Innovative program has local manufacturer thinking small
ARDEN – As a manufacturer of circuit boards, Dale Sutaria, president of SMG Global Circuits Inc., has seen the value of starting small with some customers who show potential for growing their business.
SMG Global, with 43 employees, makes circuit boards for a number of large, well-known names in various industries, including EQT, Westinghouse Nuclear and Texas Instruments.
But through a new “Scalable Innovation” program introduced recently by Pittsburgh-based Innovation Works, the Ben Franklin Technology partner in the Pittsburgh region, Sutaria is finding that small can be beautiful.
The company at 120 Stationvue Lane hosted representatives of Innovation Works for a tour of its 25,000-square-foot facility. He also introduced some leaders of area start-up companies that are customers and show the potential for growth that can benefit SMG Global, as well.
Founded in 1989 and operating in Chartiers Township since 1996, SMG manufactures “bare” circuit boards for companies that will later add the components that will drive their products.
“SMG, like so many manufacturers, faces stiff overseas competition,” Sutaria said just before a plant tour attended by state and county officials. “For years we’ve diversified our customer base to include large and medium-sized companies with products in a range of industries, and we’ve found ways to work successfully with start-ups.”
Afshan Khan, manager of Innovation Works’ manufacturing program, said the Scalable Innovation program is designed to expand business opportunities for both manufacturers and start-ups and help them overcome inherent challenges they encounter with scaling their businesses.
“The program helps regional manufacturers like SMG build supply chain partnerships with the start-up community,” said Khan, who is a former chief executive officer of a regional manufacturer.
“Through the program, manufacturers can find new customers and markets,” Khan said, explaining that as a start-up grows and becomes more successful, “they may become a bigger customer for the manufacturer.
“Likewise, start-ups benefit from the expertise of experienced manufacturers who can help overcome engineering, design and other technical challenges so the start-up can reach commercialization faster and more efficiently.”
One of the start-ups that is benefitting from working with SMG is Pittsburgh’s Maven Machines, which is installing the company’s circuit boards in its “smart” headsets that alert truck drivers of dangerous behaviors such as drowsy driving.
Khan and others at SMG said the company began by providing a few prototypes of circuit boards for Maven, but recently filled an order for 2,000 circuit boards for the company, a significant order for a start-up.
Avi Geller, founder and CEO of Maven, said a big attraction was the fact that SMG made prototypes, adding that he previously had worked with two other manufacturers, but with uneven results.
Geller noted that while he outsources the manufacture of the various components, his company assembles the headsets in its headquarters, producing an American-made product, a fact that his trucking company customers like.
“It’s a very patriotic industry,” he said.
Mike Formica, founder and president of Pittsburgh-based 3 Rivers 3-D, a start-up manufacturer of three-dimensional imaging systems, said using SMG circuit boards makes sense from a logistics standpoint.
Formica, who said that 85 percent of his components are domestically sourced, said it’s easier for him to communicate with manufacturers and suppliers who are nearby when he has questions about production or needs to make changes.
While SMG already is seeing the payoff of thinking small, Innovation Works CEO Rich Lunak said the flourishing start-up landscape in the Pittsburgh region could yield many more potential customers for area manufacturers.
“Southwestern Pennsylvania is one of the fastest growing start-up communities in the U.S.,” he said, noting that only San Francisco and San Jose, Calif., Boston, and Austin, Texas, have a more robust environment in that category.