segment was interviewed by Evertiq in February 2011.

“We are looking at developing our services business. Especially After Market Services. These strategic changes where the reason why we also had to align our organisational structure and management. We wanted to strengthen the company to be able to develop both of our businesses - the Electronics Manufacturing and the After Market Services.”

Read the whole article in Evertig.

Ms Krautbauer has more than 20 years of experience in the IT technology and logistics industry, working with Fortune 500 companies, distributors, OEMs, ITO/BPO organizations and global IT maintenance companies.

Technical innovation plays a critical role in virtually every sector of the economy. Yet, only 25 percent of professional IT-related occupations in the American 2009 workforce were held by women, down from 36 percent in 1991, according to research from the National Center for Women & IT. In 2008, only 18 percent of computer and information science degrees were awarded to women, down from 37 percent in 1985.

The CompTIA Educational Foundation is striving to make IT the career of choice for more women. Foundation is focusing on helping women in financial need, female veterans and military spouses find lasting careers in IT. 　

About the CompTIA Educational Foundation

The CompTIA Educational Foundation provides career opportunities for individuals who historically have been under-represented in the IT workforce. With the support of individuals, industry leaders, companies, non-profits and the government, the Foundation creates and partners on programs to help U.S. military personnel and spouses, at-risk youth and individuals with disabilities to obtain the technical and business skills employers require. Since its creation in 1998, the Foundation has helped more than 1,000 individuals enter the IT workforce, helping the industry alleviate its shortage of skilled workers. For more information or to make a donation to the CompTIA Educational Foundation, visit http://www.comptia-ef.org.

The focus in the event is this year in the evolving technology and in the midst of an unprecedented wave of transformation.

This mobile industry’s biggest event gathers participants from 200 countries, including 50,000 mobile leaders. Elcoteq professionals will be present at the event to meet existing and new customers.

Please read more about the event here.

Mr. Mark Crompton, Vice President, Americas Sales of Elcoteq, will speak in the conference on February 8, 2011, with the topic of “Lean After Market Services”.

The conference schedule includes Workshop on the first day of the event (February 7), and Conferences and expo during February 7-9. Professionals from Elcoteq are available at the Elcoteq stand during the Conference and Expo. Elcoteq’s stand is located in the Exhibit Hall F9.

More information about the event: www.rltshows.com

The event is being held January 6-9, 2011, at Las Vegas Convention Center, Nevada, United States. Several Elcoteq executives will be participating in the exhibition to meet with existing and new customers. For appointments please contact sales@elcoteq.com 

More information about the event program here.

Elcoteq has a booth at the event in Wanha Satama Hall C6. See the official expo website here (in Finnish only).

Mr. Tomi Saario, Senior Vice President, New Sales & Business Development was interviewed at the fair by EMS Now. Mr. Saario spoke about the services that Elcoteq offers, about the importance of After Market Services in the contract manufacturing world, and how Elcoteq has now distinguished EMS and AMS as two separate sectors.

See a video of Tomi Saario’s interview here.

Elcoteq Bangalore received awards at the Chapter Convention for Quality Circles (CCQC) – 2010 on 19th September.  Chapter Convention on Quality Circle (CCQC) – 2010 is a platform for Quality Circles organized by Quality Circles Forum of India (QCFI) Bangalore Chapter.

Convention was organized for small group activity teams, TPM, LEAN, Six Sigma, QIT, KAIZEN, 5S, and CFT teams to participate in the case study competition. Elcoteq Bangalore was very successful in the competition: it participated in the convention with five teams and won five awards: one gold award, one silver award and three bronze awards. 

In the convention, Elcoteq Bangalore teams presented the following cases: Injury reduction at workplace (gold award), Reduction of scrap cost at component preparation stage at Vigor line (silver award), Eliminating battery wire issue at Taranga line (bronze award), Eliminating solder fillet issue in SMC connector soldering stage at Taranga Line (bronze award) and SMT productivity improvement in line 4 (bronze award).

The steering committee directed the core committee members to work on a structured road map on preparing the teams to participate in this forum. The team members were trained intensively on basic 7 QC tools and its applications, problem solving techniques and introduction to Six Sigma.

Each quality circle team had to score minimum 60% to get the eligibility for the next level of participation. Winning in the Chapter Convention is a prerequisite to participate further into national and international level of the competition.

Chapter Convention for Quality Circles 2010 had altogether 220 quality circles competing from 66 companies in the case study presentation. The companies presented different industries like auto manufactures, pharmaceuticals, food processing, aeronautical, EMS and software solutions.

“All our teams have worked tremendously for this convention. Elcoteq teams have worked with very important issues and I am convinced that through this convention we truly improve further our everyday operations. I want to thank all Elcoteq Bangalore team members for your hard work, innovative ideas and out-of-box-thinking that made us successful,” says Mr. Sukhvinder Kumar, General Manager of Elcoteq Bangalore.

Quality Circle Forum of India (QCFI) was established in 1982, as a non-profit body, with Hyderabad as its Headquarters. QCFI is the National organization for promotion, propagation and advancement of theory and practice of Quality Circles as a part of Total Quality Management.

Elcoteq’s Bangalore factory has received the second prize in the prestigious “ELCINA - EFY BUSINESS EXCELLENCE AWARD 2010”. The competition is initiated and organized by ELCINA (Electronics Industries Association of India) and EFY (Electronics for You) to encourage and boost the innovation culture in the electronics industry in India

 “Excellence through six sigma and other improvement initiatives, benchmarking, identification and reviews of key performance indicators are Elcoteq’s approach to success. This is a very good achievement in the industry at the country level. This is a result of hard work and dedication demonstrated by all Elcoteq Bangalore employees. This is also a good sign towards our current and potential customers” said Mr. Sukhvinder Kumar, General Manager of Elcoteq Bangalore.

Elcoteq Bangalore applied for the Business Excellence -category in the competition for years 2009-2010, where the criterion is built on the EFQM model.

The short-listed companies were audited by the team of experts, and the evaluation was carried out by the following criteria:

Seven Enablers:

•  Business Leadership
•  People Management
•  Performance Management
•  Knowledge Management
•  Relationship Management
•  Technology Management (R&D, technological innovation)
•  Threat / Risk Management

Four Results:

• Customer results
• People results
• Society results
• Key performance results

The winner was selected by reviewing the applications and by auditing for verification of the above mentioned criteria.

Mr Sukhvinder Kumar and Mr Devang Khamar from Elcoteq Bangalore received the award from Mr R. Chandrasekhar, Secretary Ministry of Communications and Information Technology at a ceremony in New Delhi, India on 24th September 2010.

ELCINA (Electronic Industries Association of India) was established in 1967 and is India’s oldest and largest electronics association. It serves as an interactive forum for electronics and IT manufacturers.  Electronics for You (EFY Group) has entered into a partnership with ELCINA Electronic Industries Association of India to promote the country’s oldest and most valued awards for the electronics industry. From 2010 onwards, the ELCINA Awards will, therefore, be named the ELCINA-EFY Awards. EFY Group is an organization for technical publications, databases and training for skills development in electronics.

The M2M market is growing fast and this registration will allow Elcoteq to quote projects that have a higher value add percentage than normal mobile phones since the completed unit does not require extensive final assembly activities.

Customer requirements for this market start with ISO/TS-16949 registration and certification since the global tracking, communications and telemetric applications are becoming critical requirement.  Elcoteq has Engineering, Quality and Manufacturing experience with automotive and critical RF applications.
  
International Automotive Task Force (IATF) and International Automotive Oversight Bureau (IAOB) mandate the ISO/TS 16949 requirements for registration and certification. 

Manaus completed successfully the Verification Audit, the final step for the TS Registration and Certification, conducted in the end of August 2010.
         
This ISO/TS-16949 Certification is valid for 3 years (i.e. till September 1, 2013) with a follow up or a surveillance audit conducted every year, and the certification is renewable. 

“I am happy to thank all the employees and the management of Beijing plant for the past ten years. During these years we have had here lots of success but also some difficult times. Even during the difficult times people in Beijing have worked hard for better days and we have always been able to count on that,” says Mr Jouni Hartikainen, Elcoteq’s President and CEO. 

“Electronics Manufacturing Services business environment is constantly changing and these changes affect us too. Only the most flexible and change oriented companies will survive in tough competition and in fast changing business environment. Elcoteq is one of the major players globally and it intends to stay there. We have recently streamlined our organization in order to better support the execution of our redefined strategy. With these operational changes we aim to improve centrally managed customer care for our global customers in EMS and in AMS as well as to improve local presence to serve local and smaller businesses close to customers,” Mr Hartikainen continues. 

Elcoteq Beijing highlights its 10th anniversary by organizing a celebration party for all its employees. Over 1,000 participants from customers to employees from all levels have been invited to join the celebration. The celebration ceremony starts with planting a Ginkgo tree that symbolizes health and longevity and happiness for all. The day will end to a celebration dinner.  

Elcoteq Beijing is one of the company’s biggest high-volume manufacturing plants in the Asia-Pacific region. It has about 900 employees working in facility that covers almost 25 000 square meters. The factory is equipped with the latest manufacturing technologies for high-volume SMT manufacturing, Box-Build and Subsystem Assembly. Typical products cover flat TVs, smart phones, set tops boxes and infrastructure products.

The plant is well managed and fulfills both quality and environmental standards of production.  The Beijing plant has been certified with ISO 9001:2008 quality management system and ISO 14001:2004 environmental management systems.

Elcoteq Tallinn was recognized as “Excellent Organization” in the Estonian Excellence Award contest. Elcoteq Tallinn Factory has won the Estonian Excellence Award also on years 2002 and 2006.

The aim of the Estonian Excellence Award competition is to draw attention to the sustainable excellence. The state wants to awknowledge by this award successful organisations implementing EFQM Excellence Model and special assessment methodology. Further aim is to promote competitiveness of Estonian enterprises and society in order to thrive in the European Union.

On the basis of the EFQM Excellence Model neutral four-member assessor team studied Elcoteq’s application document and conducted 3-days assessment at factory including interviews with Elcoteq’s employees. The result of the evaluation reached to the recognition of “Excellent Organization” in the category of small and medium-sized organisations (50-250 employees).

“Thanks to all who have contributed to the project and many thanks to all employees – this victory is the result of our common work”, commented Mr Jan Kotka, General Manager of Elcoteq Tallinn.

The recognition proves that Elcoteq Tallinn, despite the great changes, has managed to preserve its high and internationally acclaimed performance level.

Elcoteq have conducted Global Customer Satisfaction surveys once a year since 1998. The survey’s focus is on all existing customers and asking feedback about the whole service offering that Elcoteq provides. The goal is to get reliable global level measure – the Customer Satisfaction Index (CSI) - about customers’ perception and attitudes concerning the quality of the service or products they have received.

Purpose of the survey is to improve cooperation with all the customers on all levels. Once the results are completed, they will be communicated through the organization in order to get better understanding of customer needs and concerns.

Customer Satisfaction Survey (CSS) 2010 started this year on September 1st, and the results will be conducted in the end of October. 

In the event will the manufacturers from the field of consumer electronics and home appliances present their latest innovations from all over the world. Executives from Elcoteq’s Group organization will be participating in the exhibition. Please contact Ms. Karen Falenius for appointments.  

On the first day of the accompanying conference on September 3rd, Ms. Petra Ebner, Director Presales and Product Marketing, will give a speech about contract manufacturing of consumer electronic products and how this can release valuable management time in order to focus on core competences like product innovation and sales.

Please read more about the event here.

Apart from the Asian countries with largest volume manufacturers of High-Brightness (HB) LEDs: Korea, Japan, Taiwan and China, the professional speakers are also invited from Europe and Americas to share their insight of world LED market. The seminar has consisted of several core sections: ‘frameworks for LED industries in view of market trend, cost reduction, and intellectual properties’,  ‘national road maps and strategies on LEDs’, ‘progress and issues in standardization of LED lightings around the world’, ‘multi-disciplinary technical issues on epitaxial growth, devices, packages, characterization, and applications and systems’ in LED and OLED, and a special section for ‘the most updated technological breakthroughs from the leading LED companies’.                        

This event has been recognized not only a ‘Promising Trade Show’ in Korea in the past 4 years, but also one of the signature events in Asia. Elcoteq’s professionals have been present in this event to exchange their experiences and opinions with the industry practitioners.

The Royal Philips Electronics Global Supplier Awards recognize the suppliers’ performance in 2009, and winners were chosen based on ratings criteria captured in the Philips Global Supplier Rating System. The Awards program is integral to Philips strategic supplier relationship management program which brings key executives and representatives together with top suppliers to create a powerful network of business partners. The goal is to jointly generate value through shared goals and leveraging of mutual strengths and competencies.

The Award jury consisted of Philips’ Supply Management Leadership Board, which comprised of the Chief Purchasing Officers and Supply Chain Officers of the Consumer Lifestyle, Lighting and Healthcare sectors, Global Head Philips Supply Management and IT, and the CEO of Philips General Purchasing.

“Elcoteq is a worthy winner of this Award thanks to its excellent delivery and quality performance throughout 2009, as well as its focus on building strong business relationships,” said Sonny Kwok.

“I am extremely pleased to receive the Royal Philips Supplier Award. I would like to congratulate our Philips team in Elcoteq for the great contribution and teamwork”, says Jouni Hartikainen, the President and CEO of Elcoteq.

See the complete Press Information below:

June 2, 2010
Elcoteq named as Philips Best Overall Supplier 2009

Eindhoven, the Netherlands – Today Royal Philips Electronics (NYSE:PHG, AEX:PHI) presented global electronics manufacturing services (EMS) provider Elcoteq with the Best Overall Supplier Award for 2009 at the fifth Royal Philips Electronics Global Supplier Awards in Eindhoven, the Netherlands. The Award was presented to Elcoteq CEO Jouni Hartikainen by Sonny Kwok, CPO Consumer Lifestyle.

“Elcoteq is a worthy winner of this Award thanks to its excellent delivery and quality performance throughout 2009, as well as its focus on building strong business relationships,” said Sonny Kwok.

Elcoteq supplies Philips with >80% of its TV boards in Europe and 50% of Ambilights, and is heavily involved in the launch of new and improved Lighting products. Elcoteq is headquarted in Luxembourg. The company’s consolidated net sales for 2009 totaled 1.5 billion euros and it employs approximately 10,000 persons.

In addition to the recognition of Elcoteq as Best Overall Supplier 2009, Philips also presented:
• A Breakthrough Award to business consulting and strategic IT services outsourcing provider Infosys BPO Limited for its close cooperation with Philips and excellent customer service
• A Breakthrough Award to power electronics provider SL Industries for its responsiveness, value and innovations performance
• A Quality Award to automotive materials supplier GMG (Georgenthaler Metall GmbH), which achieved near-perfect Quality scores over 2009
• A Sustainability Award to Shanghai Y&L Lighting Co for its efforts in meeting Philips exacting standards for supplier sustainability
• A Growth Award to lighting supplier Violet in recognition of the ramp-up of supply to Philips over the course of 2009 due to high product quality and sustainability

The Royal Philips Electronics Global Supplier Awards recognize the suppliers’ performance in 2009, and winners were chosen based on ratings criteria captured in the Philips Global Supplier Rating System. The Awards program is integral to Philips strategic supplier relationship management program which brings key executives and representatives together with top suppliers to create a powerful network of business partners. The goal is to jointly generate value through shared goals and leveraging of mutual strengths and competencies. 

“The Global Financial Crisis made 2009 a rollercoaster year for many suppliers, but these award-winning companies have really shown that we master the collaborative advantage and that we are well-positioned for further growth” said Maarten de Vries, Global Head of Supply Management.

For further information, please contact:
Name: Ceciel van Stratum
Sector / department: Corporate Communications – Supply Management
Tel: +31651405385
E-mail: ceciel.van.stratum@philips.com

About Royal Philips Electronics
Royal Philips Electronics of the Netherlands (NYSE: PHG, AEX: PHI) is a diversified health and well-being company, focused on improving people’s lives through timely innovations. As a world leader in healthcare, lifestyle and lighting, Philips integrates technologies and design into people-centric solutions, based on fundamental customer insights and the brand promise of “sense and simplicity”. Headquartered in the Netherlands, Philips employs approximately 116,000 employees in more than 60 countries worldwide. With sales of EUR 23 billion in 2009, the company is a market leader in cardiac care, acute care and home healthcare, energy efficient lighting solutions and new lighting applications, as well as lifestyle products for personal well-being and pleasure with strong leadership positions in flat TV, male shaving and grooming, portable entertainment and oral healthcare. News from Philips is located at www.philips.com/newscenter.

Hot topics in Amsterdam are new ways to streamline operations, drive profits and delight customers as well as end-to-end management of the Product Life Cycle. Much discussed are currency issues and the influence of Greece on the world economy – already shaken by the financial crisis. Speculations are made whether the low economy might benefit Third Party Service Providers and how to profit from those changes.

Christian Christensen, Elcoteq’s Vice President and After Market Services ambassador (pictured above), presented “Challenges in Global AMS Businesses” with special emphasis on the different needs of OEMs, Operators and AMS providers. Afterwards the broad audience d iscussed lively on how to generate best Total Cost of Ownership by providing excellent AMS services.

“Elcoteq is proud to be a successful member of the After Market Services industry. With its broad EMS background in the high-tech industry and its customer tailored Service Offering Elcoteq fulfills the demands of the whole Product Life Cycle.” says Tomi Saario, Senior Vice President of Elcoteq, about the event.

Further information and impressions can be found on the website of the RLA: www.rltshows.com

The focus in RLA Conference & Expo Amsterdam 2010 will be helping European OEMs & Branded companies to become aware of Reverse Logistics Associations’ support on a global basis and to help them to identify their future service partners. The event schedule includes Conferences during the first two days and Workshops on Wednesday, June 16, 2010.

Mr. Christian Christensen, Vice President, Business Management of Elcoteq, will speak in the seminar on Monday, June 14, 2010 with the topic of Challenges in Global AMS Business. Professionals from Elcoteq are available at the Elcoteq stand during the Conference and Expo.

More information about the event: www.rltshows.com

Read more from Business Financial Newswire.

Read more about Isatphone-Pro from John Whitley’s article

Elcoteq has been selected as a prototyping and manufacturing partner for ANDA Networks, Inc., the leader in carrier-class fiber and copper-based access platforms for wireline networks or wireless backhaul applications.  

With over 27,000 platforms deployed worldwide, Elcoteq will open additional manufacturing lines for ANDA Networks to produce Carrier Ethernet switches and broadband access equipment for its award-winning EtherTone® product line. Production will take place at Elcoteq’s factory in Dongguan, China.

“Through this partnership, we expand the market reach for ANDA’s EtherTone product family,” notes Mr. Charles R. Kenmore, ANDA’s President and CEO. “This will allow us to better service carrier and mobile operators worldwide to facilitate cost effective migration to next-generation IP services and new 4G LTE mobile networks.”

“We are pleased to start cooperation with ANDA Networks, a technology leader serving tier 1 service providers in the high growth Carrier Ethernet and wireless backhaul markets. This agreement is an excellent addition to our System Solution customer portfolio,” says Mr. Tommi Pettersson, President of Elcoteq’s System Solutions Business Unit.

Elcoteq SE and Sharp have signed an extensive agreement for cooperation on industrialization, manufacturing, distribution and after market services for mobile phones. The cooperation focuses initially on Sharp´s latest smartphone product lineup “KIN”

The agreement with Elcoteq covers the Life Cycle Services that include engineering services, sourcing, New Product Introduction (NPI), box-build manufacturing, and after market services for the products. NPI services do not only include the industrialization of the various models but also the development of the test systems for the manufacturing process. Elcoteq will also have an increasing role in supplier selection and component sourcing. Products manufactured by Elcoteq will be delivered in full box-build mode and all the manufacturing is initially concentrated in Elcoteq´s factory in Beijing, China. Furthermore, Elcoteq will take care of the after market services for the delivered products in each region.

Mr. Sukhvinder Kumar, General Manager, Elcoteq Bangalore complimented all participating colleagues and said: “This event is an excellent platform which enables our colleagues to demonstrate their competence and at the same time to learn the good practices of other players from various industries. I wish all the best to the teams for the next level competition.”
QCFI is recognized as the institution representing The Quality Circle movement in India and has represented the country in several international forums.

Interview was published on Evertiq on May 6, 2010.

The exhibition is accompanied by the International Broadband Summit with this year’s motto “Cable, Fibre and LTE - Who will win the Broadband Battle?”. Top executives from companies such as Alcatel-Lucent, the Cable Labs from the USA, Cisco Systems, Kabel Baden-Württemberg, Liberty Global, Motorola and YouSee Denmark will be discussing the increasing challenges with different broadband technologies.

Elcoteq’s experts are present at the ANGA Cable. Meet us and learn how Elcoteq can help your company as global Product Life Cycle Partner through Manufacturing Services, Engineering Services, Fulfillment Services or After Market Services. If you wish to arrange a meeting, please contact Ms. Karen Falenius at Elcoteq.

Elcoteq focuses not only on high-tech manufacturing but also on After Market Services (AMS) with repair of over 4 million devices annually. Customers can turn to Elcoteq to repair products that have failed in the field or to refurbish products when needed, regardless of who originally manufactured them. Elcoteq AMS services are usually provided together with different kinds of logistic services and real-time traceability. According to ETP and Elcoteq’s internal estimates, After Market Services spend and outsourcing rate is expected to increase in the future.

Elcoteq specializes in Repair, Refurbishment and Recycling Services as well as on AMS Engineering and AMS Fulfillment to give its customers the possibility to concentrate on their core business.

Elcoteq’s After Market Services offering

Repair
Elcoteq offers comprehensive Repair and Return services such as qualified soldering, accessory, component, electrical and depot repair in an industrialized repair process in which continuous feedback to customer is provided.

Refurbishment
Refurbishment Services include SWAP activities, cosmetic repairs, product and software upgrades, asset and scrap recovery and other special reworks.

Recycling
Elcoteq’s recycling services prevents the waste of useful mate¬rial from used products and assure an environmental friendly disposal of non-reusable and hazardous materials.

Elcoteq’s factories are conveniently located for providing AMS. They are close to customers’ end markets in low cost countries to provide labor intensive services. Today almost 2,000 employees in Elcoteq are serving AMS customers.If you wish to know more about After Market Services in Elcoteq, please contact: sales@elcoteq.com

Although low volume high mix manufacturing offers many challenges, they can be overcomed or minimized with careful thought and planning and by enlisting the services of a qualified and experienced EMS. Benefits can include rapid, reliable and on-time product ramp-ups enabled by the flexibility that can be gained through responsive and customized supply chain solutions and reduced complexity. EMS companies can create a customized service offering that adjusts to the capacity and resources your business dictates.

Global companies like Elcoteq provide OEMs manufacturing and sourcing in low cost countries, access new geographical areas with lower risks. Outsourcing low volume high mix manufacturing can enable OEMs to improve their capital structure by turning fixed costs into variables and to grab short-term business opportunities.

This text is condensed from the article that was published in the March edition of the EMAsia Magazine. Read the whole article here.

The latest trends and developments in those fast-paced market sectors were assessed under the same arena. There were plenty of crossover opportunities in those three fairs for the visitors to explore new business. 
This year, the Solar Photovoltaic Energy Pavilion and Far Infrared Rays Technology Pavilion returned in the Electronics Fair to reflect the latest industry developments.

LED lighting zone and Green lighting zone were the new and very important themed zones in the Lighting Fair. The information and communications technology sector was still the focus of the International ICT Expo. Elcoteq’s professionals were present in the events and exchanged their thoughts with the industry practitioners.