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Partners in progress Partner Tech
PARTNERS IN PROGRESS
Partner Tech AB. is a global leader in the area of contract manufacturing and development. The company’s expertise extends across a broad range of industries from IT and Med-Tech sectors to Defence and Maritime applications. Philip Yorke reports on a company that continues to make the headlines with its technically advanced systems and strategic acquisitions.
Partner Tech has the distinction of recording one of the earliest dates for the foundation of a high-tech organisation. The company can trace its roots back to 1413 when a copper mine was established in Sweden. After many years in this role and following a sustained period of growth it entered into the business of office furniture manufacturing. However it was not until 1924, that Partner Tech’s business activities really began to take-off, with the development of one of the world’s first mechanical calculators. Building on these early successes, the company partnered with IBM in the 1970s on a variety of manufacturing assignments for many of their flagship products.
By the early 1990s the company’s focus was entirely on external contract manufacturing, thereby optimising its expertise in both product development and production areas. Today the company is quoted on the Swedish Nasdaq OMX Stock Exchange and employs more than 1,300 people at its modern plants in Sweden, Norway, Finland, Poland, UK, the USA and China. In 2012 Partner Tech AB. recorded consolidated sales of SEK2.3 billion.
Partner Tech’s vision is to offer its customers complete supply chain value through its proven sourcing competences and product development expertise. When it comes to global sourcing, Partner Tech has gained unrivalled experience through its dealings with some of the world’s biggest ‘blue-chip’ companies and its acquisitions of leading IT companies over many years.
This gives the company a unrivalled perspective on productivity and a unique ability to offer companies a distinct competitive edge when selecting suppliers and building a supply chain that will outperform its rivals. PartnerTech’s supplier base is optimised with local, regional and global suppliers and its commodity-based sourcing division, in combination with low-cost country sourcing, ensures that its tailor-made solutions will meet any of its clients’ specific needs.
Today more than 70 per cent of a product’s cost is generated during the development stage, making precise targeting of R&D expertise and other resources vital to achieving cost-effective production. Through close collaboration with its customers on their specific product function and market requirements, Partner Tech’s teams develop the best possible technical solutions through a programme of continuous testing and improvement. This also ensures that the route from original concept to market can be achieved in the shortest time-frame. The company also ensures that it is in located in close proximity to its clients operations and encourages shared-work methods in order to optimise results.
When it comes to regulatory requirements, directives and product performance verification, these are endorsed via the company’s ISO certified business systems: ISO9001, ISO14001 and ISO1345, as well as other specialised quality assured certifications for the development of new medical devices and other hybrid products.
Today PartnerTech’s key competences extend across a diverse range of disciplines, including PCBA, encapsulated electronics, cabling, sheet metal sub-assemblies and systems integration. During the development phase the company offers flexibility and innovation to provide its customers with the best contract manufacturing services and outcomes, as well as providing the quickest possible route to market.
Technical expertise and innovation driving growth
PartnerTech’s broad spectrum of skills in the IT and advanced electronics fields has resulted in the signing of a significant agreement with CybAero AB. This is a leading Swedish avionics company that specialises in the development and manufacture of autonomous, unmanned helicopters. This alliance was initiated in 2012 and is now fully operational and covers the company’s combined expertise within electronics, mechanics and systems integration. All future production and assembly operations will involve PartnerTech’s production units in Atvidaberg and other units located in Sweden, and subsequently they will rely on the company’s many other global manufacturing facilities.
Leif Thorwaldsson, President and CEO of PartnerTech AB said, “We are very pleased that the cooperation we’ve had with CybAero has resulted in the company now having chosen to outsource all aspects of production to PartnerTech. We are used to working with the development and production of technically advanced systems, which has been crucial to CybAero. Our industrial structure is another advantage,
where our local units make possible a close dialogue with the customer about, for example, technology and prototypes while our global units can offer the best possible production structure”.
Tracking global technological trends
In order to provide its customers with the best possible line production skills, optimised electronics, machining enclosures and systems integration, PartnerTech works with its Centres of Excellence. These centres are located at business units that have already been in the vanguard of their specialised area of expertise. Within its own particular discipline, each of the company’s ‘centres’ serves as a model to provide advanced technical leadership.
In addition, each Centre of Excellence is in charge of tracking international market trends, as well as pursuing production development, technological advances and investments on behalf of other group units. PartnerTech’s goal is to boost the competitiveness of its customers in all areas of operation and enable them to more fully benefit at every stage from the entire value chain. n
For further information about PartnerTech’s contract manufacturing and development services visit: www.partnertech.com
