REM

Joe Darocha is a Customer Account Manager at ATS. He has over three decades of automation experience in manufacturing, operations, product design, and project management in the aerospace, nuclear, medical, and power generation industries. Joe drives organizational success through revenue growth, strengthening customer relationships, and delivering on customer expectations. His wealth of experience enables him to excel in client relations and sales strategies and consistently enhance sales management at ATS

What Are The Benefits That A Turnkey Contract Manufacturer Provides Today?

Turnkey contract manufacturers, also known as end-to-end manufacturers, are responsible for all aspects of the product life cycle beyond the manufacturing process. As the industry evolves rapidly, there is an increasing need to get to the market faster. Startups usually need more resources to mark a shift from prototype production to volume production and meet the rising demand once their product interest grows in the marketplace. This is where contract manufacturing comes in, assisting the growing companies while also providing advantages for those with an established system and product growth. For both onset and established companies, there are challenges in expanding the business and scaling up efficiently, which contract manufacturers can resolve by outsourcing parts of every business need, including engineering, supply chain, manufacturing, logistics, and services. It allows our customers to focus on the front end of the business, increasing sales, customer satisfaction and R&D efforts. This is how turnkey contract manufacturers bring value to customers. They also have defined manufacturing processes, resources, and proven designs for manufacturing systems that facilitate on-time delivery while focusing on reduced total cost ownership through Value Analysis and Value Engineering (VAVE) techniques.

Turnkey contract manufacturers also offer compliance support. For instance, selling a medical device within the medical industry requires ISO 13485 or FDA registration, which companies need more resources or finance to implement. Contract manufacturers emerge here as a go-to solution to provide these supports efficiently.

Are There Emerging Trends You Have Encountered That Are Helping The Industry Evolve?

 One of the emerging trends is the advancement of technology, including artificial intelligence, which has taken over the market by enhancing traditional automation solutions and has resulted in rapid product growth and the customization of new designs. So, being agile has become crucial for Contract Manufacturers and has changed how people approach customization in a repeat-build manufacturing process. Contract Manufacturers need to adapt to the changes in customers’ requirements for customization, sustainability practices, digitization, and advanced technology.

"We bring value to our customers by providing end-to-end manufacturing solutions. As an extension of the customer’s operations, we work together as partners to reducing total cost of ownership with a turnkey contract manufacturing production model"

Have You Been Working On Any Particular Projects Recently?

Focusing on recent initiatives in the company, ATS is an agnostic contract manufacturing solutions provider. We have delivered several projects that span from 3D printers, mold machines, and athletic sports machines, from lab automation to bioreactor processing systems and logistics/warehousing solutions that require various support levels throughout the product life cycle of every project. We continue to deliver these programs and deliver value by reducing the total cost of ownership using VA/VE (Value Analysis & Value Engineering) techniques. Using VA/VE techniques improves the quality and reduces the cost of the current models while supporting customers with transitions into the following generation of products and models. As our customer install base grows, supporting a large fleet of customer equipment can become challenging. ATS offers global aftersales services and support ranging from spare parts and obsolescence management to service and maintenance support.

What Are Some Of The Promising Future Investments That Are Having An Impact On The Industry?

There is a growing movement for companies to consider reshoring their manufacturing from overseas operations back to North America, brought on by geopolitical instability and supply chain insecurities. Many customers find a cost advantage when considering the total costs of logistics, quality, and time to market. Contract manufacturers offer an alternative to the high-cost investments required to build or expand their facility, adding resources and implementing quality systems.

What Would Be The Critical Piece Of Advice To Your Fellow Peers And Aspiring Young Professionals In The Oem Equipment Manufacturing Space?

Focus on growing your business, expanding your marketplace, and practical R&D efforts to design new products or processes. Consider contract manufacturing as an alternative to lessen the burden of incurring high operational expansion costs and contribute to improving customer experience and sales growth.