Recent growth and expansion now means that Jaltek is able to offer its customers a true IDMS (Integrated Design and Manufacture Services) solution.

Today, electronics companies are under significant pressure to transform their concepts and ideas into commercially viable products. Time to market can make or break a product, and it can even have lasting effects on the business itself. Recognising this, many leading-edge electronics companies are focusing on speeding up their front-end processes, from concept through design to new product introduction by utilising Joint Design and Manufacturing (JDM) an evolution from Electronics Manufacturing Services (EMS). Jaltek however has responded to this changing environment with a number of strategic acquisitions and organic growth to ensure that it can deliver a truly revolutionary Integrated Design and Manufacture Service (IDMS) solution that seamlessly brings together all elements of the process under one corporate roof. Uniquely this gives the multi disciplined teams at Jaltek common objectives of ownership and understanding, providing reduced time to market, reduced cost, improved quality and complete company wide commitment.

This is not an easy task, especially where sophisticated; high-speed, high-reliability products are concerned. Such products, for the sheer number of variables involved, are rarely designed right first time. Their development typically involves several design-prototype-test iterations whose purpose is progressively to identify and eliminate design faults. These iterations are a real bottleneck in the front end design process, as design, machine and test time must be co-ordinated and scheduled, and results discussed and processes agreed between professionals who may be on different continents in different time zones and speak different languages. It becomes clear that each iteration requires considerable time and money, and can be a frustrating process. It also becomes clear that speeding the individual functions is less effective than integrating and optimising the entire design-to-NPI cycle.

That’s where Jaltek comes in. As the UK’s only Integrated Design and Manufacturing Service (IDMS) provider, Jaltek offers Europe’s electronics, OEM and EMS companies a comprehensive yet fully flexible service, as New Business Manager David Sproule explains: “We see ourselves as an enabler, so our offering is uniquely open-ended, allowing clients total freedom to continue to do what they do well, enhancing this with the services they need from us, at the level they need it, be it design, prototyping, NPI, software design or volume manufacturing”.

Jaltek’s services are impressive, with front-end services including the design of FPGA and DSP, High Frequency RF, and complex mechanical assemblies, while long experience in manufacturing enables it to produce even the most complex assemblies such as double-sided PCAs with µBGAs and 01005 components. It also provides a wide range of advanced inspection and test techniques. In addition, the company has built strong partnerships with world class providers of services such as advanced software development, industry-leading mechanical design and low cost volume manufacturing capabilities, giving its clients seamless access to a full range of advanced design and manufacturing services.

Given the breadth and depth of Jaltek’s service offering, it is not surprising that its clients vary widely in terms of size and industry. “Smaller niche electronics companies come to us as they may not have the in-house capabilities or capacities necessary to design new products, while Tier-1 and Tier-2 EMS providers, knowing that we do not compete with them for their core manufacturing business, rely on us to get them to volume manufacture more quickly, more efficiently and with less scrap than they are used to”, says Sproule.

The real power in Jaltek’s offering is in speeding the whole “to market” process, thanks to industry-leading design, analysis and simulation capabilities that expose new products to a virtual manufacturing line even as they are going through Jaltek’s design process. Sproule: “At the same time as designing a new product, our team continually examine it in real time for DfX issues such as manufacturability and test, component availability, leadtimes, costs, bills of materials consolidation and all those downstream factors that will influence its subsequent success in the marketplace”.

Thanks to this innovative integrated approach, Jaltek’s designs, once completed, are typically 100% ready for manufacture, eliminating weeks and considerable cost and frustration from the design process. Furthermore, Jaltek’s open-ended production management software simplifies transfer of the production-ready design to the client’s selected manufacturing facility, wherever this might be in the world. The benefits are so powerful that growing numbers of OEMS, EMS and electronics companies are asking Jaltek to handle their front end processes. Their reactions, on seeing the results, are typified by those of a leading global OEM, who was recently stunned to discover that Jaltek’s first prototype corresponded with all of its expectations, saving weeks in design time. “The design was practically complete, requiring only some simple fine tuning rather than the expensive, time-consuming design changes that the customer would normally expect at that stage”, explains Sproule, adding that Jaltek’s intelligent BOM management software makes those final changes simpler, faster and cheaper than they would be using conventional methods.

Like this OEM, growing numbers of electronics companies that are active in demanding industries are fast discovering their true potential, thanks to the power of Jaltek’s unique Integrated Design and Manufacturing Service to enhance their own performance through flexible, world-class support.