When talking about Vexos, one phrase inevitably comes to mind: Technology leader in EMS. With innovative custom materials and manufacturing capabilities, Vexos serves customers around the world from its manufacturing facilities in the USA, Canada, Vietnam, and China. It is, therefore, no surprise that the company is exceeding even its own expectations with a swift growth trajectory.
Vexos came into existence after a merger between Staci Corporation out of LaGrange, Ohio and EPM Global Services from Markham, Ontario in 2014. Innovative business practices and state-of-the-art global facilities have made Vexos a leader in the delivery of electronics manufacturing services (EMS). Vexos’ global manufacturing footprint of approximately 300,000 square feet extends across North America (with facilities in Markham, Ontario and LaGrange, Ohio) and Asia (with facilities in Dongguan, China and Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam), enabling them to reach and serve its large customer base around the world. Vexos has a range of advanced capabilities which is supported by its cutting-edge manufacturing facilities network.
“One of the benefits of Vexos is that we can offer value out of any of our four facilities based on what clients’ business objectives are,” says Brad Koury, Senior Vice President and General Manager, Vexos Ohio.
Vexos is the go-to solutions provider for original equipment manufacturers in the automotive, medical, internet of things (IoT), industrial, communications, aviation defense, and space industries across North America, Asia, and Europe. Vexos prides itself on providing a personal touch in EMS services with a culture that emphasizes customer-centricity, responsiveness, flexibility, executive engagement that understands the needs of customers, and effective communications across all levels of the organization. This level of customer focus combined with unique offerings in custom commodity support, global footprint, leading-edge value engineering (DFX) services, global supply chain management, and support forms a cohesive offering that sets Vexos apart. Vexos is deeply involved with provisioning highly complex, fine-pitch electronics assemblies, electromechanical assemblies, full turnkey solutions, and custom mechanical parts, making its selection of services truly impressive. The company is always receptive to new technologies and new ideas that its customers may provide.
While other industry players may offer similar products, Vexos’ impressive range of technologies and value-added services is a great differentiating factor for the company. “Our service levels and capabilities are validated by the fact that we are being acknowledged independently as a leader in this space,” says Cyril Fernandes, Senior Vice President of Global Business Development, Vexos.
The acknowledgment includes an all-time record for the firm when it received five Service Excellence awards from Circuits Assembly in 2022. This is in addition to awards received in 2019 and 2021. Vexos won awards for Overall Satisfaction, Flexibility, Technology, Manufacturing Quality, and Value for Price. “These awards provide further recognition of our commitment and dedication to our customers. It reinforces how we do business with a singular focus on lasting relationships and global success. I find it particularly encouraging that we continue to maintain and increase our momentum in terms of capabilities and services, helping Vexos to offer its world-class service levels,” Fernandes continues.
Vexos believes each customer is unique, with their own project requirements, and thus arises the need to craft exceptional EMS programs designed around their core needs in the product introduction, product launch, production, and sustainment stages of the product lifecycle. The company offers a diverse range of services, including Value Engineering and DFX capabilities which ensure customers have a comprehensive and seamless experience with Vexos beyond traditional EMS offerings.
From prototyping to product launch and logistics, Vexos guides and supports its clients from pre-conception to delivery with attention to detail and optimal design. To achieve the best results, design-for-excellence methodologies guide organizations to make the best decisions when choosing materials, fabrication processes, assembly, manufacturing, cost, testing, and reliability studies. “We have modern warehousing logistics services that allow us to pipeline materials and products for our customers. Be it overseas or North American-based, we bring it to our LaGrange, Ohio facility with twenty-four-hour turnaround release times,” says Koury.
Vexos‘ partnership with its systems and equipment suppliers is the key to its success. Automation of traditionally manual activities, including mechanical assembly, soldering, and even warehouse automation, has provided game-changing efficiencies, traceability, and throughput. It provides an infrastructure for further automation extending into manufacturing execution, job management, and reporting at a level that could not be realized without these systems.
In addition, Vexos is giving its manufacturing execution system an overhaul and will be moving to the Aegis FactoryLogix software. The beauty of this transition is that the two companies—Vexos and Aegis FactoryLogix—received Service Excellence Awards from Circuits Assembly in 2022.
When the impact of COVID-19 rattled supply chains around the world, Vexos stepped up by advising its customers on the processes they needed to put in place to meet customer demand. Vexos initiated a comprehensive communications program with its customers that provided timely information on materials’ lead time and pricing issues. This enabled Vexos and its customers to make smart supply chain decisions in a timely manner.
On the supply side, Vexos worked closely with its supplier networks, both locally at the site level and globally by taking a page from its customer approach. “We engaged at the most senior levels with our supplier network at a regular cadence to discuss approaches to Lead Time increase. To help our customers, we enabled and ramped up Strategic Materials Analytics programs. These dynamic programs enabled our customers to make the right decisions in terms of materials investment and focus, thereby mitigating the component shortage issues,” says Fernandes.
Vexos is working with Lorain County Community College in Elyria, Ohio with its micro-electromechanical systems study program to help talented students build careers while pursuing their post-secondary education. Vexos supports this college post-secondary education program with on-the-job training to provide students with the necessary hands-on experience. This is a small example of Vexos’ dedication to developing people, which has resulted in over four hundred loyal employees in North America.
“It is a fantastic developmental ground for the workforce here within our facility. We have quarterly curriculum reviews where Vexos, along with other contract manufacturers, provides input to the program to ensure that it stays abreast with manufacturing processes currently used within our manufacturing facilities,” says Koury.
The two leaders are especially pleased with their teams’ incredible work and the perseverance they displayed during the height of the COVID-19 emergency, describing staff as showing true leadership across facilities while making a “truly collaborative effort.”
“Our facilities were deemed essential as we provide assemblies, systems, and products for medical applications. In many cases, the end-use applications of the products that we build were essential in the fight against COVID-19. As an organization, we demonstrated our capabilities, our commitment, and the singular focus of our organization from top to bottom to meet our commitments,” says Fernandes.
Vexos also supports local charitable events. In 2022, Vexos announced its association with Tree Canada. Together with other industry partners, Vexos organized a tree planting event where 375+ trees were planted in a conservation area in Markham, Canada. Participants in the event were from the local electronics industry, customers, and local municipal officials. The event was a success, and demonstrates the importance of sustainability and community involvement to Vexos.
The company’s leaders are steadfast in continuing its growth by leveraging the unique attributes that have made Vexos an award-winning leader in its domain.
