Circatex – new business, new strategy, new logo, but the name stays the same!

Citation

Starkey, P. (2005), "Circatex – new business, new strategy, new logo, but the name stays the same!", Circuit World, Vol. 31 No. 1. https://doi.org/10.1108/cw.2005.21731aaf.002

Circatex – new business, new strategy, new logo, but the name stays the same!

Circatex – new business, new strategy, new logo, but the name stays the same!

Steve Jones gives Pete Starkey a progress report ...

Keywords: Printed circuit boards, Manufacturing

It is barely three weeks since the MBO team headed by Mark Beesley, Neil Chilton and Geoff Allison bought the Circatex printed circuit manufacturing operation out of administration and appointed Steve Jones as Chairman of the new company.

The new Circatex was only a few days old when I took the opportunity to have an early look around and to listen to Steve's views on the company's prospects.

And I was pleased to report that the new Circatex was indeed in business, appeared to be trading profitably, and was clearly under intelligent direction by well-qualified people determined to leave the past behind and drive a lean, service- orientated operation into the future.

Furthermore it was obvious that, whereas previous generations of South Shields management had been intensely secretive, with an almost paranoid fear of the outside world learning anything about their technology or their business affairs, the new executive team would endeavour to ensure that Circatex became a fully integrated member of the PCB community, with an open-door policy which encouraged contacts at all levels between competitors. And for pragmatic reasons: “Unless we in the UK and Europe cuddle together for a bit of warmth and mutual self- protection, there are manufacturers elsewhere in the world who would be happy to pick over our bones! We need a critical mass of PCB companies to sustain our suppliers, convince our customers that there is a local supply chain they can depend upon, and encourage a younger generation that there is a long term career path for them in our industry.”

A couple of weeks further down the road, I am back in conversation with Steve Jones, interested to know how the company is progressing and how the business strategy is unfolding.

PS – Steve, how's it going?

SJ – The company is beginning to settle down in its new shape, the manufacturing operation is working smoothly (the layout needs rationalising in line with our smaller-production objectives – I'll come to that), and our customers are supporting us with ongoing orders. We're delivering on time and achieving excellent quality. As an example, we just turned round a difficult multilayer job, 300-off on five days, and got 100 percent yield. We've got capability; we can perform; market conditions are showing a slight improvement. I am very optimistic.

PS – You mentioned rationalising the layout.

SJ – Yes. The shop has been equipped with the best kit money could buy, but we've got too much of it, and it's spread out over too large an area.

PS – Any intention of going into sub-contract lamination and drilling?

SJ – No, that's not our strategy; surplus drilling machines, and suchlike equipment which exists as many individual units, will be sold off. In contrast, if you look at our finishing area where we have single process lines, we have plenty of spare capacity on HASL, immersion tin, immersion silver and OSP, which in principle we would be perfectly happy to make available to the industry as a finishing service. For example, if someone's had a batch of Asian boards sitting on the shelf too long and the OSP solderability has deteriorated, don't send them back to Asia for re-processing, send them to our facility here. However, going back to our rationalisation plan, once we have cleared the bottom-end of the factory, it will give us a self-contained 60,000 ft² of open space whilst retaining over 300,000 ft² for our normal production.

PS – And I'm sure you have a plan to use that space for something interesting!

SJ – We certainly do. For all the excellent equipment and process we have on site, there is nothing that could really be termed “Next Generation”. What we have in mind for that space is to turn it into a centre of excellence production facility for leading-edge manufacturing technology – laser routing/drilling, all-digital imaging, horizontal plating, all in a true production operating environment – and make it accessible to our suppliers and our suppliers' customers, even if they are nominally our competitors, as an open- view site. It will be completely self-contained and separate from our main factory, and there's no reason why engineers from other PCB shops should not benefit from the opportunity to get hands-on experience of new processes and equipment. As I've already said, if we don't help each other to survive, there will be no industry, just bones! The conference theme for the EPC2004 Cologne convention is a very noble “Electronics – Made in Europe”, but if we want to realise any “High-Tech Europe” ambitions in the future, it is fundamental that we work together towards a common objective.

PS – There are rumours that you are changing the company name – can you comment?

SJ – The name stays the same, although we've given the logo a fresh look. Yes, we're conscious that the old Circatex took a lot of bad press. But for all that, quality, technology or performance were never the issue, and we are determined that the name Circatex will be held in high regard as we go forward. Certainly our customers are happy to continue to deal with us. Our suppliers are a bit more cautious, quite justifiably, but it is up to us to steadily build up their confidence by trading fairly and honourably with them. And as I have already said, we are a significant part of the critical mass which the industry relies upon to sustain a local supply-base.

PS – Steve, thanks for being so frank and open in sharing all of this information.

SJ – I am delighted to take the opportunity to articulate our strategy and dispel any “fear factor” which may exist outside the company. And I will be pleased to provide updates at regular intervals ...

Pete Starkey