Zentech: Expanding EMS Solutions and Supporting Innovation

Estimated reading time: 21 minutes

Turpin: The employees who heard that received the message and the reinforcement that what we are doing from a manufacturing standpoint is not just putting resistors and capacitors and ICs onto a board. It's not just testing that board and putting it into a box, and it's not just putting stuff together. There is a lot more that goes into creating value for a customer.

Matties: That makes a lot of sense and I understand clearly that bringing your customers in and having that communication with your employees is necessary—pretty much in any business today. When you look ahead, what do you think is your greatest challenge?

Turpin: Over time, one challenge that does keep me up as we grow, and this goes back to the maximum manufacturing strategy and STEM, is finding the right people for the right positions, both from a technical competency standpoint and an experiential standpoint, and to some degree from an attitude standpoint. I want to find people who have the right combination of education, behaviors and experience to fit into our environment. I'm happier that there's more focus on STEM at the high school and college level, but that is a concern because we've tripled in size over the last eight years and we're going to at least double over the next few years. You need to grow the team to support that growth and you need to have the people available to support the customers in the way they need to be supported. That would be one of the concerns, making sure we've got the right human resources in place.

I'd say one of the other challenges, though, would be from a regulatory standpoint. This goes back to manufacturing strategy, but there is a time and place for regulation. I'm not saying you don’t need any regulation; certainly there is a reason for environmental regulation. But regulation needs to be smart and, as a bipartisan statement, Congress is not very smart when it comes to passing legislation. They are probably brilliant lawyers, but not necessarily very smart economists who are deep thinkers as it relates to how legislation is going to affect the broader economy. Things like TSCA (Toxic Substances Control Act) and some other pieces of legislation that have passed were well-meaning, but they do things like discourage recycling because of regulatory components that, at a state level, make it impossible to compete. We've got state-to-state regulations that are different from federal regulations. Getting that stuff worked out over time is absolutely necessary, because if we have a regulation that impairs the country’s ability to manufacture, then over time the innovation that currently happens in this country is going to go elsewhere.

Over time, innovation is going to slowly migrate to where the manufacturing is being done. If less and less manufacturing and innovation is being done in the U.S. then it's not just going to be the manufacturing jobs that we're worried about, it will be all the other jobs that go with that innovation cycle. That would be my other concern, but it needs smart regulation.

Matties: I'm in California today and we certainly see a lot of over-regulation here, that's for sure, as do many other states.

Turpin: Since you mentioned it, that's the state I was talking about. California has regulation that is much more stringent than federal regulations. If I was manufacturing in California, and thank God I'm not, I’d say, let me get this straight: I can't just build and design products for California and have a different set for the rest of the country and the rest of the world. I can only do it one time. I either have to say I'm only going to build product for the rest of the world and country and ignore California, or I have to overburden a product with cost and then I'm at a disadvantage to the rest of the country and the rest of the world. That's what I mean by smart regulation, but it is the same thing at the national level, too. If you don't use a science-based approach to regulation, you can put the U.S. at a disadvantage to the rest of the world.

Matties: We've seen bits of that all over, that's for sure. One last thought: In your position, what is the thing that you enjoy the most about your job?

Turpin: I enjoy everything about my job, but I'd say the really fun part is working with customers to be more successful. In other words, as a manufacturer, we do a limited amount of what I’d call R&D. We are doing things to get better; we invest in technology, but those investments aren’t what I’d call true innovation where we're creating products. By definition we are a low margin industry, so we're not making lots of discretionary investments that can go bad. But our customers have to make those to survive, so working with our customers to identify technologies, to identify ways to accelerate the delivery of these new products and to be part of that and then at the end of the day look back and say, wow, we're both successful as a result of our process. That is fun to see, and as we continue to grow, I get to see more of it. So having Zentech be a part of that is fun for me and for everyone here. At the end of the day we all win.

Matties: I have to say that what we're doing right now is one of the highlights of my job—sitting down and talking to people and hearing their stories and their philosophies, and I really appreciate you taking the time today to do that with us.

Turpin: Thank you, Barry. I really enjoyed it. 

For a virtual tour of the Zentech manufacturing facility watch this very interesting video that was shot with a drone:

• < Previous Page