From Idea to Creation: URtech Is a Partner with an Eye to the Future

By Brianne Lane, Office Administrator

A North American provider of end-to-end electronic manufacturing services (EMS) to OEMs, URtech Manufacturing was founded from decades of EMS and OEM manufacturing experience. It is based on large company principles, within a smaller user-friendly footprint. “Our Americas manufacturing footprint and Asia supply network check all the boxes to competitively bring products to market,” said Greg Gehl, Founder & President. “We limit the global risks and supply chain challenges our customers face in today’s world.”

Since 2010, URtech has been providing a comprehensive suite of EMS services to leading OEM companies. Its services extend from product concept to commercialization, supporting the entire product lifecycle. The company prides itself on building trusting relationships with customers that bring value and reliability to every partnership. With more than 100 years of combined leadership and experience, the company provides an unparalleled ecosystem as well as a custom Asia supply network.

In order to be present for customers and to actively compete in today’s global marketplace, the company has state-of-the-art manufacturing sites located in Toronto, Canada, Fort Lauderdale, FL and Guadalajara, Mexico, with a global supply chain team located in Shenzhen, China, managing mechanicals as well as the printed circuit board (PCB) and custom component supplier community.

URtech manufactures and integrates electronics for a diverse range of end markets, with each industry having specific quality and traceability requirements. Gehl added, “At the core of URtech, we provide manufacturing processes and quality systems that support industry compliance with a strong foundation of high–quality, repeatable manufacturing and test.” The company’s certifications include ISO9001 andISO13485, and it is ITAR registered.

Over the past decade, the company has expanded and strengthened the services it provides to ensure it meets – and exceeds – all of its customers’ needs. URtech is efficient, cost-effective and present. Its reputation for quality and flexibility is known around the world. Well-rounded and comprehensive services include:

• NPI: The company can take a customer’s product ideation from concept to commercialization with its focused approach that leverages internal and external partners with the knowledge and experience to move a product idea from prototype to production.

• Manufacturing Services: Electronic manufacturing is at the heart of URtech. The company has mastered this with its proven record of guiding customers throughout the entire process to produce complete and complex hardware products. URtech provides end-to-end electronics manufacturing services that enable customers to compete in a global marketplace. “From prototype and volume manufacturing to end product order fulfillment, we provide services that enable customers to outsource as much of theirown operations as they want, so that they can focus on theirown core competencies,” Gehl said. Additional benefits include comprehensive suite of design and NPI services; extensive global supply chain network; complete PCB assembly and test; system integration, test and configure to order and test; end product fulfillment and logistics management; and warranty and repair services.

• Global Supply Chain Management: URtech provides turnkey solutions and its preference is to manage 100 percent of the supply network. The company’s supplier community is located both domestically and in Asia. Domestic suppliers are primarily the major franchised distributors to leverage bonded inventory and just-in-time (JIT) programs. PCB and mechanicals are available in Asia. This includes suppliers for plastics, metal fabrication, battery products, displays, cable/harness and PCBs. Asian suppliers are managed “in-country” and have local resources for ME/SQE, source inspection, factory auditing and logistics. Additionally, URtech uses online tools for BOM cleansing, market trend analysis and product lifecycle, along with automated PCN alerts. It alsooffers a full suite of logistics services that include management of FGI to a 3PL or direct to customer.

In order to be the strongest possible partner for its customers, the company provides programs and strategies that its competitors cannot. Two of these include URecosystem and URstart Labs.

URtech is ecosystem-driven because it knows that the successful future of manufacturing also is ecosystem-driven. Manufacturers must respond to the needs of highly demanding customers by building flexible “ecosystems” that leverage strategic partners and digital technologies to build a cohesive network of services, talent and ideas. Through manufacturing ecosystems, contractors and partners can play a greater role in innovation, product development cycles, production and distribution. This improves efficiencies while optimizing product and service levels from start to finish.

Mike Wallace, Vice President Business Development & Customer Programs, added, “We believe there is strength in numbers and in our mutual networks. We created URecosystem to bring together a select group of high competency partners who are industry experts in what they do and complement our core EMS services.” The company’s ecosystem provides customers with expertise in numerous areas, including product design mentorship, industrial design, mechanical design, PCB schematic/design & layout, embedded engineering, software engineering, interoperability testing, performance testing, agency certification testing and accelerated lifecycle testing.

In addition to being ecosystem-driven, URtech is startup-friendly. The company has refined a program that removes the unknown from the equation of successfully launching new products. Traditional accelerators and incubators are a great way for startups to get known and be mentored for pitches, fundraising, marketing and business plans. But knowing how to actually go from product ideation to market is difficult. This is where URstart Labs and URtech Manufacturing come into play. URstart Labs enables North American hardware startups a platform to launch their products. Startups well down the path of initial investment, product design and market validation – 12 to 18 months out from mass production – have the opportunity to live in-house and leverage a real design to manufacturing environment, a place where product realization happens. “We certainly love startups and having the opportunity to give back to the hardware community,” said Wallace. The company founded URstart Labs five years ago and today it is housing, nurturing and manufacturing for a diverse group of startup companies.

To find out more URtech Manufacturing Inc., contact MikeWallace at 835 Harrington Court Burlington, ON, Canada; 905-667-2310; E–mail: sales@urtechmfg.com; Web site: www.urtechmfg.com.