Let the customer be the Judge: 2003 Service Excellence Award participants learn what their customers really think.

For 11 years, Circuits Assembly has sponsored the Service Excellence Awards (SEA) program to help electronics manufacturing services (EMS) providers and electronics assembly equipment and software suppliers measure their customer service. The 2003 SEA awards were recently presented during a luncheon at APEX 2003 in Anaheim, CA.

This year, a total of 25 awards were presented to 15 different companies, including the winners in each of the five EMS service categories by size (small, medium and large) and the outstanding company in each EMS size category. Awards were also presented to the top software and assembly equipment companies in each supplier category. Table 1 shows the winning scores.

Each of the 32 participating companies was judged on a scale of one (poor) to five (excellent) by 10 of their customers in five service categories: dependability/timely delivery; manufacturing quality (for EMS companies) or ease of use for equipment and software suppliers); responsiveness to requests and changes; technology; and value for the price.

Because the awards use a third-party survey process to question participants' customers, the results of the competition are regarded as an unbiased, objective gauge of customer satisfaction. Companies learn how they can improve and what they need to do to stay ahead of their competitors.

Frank Hart, director of marketing and regional sales for PVA, winner of the 2003 award for dispensing equipment, explained, "The Service Excellence Award is the one resource we rely on to objectively evaluate our strengths and weaknesses. There is a great deal of satisfaction in winning the award, but the feedback our customers provide to us is even more valuable in mapping out our short and long term goals."

Even if they do not win an award, participating companies look forward to receiving candid feedback from their customers and seeing how they measure up to their competitors. As Leo Reynolds, president of Electronic Systems Inc., an EMS participant, said, "We have committed to making the Service Excellence Awards pro gram part of our ISO customer survey plan ... Over the long run, we feel we get more value from the critical comments our customers might be willing to make to a third party than actually winning an award, although we've won three of these awards over the years and we like that, too!"

With money raised from the SEA program, Circuits Assembly donated $2,500 on the participants' behalf to the SMTA's Charles Hutchins Education Grant.

Table 1: Circuits Assembly 2003 Service Excellence Award winners.

Each company was rated using the following scale: 5 (Excellent),
4 (Good); 3 (Average); 2 (Fair); 1 (Poor).

EMS Providers

                                          Company Size

                                LARGE                   MEDIUM

Category                    Revenues over           Revenues from
                             $500 million        $100 to $500 million

EMS: OVERALL                    Plexus           Teradyne Connection
                                 4.4               Systems Division
                                                         4.5
EMS1: Dependability/     Universal Scientific    Sparton Electronics
      timely delivery    Industrial Co., Ltd.            4.3
                                 4.4
EMS2: Manufacturing      Universal Scientific    Sparton Electronics
      quality            Industrial Co., Ltd.            4.9
                                 4.3
EMS3: Responsiveness     Universal Scientific    Sparton Electronics
      to requests and    Industrial Co., Ltd.            4.8
      changes                    4.7
EMS4: Technology         Universal Scientific    Sparton Electronics
                         Industrial Co., Ltd.            4.9
                                 4.6
EMS5: Value for the      Universal Scientific    Sparton Electronics
      price              Industrial Co., Ltd.            4.8
                                 4.1

                             Company Size

                                 SMALL

Category                  Revenues less than
                             $100 million

EMS: OVERALL             Jolt Technology, Inc.
                                  4.94
EMS1: Dependability/         CASE Assembly
      timely delivery       Solutions Inc.
                                  5
EMS2: Manufacturing        Able Electronics
      quality                     4.1
EMS3: Responsiveness       Able Electronics
      to requests and             5
      changes              dca manufacturing
                              corporation
                                  5
EMS4: Technology           Able Electronics
                                  4.1
EMS5: Value for the        Able Electronics
      price                       4.0

Note: The Overall EMS winners were excluded from winning in any
individual service categories.

Each company was rated using the following scale:
5 (Excellent); 4 (Good); 3 (Average); 2 (Fair); 1 (Poor).

Assembly Equipment Suppliers

Equipment Function                    Participant Company Name/Rating
  Dispensing                          PVA--4.5
  Pick and place                      Siemens Dematic--4.58
  Repair and rework                   Teradyne Assembly Test
                                      Division--4.2
  Screen printing                     DEK USA Inc.--4.86
  Test and inspection                 phoenix|x-ray Systems + Services
                                      Inc.--4.72

Software Developers and Providers

Software Function                     Participant Company Name/Rating
  Manufacturing software              Aegis Industrial Software--4.86
  Supply chain management software    Agile Software--4.46

For information about the 2004 SEAs, contact Robin Norvell at [e-mail].