boardSTIFF - Summer 2012

Spirit Britain of

The

boardSTIFFSUMMER NEWSLETTER

> A Leaner Spirit > Prague Proves > Family Spirit

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Contents Welcome

Welcome to the newly-revamped Spirit Circuits newsletter filled with insightful features concerning the people, products and processes behind Britain’s leading PCB Manufacturer. 2012 has spelt triumph for Spirit, and we are proud of what we have managed to achieve so far this year. Our forward-looking business approach has seen us achieve month-on-month growth, which, in this uneasy economic climate, has been a challenge. We owe our business growth to strategic planning, and always advocate a focused and targeted approach to business.

Our dedicated team practice continuous development of our materials, machinery and manufacturing processes, which we believe keeps us at the forefront of innovation. This means investing in new machinery, such as our Co-ordinate Measurement Machine from Viking Test, whose specs feature later on in this newsletter.

In addition to progressing our procedures Spirit has been expanding its team. The need to take on new staff has been fuelled by recent growth in the LED Lighting Market, a sector Spirit supply MCPBs to. As well as expanding markets, Spirit has been focused on breaking into new markets, by looking at and researching into applications for new materials developed by us with our partners. Our ambition does not stop at the UK borders, and we are currently starting to build our export profile in Europe and North America!

This issue of Spirit News features recent business visits, exhibitions and celebrated awards, as well as providing a keyhole into the minds and lives of the Spirit employees.

To keep up to date with the goings on at Spirit you can access our latest news and features via our newly developed website. Lastly your views are important to us and we would be pleased to receive your feedback and suggestions for content within future editions!

Welcome

Spirit of British Manufacturing

In the Spotlight

A leaner Spirit

Prague Business

2012 Exhibitions

Family Spirit

Working with Pillory Barn

Arundel Evening Seminar

Winners podium

CMM

Gold Standard

China Visit

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The blog on the state of UK Manufacturing on our website by MD, Steve Driver, is a great piece and in it he talks about investing in cutting edge technology, and particularly praises Germany as a credible example; take a look at www.spiritcircuits.co.uk/blog to read the full article.

Now, whilst Steve is always the first to recognise excellence when he sees it, he is passionate about being a British manufacturer. When the Business Secretary, Vince Cable, launched the Make It In Britain campaign in November 2011, it was designed to transform the image of UK manufacturing and to raise awareness of its

importance to the UK economy, and Spirit is throwing its weight behind that in 2012.

One of the first tangible examples of this campaign was our appearance at Southern Manufacturing, 15th/16th February, where our stand was branded in UK livery. Our message to all of our clients is that we are aiming to deliver world-class services, and to work with companies who specialize in unique, highly reliable products made to last decades.

The show was a roaring success and we intend to fly the flag for UK manufacturing during 2012.

Sandra Sayers has been with Spirit Circuits for

over a decade. Her career at Spirit began when

she accepted a part-time receptionist role

back in August 2000. After six months she

was offered a full time contract, and, over the

years, her role has developed from Receptionist to Office Administrator.

Sandra enjoyed her time at Spirit so much that she agreed to come back one day a week after her retirement in 2010! For the last fourteen months she has been helping keep everyone organized with timesheets and payroll spreadsheets. Sandra says she loved her time at Spirit, adding that working in the open-plan office creates an energetic and dynamic atmosphere.

Throughout her time at Spirit, Sandra has seen the company move forward to what it is today.

From alterations of machines to the expansion of the team, she says the last twelve years has spelt significant progress for Spirit Circuits!

Spirit of British ManufacturingWelcome

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2010 saw the business invest in the Lean Manufacturing with the recruitment of Lean Facilitator, Jason Barnett, who is taking Spirit Circuit on this journey to maximise customer value while minimising waste.

Under the guidance of Jason, Spirit Circuits continues to invest in Lean and has already started to see results following the introduction of visual management controls such as notice boards, up to date performance result displays, health and safety notices, demarcation and standard work instructions. This, combined with the 5S initiative that has been rolled out across the site, and uses the principles of Sort, Set-in-order, Shine, Standardise & Sustain to improve workplace organisation and standardisation, has dramatically improved the working environment.

In 2011, Spirit Circuits invested £30,000 in their M-Files project. This has seen quote times reduced from 40 minutes to a staggering six minutes. This has been achieved by dramatically cutting the number of questions in the quoting process down from over 40.

Value stream mapping, a technique used to analyse and design the flow of materials and information required to bring a product to the customer, is place in the Sales and Engineering Departments. This will be introduced to other areas of the business during 2012.

This will be complemented by other Lean practices such as set up reduction, safe operating procedures, ‘just in time ‘and ‘pull and flow’ and Kaizen, which is Japanese for “improvement”, or “change for the better” and encompasses practices that focus on continuous improvement of processes.

A Leaner

Spirit Circuits

One word that crops up frequently when talking about Spirit Circuits is investment – be it in investment in people, processes or indeed time.

Spirit Circuits invested £30,000 in their M-Files project. This has seen quote times reduced from 40 minutes to a staggering six minutes.

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Spirit Circuits enjoyed a tour of Czech company Prago Board’s factory following the EIPC conference recently held in Prague.

The international conference organised by The European Institute of Printed Circuits is a key date within the PCB industry, where companies active in the packaging and interconnection industry can exchange information on market conditions and future innovation. Following the conference Managing Director, Steve Driver, was invited by the main sponsors of EIPC, Prago Board for a tour of their factory. Prago Board sponsored the day, culminating in a tour of the Skoda factory.

Steve Driver said: “We were made to feel very welcome by Oldrich Simek and his team. Oldrich was a wonderful host and the tour to the Skoda factory and museum was the icing on the cake. The factory was impressive and it was interesting to see how our European colleagues work. Prago Board are one of our longest standing contacts in the sector and it was good to see how they have invested in new technologies.”

euroLED 2012 (13 - 14 June 2012)This June we will be exhibiting at euroLED,

the leading event showcasing the latest LED technology. We relish the opportunity to meet fellow

manufacturers, users and specifiers of LEDs. The event is set to be bigger and better this year

having had to relocate to a larger venue, The NEC in Birmingham, due to popular demand. We are excited

to be part of euroLED’s biggest year yet!

COMING SOON EXHIBITIONS

LuxLive (9 - 10 November 2012)We are greatly anticipating exhibiting at LuxLive 2012 in November. LuxLive has been heralded

as the most ambitious and exciting lighting exhibition ever to be staged in the UK. This

all-industry lighting exhibition will bring together specifiers and end-users. It will be a great chance

to interact with our customers directly.

Electonica (13 - 16 November 2012)This year we are heading to Munich to exhibit at

the electonica trade fair. Electonica 2012 is the 25th international trade fair for electronic components, systems and applications. For us it is a chance to

be part of an international industry gathering where we can exchange know-how with fellow key industry players. But, most importantly, is an opportunity to

intermingle with the 70,000 plus visitors.

Prague proves good for business

After meeting through a family member, Dan and Becky became an item. Their first little boy Oliver was born last year, and they have just welcomed the arrival of their second baby boy. The couple say that family life is great, with Rebecca adding that she is eternally grateful for all the support they have received from everyone at Spirit Circuits.

Becky was welcomed to the Spirit team six years ago. Back then she was working on the shop floor, but has since transferred to the Quality Department.

As Quality Administrator, Becky’s daily tasks can range from customer complaints to putting together reports on Spirit’s product performance.

Three years after Becky, ex-army Dan joined the team. Dan says after working in stores and purchasing for the last couple of years he is looking forward to a new challenge, with more responsibility. Within eight months, when he will be finishing his training, Dan will be taking over the role of ordering all stock and materials.

Although they work in different areas of the company, Becky says their paths do cross in a typical workday. She says it’s nice when your partner fully understands what you do all day at work!

Dan and Becky agree that it is their fellow colleagues that make Spirit Circuits so unique. As well as all getting on well, Becky says it’s refreshing to work somewhere where the people have a genuine interest in what they are producing!

We have recently contracted Kent-based Digital Marketing Agency, Pillory Barn, to roll out a series of content management strategies. With Spirit’s ever-growing range of services, what was becoming markedly clear was the need to communicate effectively with our customers, and our industry associates at large. We are excited to have the team on board, and believe our working together will allow us to do just this, especially via our newly updated website!

We first met Pillory Barn’s Director, Miranda Chapman at a business event. We hit it off and Pillory Barn educated us with their digital-led approach to communicating our business to the world.

Before any strategies were put in place we invited the marketing team to the Spirit factory to give them an insight of what we do. We both understood that to see success a grounded knowledge of our products, services and most importantly our

processes would see us getting the most out of our collaboration.

We agreed the first task was to improve our website. Their approach was two-fold: first, to give a better customer journey, and second to make us more visible on Google. The end result encapsulates these two aims and we are proud to host a website that clearly reflects the broad range of services that Spirit has to offer.

Their next brief is to embark on an integrated content strategy. This will see our website regularly updated and fresh with Spirit’s insights, news and blogs. Beyond our website the team are assisting us in developing a marketing plan that supports our export led strategy, focusing on creating and developing awareness for Spirit Circuits in Europe and North America. Always the innovator, working with Pillory Barn has seen us take the same proactive approach to business communication!

Dan Haines and Rebecca Ferrans started their own Spirit Circuit family last year!

Family Spirit

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Working with Pillory Barn

Micro-news

One of the best events we’ve recently attended was the Arundel Evening Seminar, staged by the Institute of Circuit Technology (ICT.) The event, supported by CCI Eurolam, was held at the Norfolk Arms Hotel where we were presented with some informative talks, presentations and pauperism, which got us thinking about new ideas - watch this space!

We were delighted to sponsor our industry partner Seaward when their Director took part in the testing challenge of the 2012 London to Cape Town World Cup Rally in January.

Rod Taylor, managing director at Peterlee-based electronics company Seaward, bravely travelled through 12 countries in a month, in a race organised by the Endurance Rally Association.

When he told us about the challenge, and the cause it supports, we could not help but want to be involved. We recently received the great news that he alone raised more than £10,000 for the Water Aid charity.

As well as being for a great cause, it was a real personal success story for Rod, who finished 11th out of the 48 competitors.

We have just taken delivery of an automated Co-ordinate Measurement Machine (CMM) from Viking Test. The system Series automatic 2D vision measuring machine is especially designed for repeated inspection of mass work pieces.

This reliable system is suitable for mass inspection that requires high efficiency, high speed and high precision. The system has a repeatable accuracy of +/- 5 um and a large processing area of 450 mm x 600mm.

The CMM is part of the ongoing improvements to our quality control system.

Arundel Evening Seminar

The winners podium

CMM

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Thrilled Steve Driver after winning the Gold Supplier Award at Seaward’s 4th annual Supplier Awards event. The awards were presented to all suppliers reaching the levels for Bronze, Silver and Gold reflecting their levels of customer service and support during the preceding 12 months.

Needless to say Spirit were delighted to receive gold!

GoldStandard

Our Sales Director, Lee Lloyd, jetted off to China earlier in the year for a multi-purpose business visit.

First on his agenda was the Tyco audit. Tyco Fire and Security Systems are the world leader in electronic security and fire protection, and are also currently Spirit’s largest client.

The audit was based on the Tyco need to be compliant with its own industry standard bodies. Tyco staff from their China Sourcing Office in Shanghai audited our current suppliers Allfavor, Glorysky and Onpress, and also visited other suppliers that we may potentially want to introduce in the future. We are happy to report that all of the current suppliers received very good comments and feedback, and it was confirmed that Tyco would be happy to place additional business at these sites via Spirit Circuits.

As part of the audit, we held a discussion with suppliers about holding a stock hub of boards in China. Utilizing a China-based stock hub would

mean that we can ship direct from there to our customers. As a result we have now put in place a VMI (Vendor Managed Inventory) program with two of them. We see this as a dual benefit for both Spirit and the supplier: For us it means a reduction in stock levels and for the supplier it secures our commitment for long-term business.

Next on the agenda for Lee was a visit to our dedicated MPCB facility. With the current growth in LED Lighting applications in the UK, Spirit saw it as a necessity to liaise with the supplier to discuss expanding the MPCB’s we offer our clients. One main outcome was securing alternative panel sizes for our MPCB’s, which means we will now have better options on most requirements. We have a great business relationship with our China-based MPCB suppliers and are very pleased to announce that Spirit has secured exclusive representation in the UK.

Lee’s last task was a recruitment drive, and he has successfully expanded the team with three new members of staff.

China Visit News

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