Creativity Fuels Increase in Sales For IMET
Tom Krol, President, IMET Corporation
Tom Krol, President of IMET Corporation in their 15,000 sq. ft. headquarters in Southampton PA.
Not many chief executives can claim their company's sales have quadrupled over the past four years. One of the select few that can is Tom Krol, President of IMET Corporation, a multi-faceted electronics design and production firm in Southampton, PA.
What makes the 12-year-old company's sizeable increase all the more remarkable is that it occurred during the depths of the current recession. While numerous businesses struggled to stay alive in 2008, IMET expanded, more than tripling its staff. Mr. Krol's confidence in America's and his own company's future, IMET recently purchased a 15,000 sq. ft. building in suburban Philadelphia. They expect to have it filled to capacity within three years after moving in last March.
Fueling that positive outlook is the wide range of a la carte outsourcing services IMET provides for its growing roster of OEM clients. Starting with product conceptualization by their industrial designer, the mechanical and electrical engineering team then advances the product to prototyping and preproduction stages. With automated printed circuit board assembly and manufacturing available, the company can be a total or partial contract resource from design to full production of the end product.
"All of these much-needed services are propelling our growth," said Mr. Krol, "because American companies are now coming back home, disillusioned after negative experiences with outsourcing in China. But many of those OEMs refuse to get involved with in-house assembly. Instead they have IMET as their single-source provider while they concentrate on marketing and sales."
Mr. Krol regards IMET as an "incubator" for new products by established companies as well as those from future entrepreneurs. Many of the latter seek government grants that fund new products with possible sociological benefits that could also contribute to economic recovery. One successful example is "StreetLight™ — a cane with a powerful built-in LED bulb that lights the way for visually impaired pedestrians and seniors who have a tendency to fall.
Products that owe their birthright to IMET include complex medical and automotive devices as well as electronic toys and games. One of the most promising creations in the latter category is a groundbreaking new pinball machine based on the iconic 1930's movie, "Wizard of Oz™". IMET is assembling the complex circuitry for this action-packed game which features custom animation, music and actual clips from the original film. The manufacturer, Jersey Jack Pinball, Inc., Lakewood, NJ, reports that the initial run of 1,000 machines has already been presold.
Another notable example is "me-ality" — a body scanner that "sizes up" anyone for correctly fitting clothing. Installed in upscale shopping mall kiosks, this device also names and locates all the stores in the mall that stock the sizes specified.
Mr. Krol credits much of IMET's success to his company's ability to migrate from design to contract manufacturing made possible by an employee team with diverse skills and an affiliation with vendors that deliver what they promise. "This has been especially true with equipment we've purchased from Manncorp, particularly their MC-391 pick and place machine, which was our first major capital outlay back in 2008. On it rode the destiny of our company. Not only did the placer perform as advertised, it still is doing its job shift-after-shift, day in day out. As a result, we expect to add a second high-speed line with AP-2500 automatic stencil printer, the 4-head MC-388 pick and place with 10,500 cph throughput and a CR-8000 lead-free reflow oven. Of course, there was never the slightest doubt that these could only be Manncorp machines," he added.
With sales and support offices in three locations: East (Willow Grove, PA), West (San Diego, CA) and Mexico, Manncorp offers SMT stencil printer, pick and place machine, reflow oven, Turnkey SMT assembly line, vapor phase soldering oven, PCB and stencil cleaning machines, BGA rework station, automated optical inspection (AOI) machine, wave soldering machine, dip soldering machine, selective soldering and fluxing machines, component lead forming machine, PCB conveyor, component counter, PCB depaneling machine, dry box for electronics and more SMT equipment. Accessing www.manncorp.com/smt is an informational experience. Not only are full details and specifications provided for the 150+ products, but prices are also attainable immediately after minimal contact information is provided.
Tom Krol, President of IMET Corporation in their 15,000 sq. ft. headquarters in Southampton PA.
What makes the 12-year-old company's sizeable increase all the more remarkable is that it occurred during the depths of the current recession. While numerous businesses struggled to stay alive in 2008, IMET expanded, more than tripling its staff. Mr. Krol's confidence in America's and his own company's future, IMET recently purchased a 15,000 sq. ft. building in suburban Philadelphia. They expect to have it filled to capacity within three years after moving in last March.
Fueling that positive outlook is the wide range of a la carte outsourcing services IMET provides for its growing roster of OEM clients. Starting with product conceptualization by their industrial designer, the mechanical and electrical engineering team then advances the product to prototyping and preproduction stages. With automated printed circuit board assembly and manufacturing available, the company can be a total or partial contract resource from design to full production of the end product.
"All of these much-needed services are propelling our growth," said Mr. Krol, "because American companies are now coming back home, disillusioned after negative experiences with outsourcing in China. But many of those OEMs refuse to get involved with in-house assembly. Instead they have IMET as their single-source provider while they concentrate on marketing and sales."
Mr. Krol regards IMET as an "incubator" for new products by established companies as well as those from future entrepreneurs. Many of the latter seek government grants that fund new products with possible sociological benefits that could also contribute to economic recovery. One successful example is "StreetLight™ — a cane with a powerful built-in LED bulb that lights the way for visually impaired pedestrians and seniors who have a tendency to fall.
Products that owe their birthright to IMET include complex medical and automotive devices as well as electronic toys and games. One of the most promising creations in the latter category is a groundbreaking new pinball machine based on the iconic 1930's movie, "Wizard of Oz™". IMET is assembling the complex circuitry for this action-packed game which features custom animation, music and actual clips from the original film. The manufacturer, Jersey Jack Pinball, Inc., Lakewood, NJ, reports that the initial run of 1,000 machines has already been presold.
Another notable example is "me-ality" — a body scanner that "sizes up" anyone for correctly fitting clothing. Installed in upscale shopping mall kiosks, this device also names and locates all the stores in the mall that stock the sizes specified.
Mr. Krol credits much of IMET's success to his company's ability to migrate from design to contract manufacturing made possible by an employee team with diverse skills and an affiliation with vendors that deliver what they promise. "This has been especially true with equipment we've purchased from Manncorp, particularly their MC-391 pick and place machine, which was our first major capital outlay back in 2008. On it rode the destiny of our company. Not only did the placer perform as advertised, it still is doing its job shift-after-shift, day in day out. As a result, we expect to add a second high-speed line with AP-2500 automatic stencil printer, the 4-head MC-388 pick and place with 10,500 cph throughput and a CR-8000 lead-free reflow oven. Of course, there was never the slightest doubt that these could only be Manncorp machines," he added.
With sales and support offices in three locations: East (Willow Grove, PA), West (San Diego, CA) and Mexico, Manncorp offers SMT stencil printer, pick and place machine, reflow oven, Turnkey SMT assembly line, vapor phase soldering oven, PCB and stencil cleaning machines, BGA rework station, automated optical inspection (AOI) machine, wave soldering machine, dip soldering machine, selective soldering and fluxing machines, component lead forming machine, PCB conveyor, component counter, PCB depaneling machine, dry box for electronics and more SMT equipment. Accessing www.manncorp.com/smt is an informational experience. Not only are full details and specifications provided for the 150+ products, but prices are also attainable immediately after minimal contact information is provided.