Circuits Assembly Online Magazine

Resources for the most overworked personnel in EMS: program managers.

Within the EMS industry, program management is arguably the most overworked function. Reasons include:

The low overhead focus of the EMS business tends to create significant workload for all employees;
Most PMs carry the duel load of maintaining customer satisfaction and program profitability;
The most common EMS business model sets the PM as the central point of contact between an internal team and the customer’s team;
Many PMs learn their skills on-the-job;
Most EMS providers have a difficult time recruiting and retaining PMs because it is a demanding position and there is not a large pool of experienced and trained candidates actively seeking employment.

Some PMs pinpoint specific challenges to the function. “EMS providers are becoming an extension of their customers’ new product introduction process and program managers represent the primary interface,” says Jan Nikolai, senior program manager at SMS Technologies Inc. (smstech.com). “As customer expectations grow in sophistication, so must program manager skills.”

“I don’t believe the industry fully recognizes the potential of the position,” says Sid Jaeger, account manager at EMS provider Micro Dynamics Corp. (microdynamics.com). Jaeger adds that he has been surprised to find that many EMS business models relegated program management to a tactical expediting rather than a more strategic customer management role.

SMS Technologies president Bob Blumberg has a different perspective. In his view, the dividing line between the PM as a tactical resource vs. a strategic resource should be account size. “When a project is large enough to require dedicated lines, the program manager as a strategic business manager makes sense. But facilities focused on high mix, moderate volume projects may not be well served by broadening the program management role from tactical to strategic, since all projects are sharing resources.”

Dan Rukavina, director of account management at Micro Dynamics, feels the dual role of customer advocate and business manager could be a challenge. “There is often a fine line between customer advocacy and profitability/growth goals. The better program managers can become at negotiating, the better they can do.”

Ali Khan, global program manager at Celestica’s (celestica.com) Arden Hills, MN, facility, says the matrix organizational model also added challenges to PM’s role. “In most EMS companies, program managers need to direct teams whose members report to other departments. They have responsibility for program success but no direct authority over individual team members. It requires good negotiating skills and the ability to sell ideas.”

Blumberg also cites the training challenge, pointing to the lack of a university degree program that adequately addressed all the skills needed in EMS program management.

One resource addressing the training challenge is the IPC EMS Program Management Certification program. Introduced in 2002, the program was developed with the support and guidance of a large number of EMS providers.

“The challenge EMS providers wanted addressed was the fact that most program managers learned their function on-the-job. Many program managers grew out of the engineering or production ranks or had a business background, but few had extensive formal training in both the business and technical sides of program management. The goal of the program was to provide a formal package of training that addressed all key skills required in program management both in terms of EMS-specific custom training and more generic skills training,” says Anthony Hilvers, vice president of industry programs at IPC.

The training has four components:

Introduction to the EMS Industry and Program Management, a 1-1/2 day offsite training class that covers basic elements of program management, account acquisition and program launch, account cultivation and expectation setting, basic manufacturing process overview and industry best practices.
EMS Training I, a self-paced Web-based segment that provides basic courses on team leadership, program management tools, decision making, project cost and quality management, project risk and procurement management, financial statements and analysis, budgeting, relationship-management, supply-chain management and commercial contracts.
EMS Training II, a two-day offsite training class that covers operations management, EMS-specific financial issues and EMS-specific contract issues.
EMS Leadership Training, a two-day offsite training program codeveloped by IPC and Pennsylvania State University that includes: future leadership challenges, effective communication practices, conflict resolution and dealing with difficult people.

The program includes a detailed exam. Candidates start the process by submitting an application that lists formal education and EMS-specific experience. Program managers meeting the application experience requirements, taking the training and passing the certification exam are certified for four years and may continue to recertify by documenting continuing EMS-industry experience and education. Those who meet experience requirements may take the exam without participating in the training. If they pass, they receive a provisional certification.

About 40 EMS PMs have now been certified, with several training sessions offered in the U.S. each year. The pass rate on the certification exam is approximately 80%.

Interestingly, many PMs do not cite the formal training as the only valuable experience from the program.

“One of the most valuable aspects was listening to other program managers describe how they handled situations I was also experiencing,” says April Painter, an account manager at Micro Dynamics. Her comments were echoed by both Jaeger and Nikolai, who attended other sessions and saw the same benefit. Jaeger passed the certification exam in 2004. Painter and Nikolai are currently in the training program.

Jaeger saw benefits in formalized legal training. “Contract law was not part of my college curriculum and the general and EMS-specific training in that area was helpful,” he says. He added the organization of the online training, which allows students to go back and review material over time, was helpful given the multitasking environment that most PMs deal with daily.

“As someone with an engineering background, I found the EMS-specific financial and business training valuable. I think it helps place more emphasis on looking at the account as a business vs. simply from an operational capability perspective,” adds Khan, who passed the certification exam in 2005.

No PM interviewed made radical changes to internal processes as a result of participation in the program. But Painter and Nikolai indicated that they immediately shared key points of what they learned from each offsite training session with their PM staffs immediately after returning.

Khan even used his course material to develop focused training in customer interface procedures for members of his internal Customer Focus Team.“A lot of the material wasn’t new to me, it simply reinforced best practice knowledge. Having this package of concepts logically arranged helped me identify areas that I also wanted to reinforce with my team,” he added.

Students said that classes helped them identify areas of focus for personal improvement. Jaeger has worked on improving delegation skills. Nikolai says she has become more cognizant of how she deals with people and is more focused on providing detailed written and verbal communication with her team and the customer.

Rukavina, who manages Micro Dynamics’ PM function, has seen differences in Jaeger’s account management style following certification. “I have noticed that he is working more strategically with the customer than before. He’s delegating more of the tactical issues within his customer team and spending more time understanding, anticipating and solving customer issues. For example, on a new, higher volume assembly Sid realized he wasn’t getting enough forecast coverage from the customer. He communicated this to the customer and got involved with the customer’s marketing department to develop a master schedule for the product based on marketing input. He’s much more involved with the customer at multiple levels and does a great job articulating customer needs to us.”

While industry-developed training does not solve all of the challenges faced by PMs, it is a tool for PMs and EMS management teams to consider in addressing the challenge of creating an adequate pool of well-rounded, formally trained PMs. It also represents an industry-driven initiative to address a challenge most EMS providers face. Finally, it can also represent a resource which individual PMs can expand in motivating teams and developing more robust business practices, validating another truth that most EMS industry insiders understand: people will always be the EMS provider’s greatest source of competitive advantage.

Susan Mucha is president of Powell-Mucha Consulting Inc. (powell-muchaconsulting.com), a consulting firm focused on optimizing EMS account acquisition processes, and the developer of numerous EMS training programs; smucha@powell-muchaconsulting.com.