Professional Electronic Manufacturing (PEM) was founded as a contract electronics manufacturer in 1990, and has since established itself as one of the biggest players in the South African industry.
The company was formed by managing director Steve Eglinton after the disbandment of Martech’s (Murray & Roberts’ high-tech division) interests in the local electronics industry. Eglinton, having learnt his trade with Marconi in the UK, and having subsequently expanded his horizons in a commercial role in the Middle East and then South Africa, was ideally suited to the task of forging a new path for what had previously been a division manufacturing products for Martech’s own internal hardware requirements, but which now had to make its own way as a dedicated third-party electronics manufacturer.
PEM took its production capabilities to a new level in 1999, when it purchased its factory and office premises in Alrode, Gauteng. This not only enabled the company to tailor its facilities to best meet the demands of the high tech industry it supplies, but provided it with headroom for future growth. All this adds up to a total working area of 2855 square metres, 288 square metres of which is dedicated to SMT manufacturing.
In 2003, PEM took a major step to ensure that its capabilities were in line with global standards, and ahead of much of the local competition, by initiating investment in a new SMT plant which now has a total replacement value in excess of R18 million. Leveraging its expertise and first-hand involvement with some of the world leaders in SMT production equipment, has given the company the capability to assemble products meeting any level of technology in use worldwide today. All of this has helped PEM achieve its current SMT capability which is in excess of 20 million placements per month, including regular production with some of the smallest components currently available in the world.
The interaction with many overseas equipment supply companies has added to the uniqueness of the company by bringing world-class technology to the local industry, and provides PEM and its many customers with a depth of technical expertise and experience in manufacturing technology.
PEM prides itself on fostering the technical capabilities of the local manufacturing industry at the root level – education. The company has interaction with many universities including Vaal University of Technology, KZN University of Technology and in particular Tshwane University of Technology, where it not only facilitated the installation of the institution’s SMT production line, but is continually involved in the specification and development of the B.Tech syllabus.
PEM’s service offering runs the electronic manufacturing gambit, from PCB and component procurement, kit verification and inspection, through PCB population using through-hole and surface-mount technologies, board testing at the component level, to system integration, final testing and serialisation. This offering is backed up by ISO certification according to QMS ISO 9001:2000, which was first achieved in 2003, and audited by the South African affiliate of the German company Dekra.
The company currently employs close to 200 personnel whom it nurtures with various in-house training programmes, including manufacturing equipment and technology from as far afield as Japan and Korea, as well as many European service providers.
PEM has manufactured numerous leading high-tech products for the South African market during its 19-year existence. Today, its customer base largely reflects a cross-section of the local electronics market, with much emphasis on security, metering and wireless related products. These include electricity prepaid meters, voter registration terminals used by the IEC, active and passive RFID tagging modules, satellite decoder boards, automotive immobiliser and tracking systems, and control circuit electronics for defence applications.
At the forefront of technological worldwide advancement is where Eglinton sees the future of PEM. His philosophy is to bring world-class manufacturing capability to the local market to support the vast wealth of local product development to reach its final market place, be it local or overseas.
According to Eglinton, “We are here to offer a service to all the product developers in South Africa and to give them the confidence to place their products on the world market with pride. Having travelled to many parts of the world, I have a good understanding of what is and is not achievable. The great threat from the East should not be the focus of our concerns, rather investment in understanding manufacturing technology is the key to success and the real road ahead.”
With this in mind, Eglinton says the best way of serving the local market is to maintain investment in people skills, manufacturing equipment and technology. The company believes its success is fronted by its ability to service its customers, to fulfil their expectations and to deliver reliable products, at the right quality standard, especially as so much of PEM’s output is destined for the world market. As the company heads towards its 20th birthday next year, it remains excited about what lies ahead and the challenges to be faced.
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