STI Electronics, Inc.

STI Electronics Move into New 54,000 Square Foot Facility

STI Electronics – Not just another New Facility

Attracting attendees from New Hampshire to Floriday and as far away as Ireland, Jim Raby of STI Electronics humbly captured his audience and prepared us for our first ever visit to STI's new facility in Madison, AL.
When Jim Raby, Founder and Technical Director of STI,

greeted us after a welcoming dinner, the night before the open

house, he spoke with such passion for his company and its

achievements, that it captured our attention as we all sat there

and watched him intently with raised eyebrows, waiting to hear

what he would say next. But it was when he said “It is an

honor to have you all here” that I was stunned. I think I can

speak for all of us there that the honor felt to be all mine, but I

knew Jim meant it, truly. Since Jim founded his company in

1982 it has become his life and passion.

Not only is Jim a sincere and engaging man, he is a multiachiever

in many areas of electronics... He developed the

NASA and Department of Defense Soldering Schools. He

initiated the Zero Defect Program for Wave Soldering and

developed and implemented WS-6536D and the DoD-Std-

2000 specification programs. He most recently developed the

Imbedded Component/Die Technology® (IC/DT®) packaging

technology, which we were all lucky enough to view a full

presentation, delivered by Casey Cooper, STI’s Electrical Engineering Manager, before heading

back to the airport.

For any company to be truly successful it has to be supported by a team of professionals with the

required skill sets that fit in as “part of the family”! This is certainly the case for STI. STI is literally

and figuratively a strong family business. David Raby, Jim’s son, has served as President since

1991, but both Jim and his wife Ellen continue working - not accepting the idea of retirement!

(Although they are getting ready to embark on a 28-day cruise to Australia!)

David Raby has led a strong team of employees since his command began. His employees all

range in at least five years tenure with the company (or much longer) and together they grew the

business reaching an impressive 32% annual sales growth in 2008! Positioning themselves for

continued success and growth, STI also recently launched their “Industrial Tools and Supplies

Division” at the end of 2008 and hired a full team of people to run that area. But the growth doesn’t

stop there.

The main reason we all flew in was to see their remarkable new facility. Meeting the people was a

huge bonus!

What does STI do in 54,000 square feet of space?

As we approached the building with all its unfinished landscaping I saw what appeared to be a large

one-story office building. But behind the decorative façade loomed 54,000 square feet of working

space. So what is STI able to do in 54,000 square feet of space that they couldn’t do in their smaller

facility? Invest in their future! The belief of “Build it and they will come” is a hope they stand by at

STI.

Their success in the past builds this confidence in their future and expanding their facility means

broadening the scope of production capabilities as well as services. STI has every reason to believe

they will reach the next level.

Jim Raby

But how do you shut down one facility and open another without shutting down your business? Ask

Diana Bradford, STI’s Vice President of Operations/Training Resources. Diana was the one

responsible to ensure that the move went smoothly. Today, they are fully functional in their new

expanded home and the only thing left to do now is to get the former facility rented out and present

us with a tour of the new one.

Not Running Scared, Running Smart!

Throughout our morning we were led through not one but three main divisions of STI that all work

together synergistically, sharing internal resources such as staff, products and services like

warehousing that allows STI a base stability through this internal support structure. Although all the

three divisions work well together internally, only approximately 5% of their customers use multiple

areas of the company regularly.

We were first introduced to Sissie Eckstein, a ten year veteran of STI that now manages STI’s

Distribution division.

STI’s Distribution Division
began as a result of procurement difficulties of
products required for use in low volume manufacturing. Today STI provides many local companies

(including their own) with more than 120 various supplies and consumable products that are usually

hard to purchase in smaller quantities. Throughout the upcoming year Sissie and her team will be

implementing a new e-commerce site to add to their list of customer services.

We then traveled down the hall to one of three new

training class rooms.

STI’s Training Division
is
what they are known for around the world more

than anything else. If you have ever required IPC

certification you are most likely familiar with STI

and may have even trained there every two years

for recertification, as so many people do. Pat Scott,

Director of Training Services oversees the functions

of the training classes. STI conducts training for

IPC approved certifications; in fact they even

helped write the curriculum for IPC! They also

conduct NASA level training programs and custom

classes based on company specific training needs.

They can conduct classes either at the STI facility

or travel to other companies using training kits;

Training Classroom

STI Electronics’ new facility located at 261 Palmer Road, Madison, AL

80% of their classes are offsite classes. While STI conducts many hands-on and lecture style

classes, the J-STD-001 and IPC-771/7721 Standards are their most popular of all.

As a Raby family member, David recalls always being treated more strictly than most employees.

Jim Raby required David to become certified, but as a rule Jim did not allow any of his family

members to pass the class on the first attempt. David earned the highest score in his first

certification class, but while others all passed, and true to Jim’s word, David did not pass the class.

Nor in his second class. Halfway through David’s third class Jim said to him “you’ve had enough of

all this” and pulled him out of class… David never did get his actual IPC certification.

Next on our route was the Main Lab, the first of

the

Engineering Services Division
areas we
saw. Once there, we met Marietta Lemieux,

Analytical Lab Manager who was extensively

knowledgeable about analysis and testing. The

Main Lab space, which now requires a lot more

walking than the typical chair-rolling method they

used in their smaller former labs, is equipped

with a plethora of analysis machines including

ion chromatography, infrared spectrometers, XRay

analysis, optical microscopy, and scanning

electron microscopy.

The SEMS (scanning electron microscopes)

room seemed to be their pride and joy, thrilled at

having this high magnification equipment

separate from the rest, and the room barely lit.

Other labs included the wet lab where chemical testing is conducted under a fume hood, and their

environmental testing room which houses a large thermal shock chamber.

After leaving the Lab area, we were then corralled through the warehouse and the training kit room

and into the manufacturing area. STI started out building prototypes and small volume assemblies

for aerospace and military customers. But this area of STI was the most affected with the new

expansion. Today, STI’s 24,000 square feet of ISO 9000 certified manufacturing space is able to

ramp up in all areas of manufacturing in both volume of orders and production capabilities. They now

supply PCB assemblies to commercial customers and can take on higher volume projects.

Wet Lab

Main Lab

Ion Chromatography testing in process

In addition to their standard manufacturing

space, STI also invested in not one but two

clean rooms! The first is 1,000 square feet

of class 1000, ISO Class 6. This room,

while certified as class 1000, operates at a

class 100. The second clean room is 700

square feet of Class 10,000.

So why invest so much during a slow

economic period?

Everyone wants to know the secret of

making it through tough economic times.

The key ingredient is not to disappear from

view. No matter how you do it, one must

stay visible to their customers and potential

customers and must be able to support

their needs even through struggling times.

STI has built this expanded new 54,000

square foot facility on the heels of a highly successful year.

STI’s reputation was not built in a day. It

took years of providing quality products

with service that supported it. About the

product, Mel Scott, Quality Manager,

reiterated the company belief of “When

you build it, if you design it right in the

beginning, the success rate is very good”.

Backing this statement by using

equipment only from manufacturers they

believe in, STI has established a success

rate they can be proud of. Today the new

facility boasts a brand new manufacturing

line including the Juki FX-3 high speed

placement machine, which allows them to

now place the infamous 01005

components, the Juki KE-2080 fine-pitch

mounter, PROMATION conveyors,

Yestech F1 AOI machines, and Heller

reflow ovens.

While much of the 24,000 square feet is still unfurnished, STI built their new facility with that same

belief on how they build their product; right the first time – with success to surely follow. There are

future plans to add a full turnkey production line and testers to fill the empty space… A very big

smile took over the face of Juki President, Bob Black, from the thought of selling three more lines to

STI!

At lunch we were able to spend a little more time with the staff and leaders of STI. This company and

its people are a confident bunch making all the right moves to prepare for their future growth. While

many companies are a bit nervous as we move further into 2009, STI is continuing with their original

plan with high hopes of another record year.

We ended our day with the presentation on Imbedded Component/Die Technology® (IC/DT®) I

mentioned earlier. As the lights were dimming in preparation, Jim Raby introduced us to Casey

Cooper and said to her “Make sure you give away all the secrets within the first 15 minutes”. And

she did! If you want in on the secret too, you can find out next week in the next issue of our Express.
http://www.smtnet.com/library/files/upload/STI_New_facility2.pdf

Date Posted:2/5/2009