WILLIAMSPORT, PA — Spartronics, a contract manufacturer of complex electronic and electromechanical devices for commercial aerospace, defense, medical devices, life sciences, instrumentation and control, and space applications, today announced the appointment of Jeffrey T. Schlarbaum as Chief Executive Officer, effective immediately.

“We are very excited to have Jeff join Spartronics as CEO,” said Todd Bradley, Executive Chairman of Spartronics. “Jeff has a well-established track record of leadership in the electromechanical and electronics sector, and he is the right leader for our company for its next phase of dynamic growth.”

Prior to joining Spartronics, Mr. Schlarbaum was President & CEO of electronic contract manufacturing services company IEC Electronics Corp (NASDAQ:IEC). During his tenure gross profit margins more than doubled and, over the course of six years, sales grew at a CAGR of 24 percent. In October 2021, Mr. Schlarbaum successfully led the sale of IEC to global electronics manufacturing service business Creation Technologies.

Previously, he served as Chief Operating Officer of privately-held laser & optics technology company Lasermax, where he was responsible for all facets of day-to-day operations. Earlier in his career, he held executive positions at electronic manufacturing service companies Plexus Corp. (NASDAQ:PLXS) and Micron Custom Manufacturing. Mr. Schlarbaum currently sits on the board of Lakeland Industries (NASDAQ:LAKE) as Chairman of the Audit Committee and holds a Bachelor of Business Administration, Magna Cum Laude from National University, San Diego, CA and a Master of Business Administration from Pepperdine University, Malibu, CA.

“I have long admired Spartronics for its innovation, quality and outstanding customer service and I am excited about the opportunity to help build upon that reputation,” said Mr. Schlarbaum. “There is growing need for business partners who bring both industry-specific expertise and flexibility, and I am confident that Spartronics has the talent and capabilities to seize this opportunity to drive growth.”

CLINTON, NY — Indium Corporation is pleased to announce that Khor Chee Wooi has been promoted to the role of Manufacturing Manager for the company’s two Malaysian-based facilities.

Wooi ensures production quality, efficiency, productivity, machine utilization, and on-time delivery for a positive customer experience. He is responsible for implementing the manufacturing processes and best practices used at production facilities across the world in the company’s two Malaysian-based facilities. Khor also establishes benchmarks for the facilities’ manufacturing operations and implements changes and improvements for better performance.

Wooi has more than 14 years of experience in the manufacturing industry. Prior to joining Indium Corporation as a Senior Engineer in 2020, he worked as a Manufacturing Engineering Section Manager at First Solar for 12 years. Wooi was a key contributor to getting Indium Corporation’s Malaysian facilities ready for operations.

Wooi holds a bachelor’s degree in mechanical and manufacturing engineering from Liverpool John Moores University.

WATERLOO, ONTARIO — DarwinAI, an innovative Industry 4.0 company that is transforming manufacturing by instilling trust in Artificial Intelligence (AI), today announced a $6M USD investment round led by BDC Capital’s Deep Tech Venture Fund with participation from new and existing investors. The investment extends the capital raised through previous investment rounds led by Honeywell Ventures, Obvious Ventures and Inovia Capital.

Located in Ontario, Canada, with organic connections to the University of Waterloo, the company is leveraging its foundational AI to transform the $75B global PCB industry.

DarwinAI’s initial focus is to disrupt the electronics manufacturing industry by improving the efficiency of Printed Circuit Board Assembly (PCBA) production through their ground-breaking technology. PCBs, which are ubiquitous and embedded in everything from microwaves to cameras, are notoriously difficult to visually inspect due different board sizes and complicated geometries. What’s more, qualified workers are hard to find and retain.

“DarwinAI’s ongoing mission and differentiated approach to disrupt manufacturing using AI speaks to the company’s ambition and technical prowess. We are proud that this great Canadian company, led by top tier AI technical and research team, has commercialized its technology in such a formidable manner, and are thrilled to lead this funding round” said Thomas Park, Lead Partner, Deep Tech Venture Fund at BDC Capital.

DarwinAI differentiates itself in numerous areas. First, there is the company’s foundational IP – the by-product of years of scholarship from its academic team – that enables robust, more accurate, and trustworthy performance as well as quicker time-to-market. Second, is the development of proprietary optics and custom hardware, which are key elements in bringing a full-fledged offering to the Enterprise. Third, is the company’s private and proprietary PCB dataset - one of the largest in the world - which DarwinAI has leveraged to accelerate delivery for its many clients.

As Sheldon Fernandez, DarwinAI’s CEO explains: “The global shortage of semiconductors and PCBs, exemplified by the recent CHIPS act, has given rise to circumstances that favor disruption. While we were not the first to take note of this fact, it occurred to us that no one was building a product that combined Artificial Intelligence, hardware, and software into a system that was easy to integrate into the electronics manufacturing process. This is what intrigued us: by making it straightforward to deploy inspection units and analyze data, clients can install them in novel locations and enable completely new capabilities such as returned product verification, process auditing and retrospective quality inspection.”

Visual inspection powered by Artificial Intelligence is a key driver of Industry 4.0 and the growing need for manufacturers to ‘digitize’ their production processes. By collecting and harnessing data at multiple inspection points, organizations can unearth inefficiencies, perform root cause analysis, and improve their supply chain in a holistic and systematic manner.

Digitization is a key part of DarwinAI’s roadmap and its VQI product. The new funding will enable the company to make the system more robust for mass market deployment and ramp up hardware production, as they anticipate serving more customers in 2023.

Fernandez added: “We are extremely excited by this capital injection led by BDC Capital and their commitment to deep tech in Canada. This funding enables us to continue building advanced features for our enterprise clients as they deploy our technology throughout their North American facilities. In addition to baseline quality improvements, the widespread adoption of our solution and the resulting digitization provides greater traceability and will serve as a launching point for broader Industry 4.0 efforts. The transformation is just beginning.”

CHANDLER, AZ — When it comes to ERP systems, C. E. Precision Assemblies, (CEPA) knew what they wanted. They wanted an ERP system that was going to give them accurate data and unparalleled implementation support. They wanted an ERP with depth of capability and flexibility proven to handle the unique requirements of the cable assembly industry. CEPA found what they were looking for with Cetec ERP!

C.E. Precision Assemblies, Inc. is a Woman-owned Small Business that got started in 1986. They manufacture custom RF cable assemblies and wire harnesses for Defense and Aerospace applications. CEPA had an ERP system for over 13 years, but it wasn’t fully functional. There were a lot of data problems, frequently incorrect reports, and an extremely limited support team.

With a growing company, CEPA was looking for something that would still support company expansion at a reasonable price range. CEPA liked that Cetec ERP was originally developed for the cable assembly/wire harness industry and could understand their specific needs. They also liked that Cetec ERP offered both onsite and cloud options.

“As an AS9100/IS9001 certified company, we have written processes and procedures for everything we do,” said Kathy Kennard, Contracts Administrator for CEPA. “Working with Cetec ERP has given us the opportunity to revisit and refine some of our processes. And it’s something that is ongoing.”

During implementation of the Cetec ERP software, a personal transition team from Cetec headquarters assisted in mapping CEPA’s data from the old system to Cetec ERP. CEPA employees found all of the how-to videos and reference material on the Cetec ERP support site invaluable implementation tools.

In January, CEPA had their first full week of “Go Live” with co-owner Brent Barton in person on-site. Kennard says that was incredibly helpful in contrast to their previous ERP system who sent CEPA a several 100-page manual and said, “figure it out!” Having someone on site who could actually look at data and convert it into Cetec ERP’s processing system made a big difference to the company’s transition.

CEPA says they still have some things that they’re working through to fully implement the system, but Kennard says overall they’ve been pleased with the amount of support they’ve received from Cetec ERP, both virtual and in person. CEPA appreciates the routine updates made to the system, including those updates made from customer suggestions. Kennard says she would absolutely recommend Cetec ERP to any type of manufacturing company.

“Everybody here feels that Cetec ERP was a very good choice for us. It’s not so much the processes because our processes are established. It’s the continuity and the data integrity. When we get a report, we know it’s going to be right.” -Kathy Kennard, Contracts Administrator of C.E. Precision Assemblies