Frank Wu, CEO of Topscom

The maker will continue to sharpen competitive edge for greater penetration of different electronics sectors.

Topscom Precision Industry Co. Ltd provides design and manufacturing services to the automotive, industrial, medical, consumer, telecom and IT sectors. A major EMS company in China, it has vertically integrated operations for enhanced production efficiency, and reduced costs and time to market.

In an interview with Global Sources, CEO Frank Wu talks about the supplier’s plan to leverage this advantage to boost penetration of high-value segments such as automotive and medical electronics in the future. He reiterates flexibility as a core part of Topscom’s business philosophy aimed at strengthening competitiveness across various fields.

What are the company’s services and markets?

Topscom offers one-stop services such as design, engineering, components procurement, structural components production, PCB assembly, functional testing, final assembly, delivery and logistics.

Its end-to-end supply chain solutions cover a range of industries and final markets, including data networking, telecom, industrial, capital equipment, automation, medical electronics, automotive, aerospace and defense, energy, mobile telephony, computing and other categories.

In the years ahead, we will put the emphasis on high-value sectors, especially automotive and medical electronics, to achieve greater profit margins. At present, these segments account for about 20 percent of sales, and we aim to increase the share to 40 percent.

Key global EMS suppliers such as Foxconn and Flextronics have manufacturing facilities in China. How does Topscom differentiate itself from these businesses?

Compared with large international players, we have advantages based on cost control, flexible manufacturing and delivery, and one-to-one customization services.

Flexibility is the key to all successful business models and is also a critical part of Topscom’s philosophy. With no minimum quantity requirement, we accommodate high-mix/low-volume orders.

We have procurement offices in strategic locations such as Tokyo in Japan, Singapore and Hong Kong, in addition to China. This enables us to share the low-cost benefit with our clients.

What are your strengths in terms of manufacturing capability?

Topscom adopts an advanced level of SMT and has facilities equipped with automated production, assembly and testing lines. Our high-speed SMT equipment includes Fuji, Siemens, Yamaha and Panasonic units. We have capability for 0201, lead-free and flip-chip technologies.

Our daily production capacity is 40 million points and 36,000 assembled products.

To cater to different requirements, we set up a factory with 800 workers to handle prototype making, and small and medium-quantity orders.

How does Topscom ensure higher quality standards are met?

We have certification, including ISO 9001, 14001, OHSAS 18001, ISO/TS 16949 and ISO 13485.

Topscom implements 6 Sigma and advanced industrial engineering management methods. It adopts ERP, SharePoint, Exchange, LinkOffice, and a JD Edwards-based system. Through these, we can guarantee production reliability.

Besides 6 Sigma, we follow manufacturing best practices such as lean, single-piece flow, takt time, zero defects and component level traceability.

The company also applies cost-saving measures, including Kaizen and lean tools such as 7QC, 5 Why, value stream mapping, and End-to-End productivity improvements.

What do you think of Southeast Asia as the next low-cost manufacturing base in the region?

Compared with China, the labor cost in Southeast Asia is low. In terms of logistics, supply chain, skilled manpower and infrastructure, however, there is a big gap between these areas.

The companies that have started migrating to Southeast Asia are mostly labor-intensive enterprises offering entry-level products. So the region will not emerge as the new low-cost manufacturing location in electronics manufacturing for quite a long time. Besides, we will enhance our advantages further.