the POSITRONIC GLOBE 42 Thousand Servers. 295 Megawatts of Power. Zero Margin of Error. MAR 2019 STRATEGIC INITIATIVE UPDATE IN THIS ISSUE Kaizen Update Strategic Initiative Update Our Kaizen Teams are still active and bringing excellent contributions to our 1 Kaizen Update strategic initiatives. Here is an update on some of the latest efforts: Sales Success Story Eldon CNC Setup Time Reduction Team 4 Houston…Positronic Connectors are on their Way to the Moon! Did You Know 7 Supply Chain Management: Warehouse/Inventory at PIMO Global Moments 3 Positronic and Crown Exchange Business Skills 6 Positronic Participates in Missouri Association of Manufacturers Panel 6 Smart Grid Expo 2019 9 Annual Award Lunch at PAPL David Wrede, Jason Lantz, Jordan Summers, Chris Cordova, Randy Dean, Joe Hurst • Reduced setup times by 50% • Increased utilization by 20% • Savings of $126K in FY 2019 seen in increased overhead absorption in Department 66 Continued on page 2 1 THE SCIENCE OF CERTAINTY. / www.connectpositronic.com STRATEGIC INITIATIVE UPDATE Continued from page 1 Eldon Subassembly Posiband Contact Mt. Vernon Thermoset Mold Throughput Improvement Team Setup Time Reduction Team Robert Zimla, Casey McDaniel, Jordan Summers, Justin Bray, Randy Caudill, Joel Loveland • Reduced setup times from 4 hours to less than 1 hour Left to right: Front row - Angela Hernandez, Nikki Horton. Campbell Plating Back row - Casey McDaniel, Kodi Horton, Cheston Jennings. Sort Reduction Team • Doubled throughput of PosiBand contacts by restructuring, standardized training, and improved tooling • Savings of $148K in FY 2019 seen in increased overhead absorption in Department 82 Campbell Inventory Reduction Team Kevin Jones, Angela Zay, Tara Long, Cody Fossett, Geoff McFarlin, Mark Cumpton • Eliminated machine defect sorting at plating Eldon Assembly Press Setup Time Reduction Team Audrey Gottsleben, Windy Cooper, Miranda Bordwell, Jessica Manuel, Tammy Nichols, Bobbi Bray Chris Denny, Rob Bell, Rachel Davidson, Ryan Stewart, Allen Pretz • Identified $2 million in inventory with no demand • Reduced setup times by 50% • Savings of $68K in FY 2019 seen in increased labor efficiency in Department 81 THE SCIENCE OF CERTAINTY. / www.connectpositronic.com 2 3 PISAS/GLOBAL MOMENTS Positronic and Crown Exchange Business Skills As part of a 2019 skills development plan, the Positronic management team in Auch participated in an educational exchange with the Crown company, located in Périgueux. Crown is a leading supplier of packaging products to consumer marketing companies around the world. The purpose of this exchange was to experiment with cultural differences, learn about American culture, and think about ways of improving working relationships. First, the Positronic management team went to meet the Crown management team on 22 January 2019. For the full-day program, Positronic visited the Périgueux production site and participated in several working groups to share everyday business challenges. In return, on 19 February 2019, the management team of Crown came to visit the Positronic site in Auch. After the visit to the Positronic site, and before the constitution of new working groups, the Crown team and Positronic management team were challenged to assemble spring clips and retainers on contacts. The experience was very enriching for everyone, and new relationships were created between the two companies' counterparts. 3 THE SCIENCE OF CERTAINTY. / www.connectpositronic.com SALES SUCCESS STORY Houston…Positronic Connectors are on their Way to the Moon! by Nir Harpaz, Europe Sales Manager Positronic and our Authorized Distributor partner in So why is this launch such a big deal? Read on... Israel, Bos Odem, can be very proud. We will have a part Assuming the mission is a success, Israel will become in history. only the fourth nation to ever land on the moon, following Our space grade connectors have been designed and Russia, the U.S., and China. That is pretty impressive for assembled on a system that is part of an Israeli Spacecraft, a country about the size of New Jersey. With about $100 bound to land on the moon. million in donations, it will also become the first-ever There are three Positronic connectors onboard this privately funded lunar landing. Instead of being funded system: by a government agency, the money came from tech companies, local universities and a group of dedicated SDD62S4B30T2G philanthropists – including marine park mogul Morris Kahn, SDD78S4B30T2G who contributed $40 million to the cause. SDD62M000E2G Israeli entrepreneurs Yonatan Winetraub, Yariv Bash, and For one brief moment last week, the world looked up Kfir Damari came up with the idea for their spacecraft towards the heavens. In the night sky above, a tiny late one night at a bar by the Mediterranean Sea. "As the spacecraft named, Beresheet, Hebrew for "Genesis", lifted alcohol level in our blood rose, we got more and more off from Cape Canaveral and into the record books. determined to do this," Winetraub recalled during a recent This was not the work of NASA or the European Space interview with From The Grapevine. "And it never faded Agency, but from an upstart collective from Israel, called away." Nearly a decade later, that booze-filled dream has SpaceIL. Featuring a menagerie of mavericks – including become a reality. a drone maker, a cancer researcher, and a water park The trio of technologists first entered their idea into the magnate – their audacious attempt launched in February. Continued on page 5 THE SCIENCE OF CERTAINTY. / www.connectpositronic.com 4 5 SALES SUCCESS STORY Continued from page 4 Google LunarX Prize back in 2007. The Silicon Valley time capsule containing drawings by Israeli children and giant was offering $20 million to the first team that could MP3 files of Israeli music. "It is very possible that future land on the moon and send back high-definition pictures. generations will find this information and want to learn Google extended the deadline multiple times hoping for more about this historic moment," Winetraub mused. an eventual winner, but to no avail. None of the dozens of Launching a ship into space can be cost-prohibitive, so teams who entered the contest could make it. So, Google the Beresheet is hitching a ride aboard the SpaceX Falcon finally called off the cash competition in early 2018. 9 rocket. "It's more like a ride-share," Winetraub told us, However, SpaceIL was just months away from finishing comparing it to an Uber Pool. "There are passengers in construction, and they kept working from a factory in the front seat and passengers in the back seat all going Israel. The machine was finished late last year and was up to space." The rocket will drop off various satellites and then shipped to Cape Canaveral in January, where other space equipment first and the Israeli spaceship will additional last-minute testing was conducted before be the final passenger dropped off. But even then, it still the launch. has a way to go on its own before it reaches the moon. The normally three-day adventure will take closer to two or three months. It is expected to make its lunar landing around late April. Besides just landing on the moon, the ship is scheduled to conduct scientific research. A retro-reflector from NASA was installed on the spacecraft, which is an instrument that reflects laser beams, and will enable NASA to precisely locate the spacecraft on the lunar surface after the landing. SpaceIL, the Israel Space Agency, also agreed that NASA will have access to the data gathered by the magnetometer installed aboard the Israeli spacecraft. The instrument, which was developed in collaboration with Israel’s Weizmann Institute of Science, will measure the magnetic field on and above the landing site. Early estimates put the Beresheet at about the size of a kitchen dishwasher, but Winetraub told us it is closer to a smart car, which is still not large by space standards. Indeed, it is likely the smallest spacecraft ever designed for a lunar landing. Aboard the ship will be tools to The spaceship was driven from the factory to Israel's Ben Gurion Airport, conduct scientific research on the moon, as well as a where it was packed into a cargo plane. 5 THE SCIENCE OF CERTAINTY. / www.connectpositronic.com PIMO/GLOBAL MOMENTS Positronic Participates in Missouri Association of Manufacturers Panel The Missouri Association of Manufacturers held its annual Gearing Up Conference on 6 February 2019. Positronic President, Greg Rocque, was invited to participate in the Manufacturing Matters speaker panel during the event. The panel consisted of a discussion between influential executive leaders as they discussed hot topics facing the manufacturing industry, such as technology, security, workforce, and leadership. The discussion was followed by an interactive Q&A from the audience. PAPL/GLOBAL MOMENTS Smart Grid Expo 2019 The International Smart Grid Expo is Japan's largest international exhibition showcasing various cutting-edge technologies and products related to smart grid and smart communities. It is held twice a year in Tokyo (February) and Osaka (September.). Positronic participated in the latest expo, held 27 February – 1 March 2019. The event included educational conference sessions and a trade show, where companies displayed their products. Attendees were able to view a variety of Positronic connectors at our booth and discuss opportunities with our Sales team. Our Sales team is now following up on those discussions to collaborate on new projects where our connectors can be utilized. THE SCIENCE OF CERTAINTY. / www.connectpositronic.com 6 7 DID YOU KNOW Supply Chain Management: Warehouse/Inventory at PIMO The Warehouse/Inventory function is an important Eldon Warehouse Team piece of the supply chain. The warehouse group provides raw materials and components to the production departments, receives materials from our suppliers, and maintains the accuracy of the items stored in each warehouse location.