Electronics Weekly puts its questions to an industry figure: Damon de Laszlo is chairman of Portsmouth-based connector manufacturer Harwin.

Describe Harwin's Business Model

Harwin as a small medium size (SME) business, is firstly interested in staying in business and the model revolves around constant investment in the future. This to some extent sacrifices the customary drive for ROI in the short term. As well as keeping plant and machinery up to date with the newest technology we run a large apprentice scheme that ensures we have the skills to work in a modern hi-tech factory environment.

The model's focus on training for the future dovetails with a policy of replacing equipment on a five-year cycle as the rate of change in technologically advanced machines and machine tools is today very fast. The improved productivity of modern machines enables the company to grow its turnover without increasing the number of people or the floor space. As I have said the policy does, however, sacrifice short-term returns.

Is it still economically competitive to manufacture product in the UK?

With the above model, the constant improvement in productivity makes it possible to compete from a UK base. The headwinds that we experience mostly come from areas outside our control. Deteriorating infrastructure, i.e., the difficulty of moving goods around the UK, the costs imposed on business by statutory authorities and the growing complexity of the regulatory environment are, however, major problems.

How can UK based companies be competitive in global markets?

In today's hi-tech market a company needs to be technically close to its customer, geography is not so important. In the world market the requirement in many areas is for high flexibility and the ability to produce product variants rather than high volume.

The application of I P (intelligent Production) systems enables Harwin to make low volumes at reasonable prices that fit exactly the customer's needs and can compete with a mass produced product that isn't a perfect fit. Harwin uses engineers in discussions with customers to understand their requirements also design products accordingly.

Internally the product design team works closely with tool design and production engineers to reduce the time to market and production costs, to meet customer specific requirements.

Which Technologies most excite you?

Following on from the above, it is the integration of technologies that as a management team we find most exciting. The integration of pro-engineer 3D CAD programmes and 3D programmes that can be ported to sophisticated engineering equipment enormously increases tool making speeds while reducing costs in the production environment.

The same integration goes for turning with set uptimes on today's modern manufacturing machinery reduced to a minimum. We also use the same equipment to build auto assembly machines, reducing direct labour to a minimum. It is interesting to note when students visit the factory, they become totally fascinated by the level of computerisation and the vertical integration of the design and manufacturing processes.

What will be the next big innovation in connector design?

Harwin has designed and is starting to market the Trio-Tek range of connectors that are specifically designed to meet customer need for a high reliability connector with the minimum installed cost. The innovative triangular section is proving in test to have the best high reliability properties over other designs, while being capable of automatic assembly using standard equipment, thus meeting an urgent need of manufacturers further up the food chain to reduce their installed cost to a minimum. Removing the need to manufacture in cheap labour areas.

In general, I believe manufacturing will move back from Asia, as it is no longer obviously of great advantage just to have low cost labour. The bean counters do not always understand the complexity of manufacturing and the constant minor innovation that goes on, which is difficult to communicate over long distances with the language barriers that are inherent. We are also facing a world where transport costs are rising very fast and the gyrations in currencies add to the uncertainty that real cost savings can be sustained.

See also: Q5 - Interviews with electronics industry leaders
Read all the Electronics Weekly Q5 interviews. From ARM's chairman, Sir Robin Saxby, to touchscreen technology firm Zytronic's MD, Mark Cambridge, the business leaders share their particular insights on the UK electronics industry.