Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/535707
14 SMT Magazine • July 2015 meet with a couple of their EMSs. Our conversa- tion led to the supply chain and the challenges that I had learned about in our recent survey. With 14 hours left to Shanghai, I asked Les if he might be interested in doing an audio interview, which we completed on the plane. I quickly re- alized from our discussion that EchoStar isn't your typical OEM. They take supply chain man- agement to a whole new level. Without hesita- tion, Andy invited me to come visit their EMS partner in Shanghai, DD & TT Electronic En- terprise (DD&TT), to take a look at what they are doing. He assured me that I would be very impressed as DD&TT was the first and, at that point, only EMS supplier to receive the coveted EchoStar Diamond award. I knew my search for finding the right OEM for this article had been realized—all because of my seating arrangement on a flight to Shanghai. It was Monday morning when our China Edi- tor Edy Yu and I arrived at the DD&TT factory, a 37,500 square meter manufacturing facility. We were warmly greeted at the door and led to a conference room where the EchoStar team and a handful of the DD&TT team members had already assembled. After some introductions we were suit- ed up with VIP passes and off to the factory floor we went. Our tour started with Alan Hoo, director of programs; Thomson Lai, plant manager; and Michael Shudinis, president of Tiger Technology USA and sales representative and consultant for DD&TT, who showed us the different processes of a factory that builds and assembles, from start to finish, set-top boxes for Dish Network. As far as processes go, the flow was well laid out, each work- station was well equipped and the operators had all of the materials, tools and information needed to accomplish each task. DD&TT has a whole floor dedicated to EchoStar, who monitors everything alongside the production line so they know what's going on and can make immediate improvements. One example of this was with a new functional tes - ter being brought online the day we visited. This is where I found Micah Moore, senior manager of test R&D and test engineering (global operations) for EchoStar, examining a tester for a WiFi mod- ule, and where I began to truly realize how deep- ly engrained EchoStar is in the processes of their supplier. Here is my interview with Micah: Barry Matties: micah, could you explain what's going on here? Are we looking at a new test pro- cess? Micah Moore: Actually, I've had this tester for just under a year but never got a chance to re- ally validate it. I've just looked at it in person ECHOSTAR: THE FuTuRE OF SuPPly CHAIN MANAGEMENT DONE RIGHT continues FeAture electronics manufacturing bldg.1 and campus headquarters. Micah Moore, senior manager of test r&D and test engineering (global operations).