Matt Timms, Head of Global Procurement, reflected on the day’s events: “In the current economic climate it is absolutely vital that we have an open and honest dialogue with our supply chain partners so that they understand the pressures on our business and our customer requirements. I was delighted to see all our key suppliers turn up in force and it was a great day with knowledge shared on both sides!”
The Conference was aimed at being both informative and interactive. Simon Best, Group Managing Director, updated Suppliers on STI’s performance in the UK and the strong progress being made in the Philippines factory with new business wins. The Suppliers were introduced to Lyndon Guba, STI Philippines Site Director, via live video link and given a visual factory tour – proving that the Philippines maybe 8,000 miles away but technology makes distances surmountable! Nick Davey, Research & Development Director, followed this with an update of STI’s R&D activities in providing an end-to-end solution from design to finished product. “We are finding that more companies are looking to rationalise their own electronics supply chains by looking for a design solution alongside the production of prototypes and then into manufacturing: our skilled design team and our New Product Introduction (NPI) manufacturing division can combine both activities and, using the option of manufacturing in the Philippines, also offer a menu of differing lead times and cost solutions.”
The day concluded with STI’s annual awards:
(Image removed)
“Supplier of the Year – Bespoke Products” was awarded to IQD and picked up by Sarah Brook;
(Image removed)
“Supplier of the Year – Non-Bespoke Products” was awarded to Avnet Memec and picked up by Chris Shipway;
(Image removed)
and the third award of the day – “Supplier of the Year – Best Supplier Innovation” – went to Astute Electronics and was collected by Freddie Roe.
To summarise the day Matt added: “After several years of running this event, we hope to build on the key supplier relationships that underpin our business: shared knowledge and the detail of our customers’ needs is critical to our survival and being able to react quickly to market demands; the closer we work together the more effectively and quicker we can react.”
________________________________________