EMS@C-LEVEL
As Forbes, Entrepreneur, Fast Company and SCOOP writer, Philip Stoten, continues to talk to EMS (Electronic Manufacturing Services) executives he learns more about their individual and collective experiences and their expectations for their own businesses and for the entire electronic manufacturing industry.
EMS@C-LEVEL
How Production-First Leadership Transforms Manufacturing Success at ALL Circuits Guadalajara
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When production becomes the North Star of manufacturing leadership, everything changes. Oscar, who has evolved from engineering manager to leader of engineering and production at ALL Circuits, reveals the shift in mindset that's transformed their Guadalajara facility. His refreshingly practical approach centers on making production results the focal point for every department—from quality to efficiency to personnel.
This conversation delves into one of manufacturing's most persistent challenges: talent management. Operating in Guadalajara's competitive EMS landscape requires innovative approaches to both recruiting and retention. Oscar shares his multi-pronged strategy: creating a genuinely welcoming work environment, providing meaningful challenges that keep team members engaged, investing in state-of-the-art equipment, and—most crucially—building internal talent pathways. Rather than merely competing for existing talent, ALL Circuits takes responsibility for developing its own workforce through dedicated training programs and mentorship structures designed to transform recent graduates into skilled manufacturing professionals.
Perhaps most exciting is the discussion of ALL Circuits' recent acquisition, which integrates them into a global manufacturing family with facilities across Asia. The merger creates a fascinating opportunity for cross-pollination between ALL Circuits' automotive, and automated, manufacturing expertise and their new partners' consumer electronics specialization. As Oscar wisely notes, "Every day is a school day"—a philosophy that perfectly captures the continuous learning mindset driving manufacturing excellence at ALL Circuits.
Filmed on location at ALL Circuits Guadalajara. Learn more at https://www.allcircuits.com/
EMS@C-Level is hosted by global inspection leaders Koh Young (https://www.kohyoung.com) and Global Electronics Association (https://www.electronics.org)
You can see video versions of all of the EMS@C-Level pods on our YouTube playlist.
Hello, I'm Philip Stoughton. I'm here at All Circuits and I'm joined by Oscar. Oscar, when we last talked here, you were in charge of engineering. Now you seem to be in charge of everything. Tell me how that role has changed.
Speaker 2So basically the focus to be 100% on the production is change everything. So even the way that we are driving the rest of the departments is everything is focused on the production results. Quality always focuses on the efficiency of the people, etc. So basically the way that I'm trying to achieve the goals is pretty different.
Production-Focused Strategy
Talent Retention Approach
Speaker 1Our focus is on the results of production. Yeah, and when you think about the resources of production, you've got four beautiful lines here. You're clearly growing, the lines are busy, but you also got a very talented team. How do you maintain that talent and how do you recruit more talent?
Speaker 2There's a lot of, there's a lot of EMS companies in Guadalajara, exactly so, to be honest, we try to keep a very good environment, friendly environment, the way to transmit the goals to the team. I want to make them to feel comfortable with the goal, with the challenges that we are facing. This is the first one. The second one is giving them some challenges to keep them always excited about the results, to gain something. Basically, those are the key points that we are following.
Training Initiatives and Talent Development
Speaker 1Yeah, and because you've got good equipment, they get to learn to use that equipment. And actually having state-of-the-art equipment makes a difference to operators. They want to be working on the latest machines, working with the latest technology exactly.
Speaker 2Well, we are trained to keep a. We have, we create an, a specific position, that is, our shift leaders. That is very focused, even at the same time on the training. Okay, so this shift leader or group leader additional to try to achieve goals. The idea is to keep on the training the people to keep everything in the same position, following the same rules, et cetera, et cetera.
Speaker 1Yeah, and I think when we talked before, you talked about talent issues and you said there's no point crying about talent, it's your responsibility. You've got to build your own talent pool. You've got to recruit people not just that are ready to be on the lines, but that you can train.
Speaker 2We continue to follow more or less the same strategy to have two or three persons that just finished school or something start to train them from zero with the way that GDL wants to keep on their mindset, results, etc. So we are keeping that strategy to always have new people training and trying to get the activity that we are doing here.
Speaker 1Yeah, and with the recent announcement about the acquisition, you're becoming part of a much bigger family, a family with manufacturing in India, Bangladesh, Vietnam, China. Are you excited to get their input and to kind of maybe share some best practices from your company's DNA with what they do?
Speaker 2We know that from every single company, we can gain some good knowledge. So that's a part of the idea. No, so they are following different market than we are doing right now. So the idea is to start to merge between their, their experience and our experience. We are more focused on automotive, as you know, yeah, so they are more focused on consumption, etc. But okay, I, I believe we can share good practices in both sides yeah, and you'll learn from each other.
Speaker 1They'll learn from you about the way you're very automated and the way you put lines together. You'll see what they're doing in very high production, low mix, so it's a good environment to be able to share knowledge.
Speaker 2Exactly that's the goal. At the end, we have to bring the good practices from another kind of market and we will share for sure the same for industry or for automotive projects.
Speaker 1Yeah, it's great to bring it all together. Well, Oscar, every day is a school day, so keep learning, keep teaching. It's really exciting and thanks for talking to me again. Thank you, Okay.