Why Outsource? Why ICS?
Many customers across a variety of industries are leveraging ICS’s integrated services and solutions for functions such as order management, material supply, commodity management, manufacturing, test, distribution, logistics, full product design sustaining engineering (or should this say engineering support?), and after-market services. As a result, these companies are able to focus on activities that enable them to achieve a competitive advantage such as new product innovation, technology development and enhancing customer solutions.
We welcome the opportunity to discuss the benefits of task-based outsourcing, but also encourage adopting an outsourcing relationship that encompasses all of the aspects of the product fulfillment process. We have seen an industry trend recognizing the benefits of a highly developed outsourcing relationship and companies effectively leveraging this to provide leading solutions to deliver significant operational and financial improvements.
For customers choosing to fully leverage ICS’s integrated services and solutions, we deliver results that have a significant impact on the bottom line. Consider a broader outsourcing model for your manufacturing and related operations. The results can improve performance and increase profits by:
- Focusing your investment in core areas such as continued new product and technology development and improve customer satisfaction
- Improving capital utilization and avoiding investments in non-core areas such as equipment, facilities and manufacturing infrastructure
- Eliminating the duplication of operational infrastructure and overlapping costs
- Reducing your overall cost of goods sold
- Converting your fixed infrastructure costs into variable costs
- Enabling you to cultivate strong customer relationships that exceed expectations.
Balancing short-term and long-term results.
ICS understands that in this highly competitive industry we need to be committed to every element of the process. This includes making client satisfaction a top priority. While it is a requirement, it is also what defines ICS as a leader in the industry.
We have developed a multi-faceted approach to ensure our clients stay at the heart of everything we do, and that we deliver measurable, bottom-line results.
Client Satisfaction Steps
- Strategic Planning – Determine the goals, objectives, and strategies for escalation at the beginning of a project and periodically throughout the life of the project.
- Service Attitude Process – Committed to reducing our client’s total costs, we use a three-step process. This includes a customer-centric organizational structure, a metric-driven approach to measuring satisfaction, and an incentive plan that is based on client evaluations, which create a framework for building long-term strategic partnerships.
- Team Leader & The Team – Program Managers will manage and guide the overall program, ensuring that the key requirements of client satisfaction are implemented. Their team will include the engineering, manufacturing, quality, materials management, and finance departments to ensure all client expectations are being met and all areas of the project have a hands-on team member managing it.
- Weekly Status Updates – Short-term accountability is what makes long-term goals realistic. We ensure consistency with project management by offering weekly meetings to review open order reports on existing product status. Additionally, we offer monthly and quarterly business reviews in areas such as On Time Delivery (OTD), Defects Per Million (DPM) or Quality Rating, forecast consumption, and customer service ratings.
- Ongoing Strategic and ROI Process – ICS paves the way for the team to stay focused on the OEM and ODM core competencies while bringing the MAV (Material Value Analysis) and continuous improvement projects to the table. We facilitate this through Monthly Business Reviews and Quarterly Business Reviews where we bring the roadmap to improve the product and reduce the cost.
Timing is Everything.
Today’s competitive industry with sport product like cycles creates a priority need for timely market entry. The earliest OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer) to the market can often benefit from significant financial rewards and often dominate the category. ICS understands urgencies and partners with OEM’s to achieve a faster time to market strategy.
A partnership with ICS means that you will have an industry leading team assisting from design phase ideas to supply chain management.
Our services include:
- A robust range of engineering and design capabilities to support OEM product development efforts
- Concurrent product, process, and supply chain development to shorten the time from concept to volume production
- Use of predictive tools to enhance the integrity of product design
- Design consulting services to optimize manufacturability, testability, and reliability
- Development of test strategies and platforms
- Quick-turn prototyping
- Standard equipment and information technology platforms and NPI processes that enable
- Rapid transfer to volume production
Design For Excellence (DFX)
The ICS Design For Excellence (DFX) process ensures that the issues related to the quality, cost and manufacturing cycle time of your product are addressed early in their product life, allowing you to concentrate valuable resources to the next generation of design. Our design reviews ensure that your products meet manufacturing requirements that are conducive to testing and that your required materials are available and of good quality.
DFX Process
Design For Excellence is concurrent engineering. By conducting reviews at pre-defined key points, ICS leverages its organizations four-core strengths – Materials, Manufaturing, Quality, Test Organizations – passing the benefit on to you the client.
Design For Component Cost reviews are performed on product material listings from the concept phase to recurring points in the sustaining production phase. The results of the DFC reviews alert the product design teams to the end of life availability and lead time issues along with supplier quality issues.
Design For Manufacturing reviews are performed at the System Level, Mechanical Piece Level and PCB Level. Issues related to Assembly, Service, Quality, and Process are documented and delivered to the Product Design Team. Manufacturing process strategies are formulated including plans for new technology requirements.
Design For Quality reviews are ongoing throughout the product life cycle. Approved vendors are monitored for quality and delivery. Process flows and process failure mode effects analysis (PFMEA’s) are developed. Control plans are put in place to address areas of risk exposed by the PFMEA’s. Gauges, fixtures and tooling are reviewed for robustness along with accountability in the quality systems and requirements. These items are combined with regular reviews of theoretical vs. actual yield data. Results from these review processes may drive process improvement projects.
A pre-defined project plan outlines the details and timing of the DFX Process, allowing our clients to review and approve the steps. Setting the right expectation and being accountable for results are what ICS strives for day-to-day.
Total Cost Reduction Program (TCRP)
At ICS we look at the task of situation analysis in both short and long-term strategy. One way we do this is though our Total Cost Reduction Program. Our streamlined material quoting process is engineered to deliver a better product at a better price. Additionally, we take into consideration a wide range of elements moving beyond the obvious physical production process:
Graph: TCRP – Identify Opportunities – Optimization of Key Elements
Opportunities include: shorten cycle times, reduce cost, increase flexibility and responsiveness, and attain measurable quality improvements
Opt. Key Elements include: Quality, Delivery, Technology, Service, Communication, Pricing, Flexibility
Supply Chain Management
ICS’s reputation and partnerships allow us to offer a Supply Chain Management (SCM) system that goes head-to-head with any of our competitors. This system is a seamless process from design to delivery, allowing the client to see and receive real time data during every step of the manufacturing process.
The SCM system’s collaborative turnkey process manages the complete product life cycle. Some benefits of the process include:
- Faster time to market
- Reduced inventory
- Flexibility
- Responsiveness to changing market demand
- Secure visibility to critical information
ICS’s commitment to our partner relationships allows us the resources to offer significant value added opportunities in the areas of component selection, commodity management planning, automated forecasting, and logistics for direct order fulfillment. In addition, applying specialized skill sets to the supply chain, ICS aids in our clients’ goals to eliminate duplication, streamline business processes, and reduce costs. All of this is part of our goal to help our clients be more competitive in the marketplace.
Advanced Manufacturing
ICS is committed to being a modern, up-to-date manufacturing facility. From our dedication to having the equipment needed for virtually any component assembly mix, to our sophisticated software programs implementing quick and accurate solutions, to our full staff of experienced manufacturing engineers. We are confident that we can define the best manufacturing process for your product.
This process teamed with our Design for Excellence, Supply Chain Management, and Customer-Focused Strategy processes keep ICS in front of the technology Curve.
Advanced Technology
ICS is dedicated to being an industry leader in the technological advancements of electronic products. By partnering with ICS, you will gain access to a highly refined process and an industry expertise that is second to none. We are committed to the ongoing technological expertise of our team members and the refining of our processes, passing along our efforts to our clients every day.
Add these benefits to the savings you will enjoy not having to make substantial capital investments on purchasing the latest equipment and it is hard to find a reason not to partner with us.