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SAMTEC NEWSLETTER
Help us name the Newsletter for a chance to win a $25 Gift Card! See p.14
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2015 Goals
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Company Meeting
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Christmas Sweaters
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Associate Spotlights
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Cross Talk
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Success Story
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Customer Spotlight
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Announcements Bonnie Jaggers
Welcome Sharon Miller, Becky Schladant, Candice Gardner
Welcome to the first edition of the Samtec Newsletter. Due to the increased interest in a more informal messaging tool at Samtec New Albany, we’ve decided to re-introduce the old newsletter and take it to a whole new level. The Newsletter will be printed and electronically distributed each quarter. To start things off, we thought it might be helpful to answer a few common questions about the Newsletter: What can you expect from the Newsletter?
Tricia Finch, Janet Rudy
You will learn valuable and interesting things about what’s going on at Samtec New Albany as well as our other locations. We will highlight fun and exciting things that happened during the previous quarter along with what to expect in the upcoming quarter. The newsletter will also highlight Associates in each edition with a focus on their careers as well as their lives outside of work. If you would like to nominate someone to be a Featured Associate, you can email newsletter@samtec.com Who writes the Newsletter?
Zach Weber, Justin Lord
A team of Associates from the Marketing and Company Communication areas focus on getting the nuts and bolts together, but contributors from all around Samtec will have their voices heard in different editions to help keep things interesting and relevant company wide. If you’ve got a story idea or would like to contribute, we’d love to hear about it. Let us know by emailing newsletter@ samtec.com We hope you enjoy the Newsletter. Please give us some feedback and let us know what you think by emailing us at newsletter@samtec.com Stay tuned for the next edition in the Spring of 2015. Tessie is hiding somewhere in this newsletter! Once you find Tessie, email us at newsletter@samtec.com, or stop by HR, and let us know her location. Everyone who finds her will be entered to win a $25 gift card!
Juanita Martin, Libby Pevlor, visitor, Connie Rogers, Annette Bacher
2015 GOALS
Product/Marketing/Sales: We are evolving our Differentiated Products (Signal Integrity, Micro/ Rugged) by integrating the increasing “Technology Center” capabilities to reframe as “Solution Blocks”. This involves a lot of collaboration amongst Sales/Marketing and Product Development to keep us aligned and advancing the mantras of: - “Differentiation trumps all!” - “Deeper customer engagement; higher up the food chain” - “Integration = Innovation”
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Redefine Service Leadership:
Operations Infrastructure:
The ongoing Service mission (since ’76) continues to evolve as we push the envelope in many subsets:
In addition to maintaining Delivery, Quality, and Operational Expenses scaling in a positive manner, the following are a few large projects in the works:
Fast Delivery – This aspect of “vintage Sudden Service” entails 24-hour samples, short lead times, and on time delivery that is at record levels. Quality – The challenge is to maintain/improve in light of a more technical product mix, plus higher volumes to larger (more demanding) customers. Technical Support – Increasingly important with a higher end product offering, “live person” technical support has several facets: Customer, Service, Sales/GAMs, Application Engineering Groups, in-the-field Sales FAEs, “Kickstarters”, and Technology Specialists.
“Morph” continues. Refining the three year “charters” of all global manufacturing plants, and in particular the facility in Johor Malaysia (which includes Plating for global rebalancing), and new Scottsburg consolidation.
2015 GOALS
We want to maintain the positive momentum and introduce refreshed key initiatives. The following are important high-level areas of focus:
“Lean” initiatives accelerate to streamline processes at all facilities, along with OMM automation and Process Engineering projects. MIS/IT Systems to pick up momentum of weaning off PC Manufacturing, while developing new capabilities on numerous fronts.
Web/Digital Tools – Easy to use and always accessible, Samtec.com offers yet another key branch of differentiated Sudden Service. The variety of capabilities continue to set the bar for our customers’ Buyers/Commodity Management (Price, Delivery, Scheduling, Order Mgmt, etc.), along with assistance for Design Engineers of technical specs, plus interactive design-in Tools. Services via SIG and Teraspeed – In conjunction with the other Technology Centers, we are striving to offer more advanced support services and engineering analysis/consulting in full channel “silicon-to-silicon” realms.
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COMPANY MEETING
“Integration leads to Innovation” -John Shine
Samtec celebrated Windfall Cash Bonus Day on November 15, 2014, and the meeting was about more than just the bonus. Lots of exciting information was shared including details of Samtec’s recent success. Sales are up 7.62% with only a 6.84% increase in overhead. Our direct Gross Profit (GP) was 2.64% above our goal, and we beat our Operating Income Before Bonus (OIBB) goal by 8.39%. This trifecta of positive factors meant that the bonus was up across the board for the 2014 Windfall Bonus. Awesome job everyone!! John Shine discussed three main company updates:
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Mainstream vs. New Ventures Mainstream products like our TSW and SSW Series will always be the bread and butter products at Samtec, but it is important to remember that new ventures like Z-Ray and Optics will eventually become mainstream. This means we must continue to invest in new ventures at Samtec, and doing so takes cash. Luckily, our debtfree model for doing business creates the opportunity to have cash on hand to invest in our own future. We have also learned that integration leads to innovation. It is the integration of Samtec’s products, services, and technology tools that gives us an edge over our competition in the connector industry. No other connector company is as integrated as Samtec. In fact, most of our competitors have “business units” that are responsible for each of their product lines. Often times, these units don’t communicate well with each other, so it feels like each of the business units is a separate company altogether. This is why Samtec will always seek to be more integrated: it enables us to provide the absolute best service to our customers.
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John Shine
Technology Center Evolution One of the most recent new ventures at Samtec is the development of new Technology Centers. Until 1993, “mainstream” was Samtec’s core products like the TSW and SSW: simple, through-hole connectors. In 1993, a new area for Samtec was surface mount and micro connectors. This was a new venture bet that more than paid off, and was our first true Technology Center (even though we didn’t realize it at the time). Our next Tech Center investment came in 2000 with our investment in the SIG Tech Center for the development of high speed connectors and signal integrity support. In 2003, we invested in the manufacturing of our own precision extruded high speed cable with our High Speed Cable Plant. At that time, surface mount and micro connectors became mainstream. Now, with high speed cables and SIG becoming more common in the industry and mainstream for Samtec, we are investing heavily in Optics with the Samtec Optical
John Shine
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John Shine
Steve Hillerich
Group (SOG), IC Packaging with Samtec Microelectronics (SME), Advanced Interconnect Design with our new array interposers (Z-RayTM) and high speed backplane connectors (ExaMAX), and full channel system design with Teraspeed Consulting. This means we’ve invested in four new Tech Centers in the past five years alone. That’s more Tech Center investments than we did in the first 30 years of the company!
Solution Blocks Also during the company meeting, John announced a major update from the Marketing Department: Solution Blocks. Solution Blocks will be the way in which we communicate both our breadth of products as well as our Tech Centers. You can think of Solution Blocks as an evolution from the product weave. The first six Solution Blocks are Active Optics, IC-to-Board, High Speed Cables, High Speed Board-to-Board, Micro / Rugged and Flexible Stacking.
Kevin Bratcher
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COMPANY MEETING
Betty South
Number of Global Samtec locations streaming the company meeting Live! 6
CHRISTMAS SWEATERS
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From Left 1st Row Gail Farris, Cindy Bratcher, Laura Kachnavage, Christa Brown, Renee Hale, Kat Coombes, Jennifer Browning, Sue Chaffin 2nd Row Cherie Scott, Whitney Hicks, Sarah Teagarden, Lindsay Coffman, Jenise Wehmiller, Ovi Schaeffer, Mary Temple, Libby Pevlor, Kelsey Heckaman, Mary Kay Baumann, Jane Freeman, Jasmin Broughton, Mary Wright 3rd Row Angie Eve, Ashley Quinlan, Madison Hamman, Jim Koch, Ty Atkins, Nick Gehlbach, Gary Purvis, Jeramey Tyler, Dan Schneider, Kenzie Byrd, Ashton Davidson, Julie Cook, Eileen Burrous, April Butler 4th Row Cody Wheeler, Chuck Grantz, Greg Reidinger, Ricky Skees, Tim Stephens, Travis Lozier
CHRISTMAS SWEATERS
This year’s Christmas Sweater Day had a great turn out! We hope that we see even more sweaters next year!
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ASSOCIATE SPOTLIGHT
Russ Payton
Before coming to Samtec, Russ Payton worked at Key Electronics (formally Key Communications), a local contract manufacturing company. Throughout his 20 years at Key, he processed many electronic assemblies that used Samtec connectors and processed orders from Samtec for both Marketing and Engineering Development printed circuit boards. Fortunately for us, one day we won Russ over, and he has worked at Samtec for over 7 years now. Russ works in the Special Manufacturing Operations Group (Production Management), and his background in board processing both at Key and Samtec made him an ideal Associate to assist in the integration of Samtec systems at Samtec Microelectronics (SME), one of our newest Technology Centers located in Colorado. SME handles “tip of the spear” type projects at the chip / package level, so how do we take a completely new business that is completely technical in nature and “Samtecize” it? The reality is that they are a work center, even given
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Know someone that has done an amazing job or has a great story? Contact us at newsletter@samtec.com
the advanced IC design and packaging that they do, and we should be able to integrate Samtec systems there. Having Russ in CO to help with this integration has been essential in engraining the day-to-day Samtec culture that we, in NA, sometimes take for granted – Sudden Service, Ready-Fire-Aim, TTW, etc. This integration of SME into Samtec’s systems and flow allows us to continue to evolve and move forward. What they learn today in SME at the package / chip level is what we can use in the future to improve our connector design, manufacturing & processing. Russ lived part-time in Colorado for 2 years while working on the integration and with continuous flow manufacturing for scalability of higher volume opportunities. Those who already know Russ know that he is an outdoors type of guy, so going to CO was a win-win for him and his love of hunting and hiking. As he had some time to fill with several weekends alone, Russ picked up a new hobby ... fly fishing. Fly fishing is very peaceful, but it is also very challenging and takes a lot of practice and patience. Russ figures it took him 1500 to 2000 casts to catch his first fish in the picture to the right. WOW, that’s a lot of patience!
M8 - Lagoon Nebula Credit: Henry Sipes
M42 - Orion Nebula Credit: Henry Sipes
If you have ever encountered an issue with a tube, tray, or some other type of product packaging in the last 16 years, you have probably talked to Henry Sipes. Henry resides near Flaherty, Kentucky, and his first full time job was designing conveyer systems for the company that did the R&D design work for some of the systems that UPS currently uses. Henry came to Samtec to formalize a Packaging Engineering area, and he has helped in the design of the tape-n-reel and tray packaging used in the automated placement of our connectors to printed circuit boards (PCBs). Did you know Henry has a passion outside of packaging? Astronomy is Henry’s real love (besides his wife of course) and he has been interested in space ever since he was a kid. Carl Sagan’s TV series Cosmos fueled his interest in astronomy and science. After graduating from high school, he went on to get a Bachelor of Science in Engineering from Purdue University where he even took classes in Spacecraft Design. Henry also holds a Master’s Degree in Astronomy from the Swinburne University of Technology, Melbourne, Australia. Henry has continued to feed his passion for space by building telescopes and small
observatories. He even has his very own observatory in his back yard named in memory of his brother, Mark Leo Observatory, where he takes pictures of asteroids, galaxies, nebulae, and much more. Since 1990, Henry has conducted many private and public astronomy programs for the Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, and other groups. In 2006, he was honored to accept a volunteer park astronomer position at the Otter Creek Park Observatory near Fort Knox, and his first paper was published in 2009 which discussed the impact of double star observations in the 17th Century.
ASSOCIATE SPOTLIGHT
Henry Sipes
M51 - Whirlpool Galaxy Credit: Henry Sipes
Henry volunteers for the Jefferson Community and Technical College and he volunteers for the Harrison County Parks and Recreation Department as Park Astronomer for South Harrison Park near Elizabeth, IN. He is also one of 633 NASA Solar System Ambassadors in the US for Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL). Henry’s goal is to one day travel in space. All photos used on this page were taken by Henry (including his telescope)!
If you are interested in learning more, check out http://www.markleoobservatory.com or http://www.harrisoncountyparks.com/parks/south-harrison-park/observatory/.
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CROSS TALK Moving Sidewalks, Valet Parking and Nap Pods are just a few things to expect out of the remodel As was announced at the last company meeting, Samtec New Albany will be receiving a makeover. Details of the plans have been scarce as the design phase of the project trudges on. Of course, the new space will need to be well thought out to ensure many years of growth and reflect where we are headed as a company. But, what all will the remodel entail? We caught up with Betty South to get an idea of what some of the more exciting updates will be. First: Moving Sidewalks Betty reports that moving sidewalks will be installed throughout the New Albany facility. Having moving sidewalks that run north to south and east to west, as well as across the parking lots, will ensure Associates can get from one place to another with ease. They should also allow Associates to stay at 100% productivity. “Previously, there was a noticeable loss in production time when Associates had to walk from one place to another inside the building. Now, you will be able to simply hop aboard the TigerTrack Moving Sidewalk system and continue to work from your laptop or smart phone! It is really the ultimate Win/Win Samtec has been looking for,” says Betty. The TigerTrack Moving Sidewalk system will move associates from place to place at a blazing 20 mph (faster than the speed limit in our parking lot). Installation is expected to be complete at the end of the remodel in 2025. Next: Valet Parking Speaking of parking, we all know how hard it is to find a gravy parking space … and keep it after lunch. Plus, that walk from the lake or the helipad can take an average Associate 10 minutes to get in the building. This will be no more thanks to the new valet parking we will be implementing! Simply pull right up to the front, toss your keys to one of the young lads in the bright orange tuxedo and let your parking woes fade away. When you’re ready to head out for the day,
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Betty South
This is an artist rendering of what the moving sidewalks will look like.
simply email meninorange@samtec.com to have your car pulled up to the front door! And don’t worry about cost! We will be working with a local high school who will be combining their driver’s ed program with our parking program – talk about a Win/Win! Finally: Nap Pods Science has proven that taking the occasional siesta can help boost work performance by 900%. In the past, sleeping at your desk or workstation has be frowned upon. But now, thanks to nearly 1 hour of research, Samtec will be instituting daily nap opportunities for all Associates. These naps will be available to all full time Associates and will be hosted in the soon-to-be installed nap room that has 30 nap pods. Each pod will have a bottle of bubbly water, a cup of chamomile tea, and 600 thread count Egyptian cotton sheets.
SUCCESS STORY
Sudden Service Success Story
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Samtec Associate received a call from her childhood friend who is an Engineer for a high-visability customer. He called and explained that he had 100 circuit boards with mistakes costing $800,000. He had an idea that he might be able to use Samtec’s high speed coax jumper to create a fix saving the boards, but more importantly the timeline for their project. The thought was that if it worked, it would get them by for now, and they would fix it with the next board spin. He was going to three meetings a day to “update management on the status”, so the visibility was very high, and he was extreamly stressed out. The Samtec Associate asked some questions, talked to him a bit, and then came to the conclusion that one of our cables might do the trick. The next day, the Samtec Associate met the Engineer to deliver 140 feet of the high-speed coax cable. A couple days later, Samtec received a call from the Engineer that it had worked! The Engineer then asked Samtec if it was possible for him to buy 500 feet of the coax cable. The Samtec Associate realized that selling a cable in bulk is normally against Samtec procedure, but given
the circumstances of working with such a wellknown company, Samtec was open to making an exception. Our Engineers set up a custom print for the coax so the high-visability customer could document the fix. They then informed Samtec that the original 140 feet was enough to fix the boards that needed fixing. One of the things that Samtec always emphasizes whenever a customer is taken through our plant is that we consider our capabilities to be special, and they are available to our customers anytime that they feel we could be of assistance. All they have to do is call. Our factory is an extension of theirs, and we are here to support their needs. Being small makes us very nimble and very agile. Large customers see that and find that very attractive, especially when their backs are against the wall and they need something fast. Having a high-visability customer think of Samtec when they need a high speed coax cable on the quick is awesome! The good will that this kind of service brings is what it is all about.
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CUSTOMER SPOTLIGHT
Our customer Draeger Safety designs and manufactures a variety of products for the medical, safety, factory/automation, and mining industries. Medical products include arms and brackets for mounting equipment on walls and ceilings, monitoring systems, and lighting systems. Industrial products include personal monitors, and filtration and chemical monitoring devices. Fire safety products include gas and chemical sensors, air purifying equipment, cooling vests, and communication devices. Their FPS-COM-PLUS product is a full mask communication unit. Pictured to the right is a high reliability, hands-free communication system that a firefighter wears with his helmet.
Our customer GE Healthcare designs and manufactures a variety of medical equipment, including anesthesia delivery devices, MRI, PET/CT Scanners, ultrasounds, and nuclear medicine equipment, among others. One product is the Voluson E8 ultrasound, designed specifically for babies/pregnancies. These ultrasounds can help determine and identify anatomical issues with the mother and baby, and show images deep into vital organs like the baby’s heart, nervous system, etc. It can also be used to generate a picture of the baby’s face as he or she develops. This ultrasound uses a variety of Samtec products, including SEAM, SEAF, HSEC8, and several LSS ASPs. To the left is a picture of the ultrasound, and an image of a baby’s face created from the ultrasound.
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Annual Chili Luncheon GET SAMTEC NEWS TO YOUR PERSONAL EMAIL OR VIA TEXT! The sign-up box is located outside of the Break Room. You can sign up with your personal email to get news from email or you can receive text by signing up with your cell phone number.
The Chili Luncheon will be held in the Break Room on Friday, February 13th from 11-1pm. The chili is free but we will be accepting donations and all proceeds will go to the American Heart Association.
If you have a story or an associate spotlight candidate in mind for the Samtec Newsletter, email us at:
newsletter@samtec.com
ANNOUNCEMENTS
Name the Newsletter
Competition!
You can add job-related external training you have attended, including conferences, to your transcript in TigerNet!
Every one to two months, Samtec will hold a Town Hall meeting that will focus on varying topics. These meetings are a way for Associates to have their voices heard by sharing ideas, feedback, and/or concerns. There will be limited available spots in each meeting. Look for more information through email or TigerTV. The sign up sheet will be located on the Communications board outside the Break Room. The first meeting will be focused on communications and culture at Samtec sometime in February.
Here are the quick steps:
1 Login to TigerNet. 2 Under SamtecU, select “View Your Transcript”. 3 Select, “Add External Training”. 4 Fill in all the applicable information from your training/ conference attendance (including training time in minutes), and click “Submit”. 5 On your transcript, click “Mark Complete” to the right of the course you just added. 6 Click the checkbox , enter a grade earned (if applicable), and then click “Submit”.
We want your help to name the Samtec Newsletter! We will be looking for a name that relates to Samtec’s culture and fun personality. You can email your submission to newsletter@ samtec.com or you can stop by HR with your name and the name that you feel is fitting for the Newsletter!.
The winner will receive a $25 gift card!
Good Luck! 14 15
Here is what to expect in the 2015 Spring Edition!
- 2014 Community Outreach stories from around the world! - Unveiling of the new name for the Newsletter! - New Associate Spotlights! - Much Much More!
Have an idea for the Samtec Newsletter? Email us at newsletter@samtec.com Also, if you have found Tessie, email us at the above address or stop by HR, and let us know her location. Everyone who finds her will be entered to win a $25 gift card! Good Luck!