ATLANTA – Beginning Oct. 13, Circuits Assembly seeks participants for its annual Service Excellence Awards (SEAs) for EMS providers and electronics assembly equipment, material and software suppliers.
 
Now in its 18th year, the SEAs honor companies in electronics manufacturing for excelling in the critical area of customer service, permitting participants to benchmark customer service against their peers.

“Service is often the critical distinction between companies of similar sizes and skill sets,” says Circuits Assembly editor in-chief Mike Buetow. “It’s what keeps customers coming back.”
 
Customers are surveyed to determine a participating company's level of customer satisfaction in various categories, including dependability/timely delivery; ease of use; manufacturing quality; responsiveness to requests and changes; technology, and value for the price. All customer responses and ratings are tabulated by a third party and provided in a confidential report to the participating company.
 
The SEAs recognize four categories of EMS providers based on revenues (under $20 million; $20 million to $100 million; $101 million to $500 million, and over $500 million), and the following categories of suppliers: automation and handling equipment; cleaning processing or materials; device programming equipment; dispensing; pick-and-place; repair and rework; screen printing; test and inspection; materials (solder paste); soldering equipment, and manufacturing or supply chain management software.
 
Circuits Assembly will honor winners during the Apex trade show on April 6, 2010. Proceeds from the program help fund the SMTA's Charles Hutchins Educational Grant.
 
For more information, visit http://www.circuitsassembly.com/cms/sea-award/3439-2009-service-excellence-awards. The deadline to enter is Nov. 24.