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InstruTech increases appeal to local and national market

by Kathy Hagood
Brevard Technical Journal

Left to right: Engineering Manager Mark Charlton, General Manager Chuck McCarthy and Sales Manager Gene Lemke keep InstruTech Florida on track. Photo by Mike Giannacco, © 2005.

InstruTech Florida LLC in Melbourne is the new kid on the block in the Space Coast's electronic circuit board contract manufacturing community.

The new operation has now joined the ranks of longer established area contract manufacturers, including MC Assembly in Melbourne.

A division of Longmont, Col.-based Instrutech Inc., InstruTech Florida is capable of manufacturing everything from prototype boards to production assemblies, said Gene Lemke, the sales manager for the new InstruTech division.

"The great thing is we can do it all," Lemke said. "We specialize in PCB and box build assembly."

The local division operates in 24,000 square feet of space in the industrial park area on North Drive in Melbourne. The area is the perfect locale as it harbors numerous electronics and communication companies, many of whom are potential customers, Lemke said.

InstruTech purchased contract manufacturing automated assembly equipment from Metretek Inc. Jan. 1 and acquired more than 20,000 square feet of manufacturing space from Metretek, which is no longer in the contract manufacturing business.

InstruTech now supplies Metretek with the circuit boards it needs, Lemke said. Metretek provides automated reading machine solutions and has provided applications for other types of collection, processing and management of remote field data.

"Metretek wanted to focus on its core competencies. That presented InstruTech with a great business opportunity because of the excellent equipment and facility location already here," Lemke said.

Jerry Howard, president of InstruTech, started the company in Colorado two years ago and continues to expand its capabilities. His background includes a long career in the electronics industry.

"He's a number of things over the course of his career, but contract manufacturing is his love," Lemke said. Longmont includes two InstruTech locations with 30,000 square feet of manufacturing space.

 

Technician Mary Moore assembles a circuit board at Instrutech Florida's Melbourne facility. Photo by Mike Giannacco, © 2005.

One of the Longmont facilities, InstruTech Manufacturing Group, focuses on contract manufacturing and the other, InstruTech Vacuum Instrumentation and Valve, on vacuum products.

"By opening this third facility we have greater capability than ever before," Lemke said. "We think we'll appeal to the local as well as the national market."

Lemke's sales strategy includes seeking out both commercial and Department of Defense contract manufacturing business from companies of varying size with a focus on mid-size contracts.

"Metretek focused on a few large commercial contracts but we want to be more diversified and go after government as well as commercial products," Lemke said. "We are very flexible and can accommodate consignment or turnkey services. No job is too large or small."

Current InstruTech Florida customers include Mercury Marine, Orthomatic and Northrup Grumman.

A Northrup Grumman auditor recently deemed the Florida operation's equipment top notch and highly advanced for the local area, Lemke said.

"That made us feel great about what we're offering to our customers and will give us a competitive edge," Lemke said. "I'm definitely including the auditor's comments in all my sales pitches."

With the miniaturization of electronic components and the development of better assembly technologies, much of the assembly process has been automated.

Currently InstruTech Florida's equipment includes, Emerald, Topaz-Xii and Manncorp surface mount equipment.

InstrucTech Florida employs 20 workers, a few of who previously worked for Metretek, but most of who are fresh hires. Instrutech plans to bring on additional workers as demand ramps up.

"We wanted to ensure the highest quality of manufacture so we assembled a core team to handle current production and increase sales," Lemke said. "We realize a company's product quality depends on its employees as well as its equipment."

InstruTech's products are thoroughly tested to provide better quality control, Lemke said.

"Quality is critical," Lemke said. "We want to continue to develop and stand by our reputation for quality production."

InstruTech Florida is ISO9001-2000 certified.

For more information on InstruTech and all its divisions, visit www.instrutechinc.com