“For Mitatronics, its employees, vendors and channel partners are one team

From a small prototype setup, Mitatronics has grown over the years to become a trusted EMS vendor to companies in the private sector. The company has built a strong and sustainable support system comprising in-house expertise and channel partners to help its clients avail turnkey manufacturing solutions under one roof

By Shweta Sengar

Monday, November 24, 2014: After completing his M Sc degree in industrial engineering with a specialisation in electronics packaging followed by a four-year stint at the global research arm of General Electric and Nortel Networks, Amit Shah started Mitatronics in 2006. Mitatronics was conceived with the vision of providing design consulting and manufacturing services to the growing electronics industry. The company is located in Navi Mumbai. It started as a very small setup with a seed capital of approximately Rs 5 million and has grown to a turnover of Rs 100-120 million in 2013-14. The company was primarily engaged in supporting prototype manufacturing and reverse engineering projects. Today, after seven years, it has grown to become a preferred EMS vendor for OEM clients. Some of the services that Mitatronics offers are manufacturing for medium volume high mix electronics assemblies, NPI, prototyping and rework services, embedded software development, VLSI and PCB design layout, CAD design services, thermal and electrical design of electronics systems, sourcing of components, PCBs and other ancillaries for system build. Amit Shah believes that “…the company’s uniqueness lies in managing multiple private sector companies from varied industrial segments with great agility and efficiency. The company faced all the challenges to grow into one of the most preferred companies for EMS. Also, Mitatronics won the trust of its clients and continues to offer the best of services to them.”

Overcoming challenges

Setting up a manufacturing unit in the industrial belts of the country comes with its own set of challenges with regard to power, labour and government approvals. Amit Shah says, “Our strategy for Mitatronics has always been to create a wider platform of service offerings and grow the organisation organically.”

The initial years were difficult for the company. “It was an even more difficult and daunting task to widen the portfolio of services and bag the first orders under each category. Forming a strong and trusted manufacturing team with an appreciation for the underlying principles of Mitatronics took a significant amount of patience,” informs Amit Shah. Outlining the organisational structure, Shah says that the growth of the organisation that began with individuals multitasking, to well defined departments with teams and specified roles, was a slow process. Amit Shah maintains that after dealing with a set of initial issues, the company’s next target was to develop a responsive and quality oriented vendor base. With the growth of the organisation and improved order books, the supply chain aligned with the company.

Strengths and weaknesses

From a small prototype setup, Mitatronics now is a trusted EMS vendor to companies in the private sector. The company has built a strong and sustainable support system comprising in-house expertise and channel partners to help its clients avail turnkey manufacturing solutions under one roof. The core strength of the company lies in its young team that has grown over the years, along with the organisation. The employees have an undying spirit to ensure 100 per cent customer satisfaction and take Mitatronics to greater heights at very possible opportunity. “We have expanded our manufacturing infrastructure to include two automated SMT lines with all the peripheral machinery to enable automated manufacturing. Our in-house quality management system is focused on contract manufacturing to allow our clients access to the complete production history and raw material traceability,” says Amit Shah. The company specialises in managing multiple clients from various industrial segments with great agility.

Indian manufacturing requirements are typically of the high mix mid volume bracket. Mitatronics’ team focuses on catering to both Indian and international private companies whose requirements fall in the above category. The company’s long term goal is to create in-house business centric teams to provide customised and expert services to clients under various industry verticals. Amit Shah feels that the company has considerable work to do in this sphere—to grow the teams and client base as well as create a knowledge sharing platform for the benefit of its clients.

Business strategy

“The EMS industry is highly competitive. A few weeks of resources lying idle can have a significant impact on the profits of the organisation,” asserts Amit Shah. Hence, to avoid such situations, the company has always focused on maintaining a diverse clientèle from various industry verticals. Mitatronics’ infrastructure comprises machines that can work with the least amount of downtime, and the teams are flexible enough to handle production volumes ranging from a single unit to batches of thousands. “We are happy to work on prototype requirements using the latest packaging solutions and to challenge our technical capabilities. We grab every opportunity to embrace automation wherever feasible and economical,” says Amit Shah.

Elaborating on the business strategies at Mitatronics, Amit Shah says, “Within the company, we have coined the term ‘QEC’, where ‘Q’ represents quality manufacturing, ‘E’ represents efficient services and ‘C’ represents confidentiality of intellectual property. Mitatronics keeps a track of its client’s future business projections and aspirations in order to try and ensure that its activities are geared up to manage their requirements, when needed.

Operating principles

The company believes in following a set of principles to deliver the best of services to its clients. “Our operating principles are defined by our experiences in the industry and therefore guided by motivation, optimum utilisation of resources and being ready with a contingency plan,” maintains Amit Shah. For Mitatronics, its employees, vendors and channel partners are one team. There is maximum thrust on valuable information exchange, respect amongst team members and the concept of the ‘internal customer’. To nurture team spirit, the management keeps its employees on the same page and motivates them to create a great sense of ownership towards the organisation.

The teams’ focus is on maximum flexibility. The company understands that the bottlenecks in a production environment are omnipresent; hence, the teams are trained to change roles when required to eliminate these bottlenecks and keep all departments engaged. Mitatronics is always keen on learning the best practices in the industry and incorporating these in their daily work. “We always focus on increased utilisation to resources ratio and the value we add to them,” says Amit Shah. Mitatronics understands that it is an important part of the big wheel driving the industry.

Expansion plans

Mitatronics aspires to grow into a lean organisation with clients from various industry verticals, where in-house business units cater to the needs of each vertical. On the growth front, the company intends to broaden its platform of services in the field of the destructive/non-destructive prediction of the life of electronics. Mitatronics believes in a healthy and sustainable expansion strategy, advancing with the team of employees and supply chain partners. The company believes in retaining its loyal clients and winning the trust of new clients.

Electronics Bazaar, South Asia’s No.1 Electronics B2B magazine