Vitronics Soltec has recently announced to relocate volume manufacturing of several product lines from the Netherlands to its facilities in both China and the United States over the next 6 to 9 months. The facility in the Netherlands will expand its role as global NPD/R&D centre for Reflow, Wave and Selective Soldering. In an interview with EPP Europe, Aaron Saxton, President of Vitronics Soltec, talks about his plans.
What are your intentions for the European operation?
Vitronics Soltec’s Netherlands facility will expand its role as a global NPD/R&D center for Reflow, Wave and Selective Soldering. Through significant investments in this NPD/R&D centre, Vitronics Soltec will leverage its European process expertise and legacy, dating back nearly a century, to the fullest extent possible.
What do you want to achieve with the changes?
As a Soldering technology leader, Vitronics Soltec employed a localization philosophy where manufacturing, sales, support, and process expertise was located in the region, for that region. As a result, we had manufacturing locations in Europe, China, and the United States. Each facility employed skilled personnel and used similar processes and technologies to manufacture Vitronics Soltec soldering systems to our high quality standards. This redistribution of manufacturing assignments is in response to three dynamics. One being that our China & U. S. facilities have demonstrated the ability to produce products that perform well in the global environment. Second, being the increasing globalization of our customers and their desire to have access to all of the Vitronics Soltec product portfolio. And finally, price-performance ratios for soldering equipment continue to be a key driver in our industry. Realigning our manufacturing and development strategy allows us to aggressively drive our company forward. In fact, we have already started to see benefits of this realignment – our U. S. facility has begun to ship Selective Soldering machines already and have been well received by our customers.
Currently, 114 employees work at the location in the Netherlands. It is said that it will be about 60 employees in the future; half of them are to be involved in R&D. What happens to the rest (54 people)? Will there be any layoffs?
Unfortunately, as with most restructurings, some layoffs are inevitable. Reducing the more operationally oriented tasks out of NL enables a clearer focus on development in the Netherlands and has had a corresponding impact on hiring in our U. S. and China facilities. Wherever possible, Vitronics Soltec is transferring and in some cases relocating personnel and resources to strengthen our competitive advantage in innovation and manufacturing. The Netherlands facility will be our key stronghold for development, covering existing products as well as next generation products.
What are the advantages of manufacturing in the United States in comparison to Europe?
The U. S. market is comprised of more than just the United States; Canada, Central America, and South America must be considered, since a manufacturing facility in the Americas serves the northern and southern continents. The benefits of manufacturing in the U. S. include lower overall costs, closer access to the emerging markets in the Americas, and the ability to ship to customers not only in the Americas but elsewhere around the globe. The U. S. facility is well-equipped for production of machines, just as the European one offers the best overall resources for R&D. In the current global political climate, the ease of importing – or exporting – goods must be considered.
With heavy investments your company will secure its leadership position within Europe. What type of investments do you precisely mean?
Investments in equipment, personnel, and infrastructure supportive of the Vitronics Soltec objective of growing our leadership position in Europe. Our global NPD/R&D centre for Reflow, Wave and Selective Soldering, our applications support, our process expertise, and other investments reflect a dedication to supporting the European customer base more effectively. Vitronics Soltec is recognized as the leader in the development of applications and process knowledge and, more importantly, sharing that knowledge. We will continue in that capacity and help our customers who are concerned with improving their soldering process, reducing defects, and improving their manufacturing process. Constant innovation, technological development, and improving our customers process knowledge & expertise allows our customers to remain a step ahead of their competition.
Through significant investments in this NPD/R&D centre, your company will leverage its European process expertise and legacy, dating back nearly a century, to the fullest extent possible. Could you give us any indications of what to expect?
We will ensure that customer requirements remain close and well-integrated into our development process. The end result is not only a better product for our customers, but also faster development cycles and increased support responsiveness. The European facility has always been the primary centre of new product development and process research; that tradition, plus the human resources, advanced process expertise, and equipment in place, make it the best choice to innovate new products that improve the soldering process. Vitronics Soltec continuously works to improve its products. The breadth and depth of our product line continues to expand, with systems sold in different markets now being made available globally as a direct result of listening to our customers. Thus, Vitronics Soltec is very excited about the potential of the NPD/R&D centre.
Will this impact your R&D centres in China and in the United States?
Our Engineering Centres in the U. S. and China will continue to function, as they provide valuable contributions in expertise, development cycle, manufacturing expertise, and customer specific development. Our China facility has been working with the NL technology for the past 4 years, so there is already a great deal of collaboration. The engineering teams will become more integrated with the NPD centre taking the lead in many of our key development areas. In the end, effectively organizing our Engineering development will not only improve our time to market, but improve our price performance ratio by effectively combining the lessons learned in our sites.
We are hearing a great deal about Eastern Europe, is your company active there? Do you cooperate with local suppliers/manufacturers from Eastern Europe?
The developing Eastern European market is an important one for Vitronics Soltec. We are becoming increasingly well-established there, and our Netherlands facility is well-positioned to serve that market with strong support, applications, training, sales, and service. We are committed to serving and investing in that market as we move forward.
Regarding the local suppliers/manufacturers, a lot of the subassemblies for our products were actually produced in Eastern Europe – so we have a very good understanding of the capability and potential in Eastern Europe.
Could you give us a short overview of your background and what led you to Vitronics Soltec?
Prior to joining Vitronics Soltec, I was in charge of the AdVantis Platforms at Universal Instruments and ran its Chinese manufacturing operations in Shekou. From 2002 to 2007, I managed this product line from start-up to a significant business for Universal in 2007. Prior to this, I managed the OEM program of Universal Instruments with partners such as Hitachi, DEK and Vitronics Soltec. My experience also includes operations, marketing, engineering, and supply chain management of circuit board assembly at several sites of Lockheed Martin spanning from 1995 to 1999.
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