Product category:
Recruitment, Reports and Resources
News Release from: Scottish Enterprise
Edited by the Electronicstalk Editorial
Team on 26 May 2005
Scottish firm survives semiconductor
downturn
A Glenrothes-based firm has not only survived the decline in the European semiconductor sector, it is doing so well it's started selling its products to Asia.
A Glenrothes-based firm has not only survived the decline in the European semiconductor sector but, with help from Scottish Enterprise Fife and the Scottish Executive, is doing so well it's started selling its products to Asia Reel Service, part of Asti Holdings, packages manufacturers' microchips into specialised carrier tapes which are used to enhance the productivity of printed circuit board assembly
This article was originally published on Electronicstalk on 8 Nov 2004 at 8.00am (UK)
Related stories
Engineers and technicians must be trained
Leading UK engineering and technology firms, with a combined multi-million pound spend on training and development, will assemble at the IEE 'Investing in Technical Teams' forum on 4 November 2004.
Workshop gives complete picture on CE.NET 5.0
A UK-based workshop will give embedded software development engineers hands-on experience in running the new 5.0 release of Windows CE.NET on next generation processors.
This has led to the firm playing a major role in packaging products for some of the biggest names in the world - everything from cars to games consoles have been assembled with a little help from the Fife-based firm over the past 18 years.
And its latest product, MicroTape, manufactured at the Fife base, has stolen a march on the bulk of the competition by providing a unique packaging medium for bare die and flip chips which have led to orders from the Far East.
MicroTape's GBP 578,000 development was assisted by a Regional Selective Assistance grant of GBP 115,000 from the Scottish Executive.
Further reading
DSP seminars focus on video applications
Abacus Polar is hosting two DSP seminars with Texas Instruments.
Latest Verilog standard released
IEEE 1364-2001, the Verilog hardware description language (HDL) standard, also known as Verilog-2001, was approved by the IEEE as a revised standard in March of this year.
SDF gains IEEE approval
Accellera's Standard Delay Format (SDF) has been approved as IEEE Standard 1497-2001, and is now available from the IEEE.
Although selling to Asia is seen as a coup, the main market for MicroTape is expected to be Europe by providing a "local" packaging service to European companies which would otherwise have to send their products offshore for processing bare die and flip chips.
It has been quite a turnaround for the company which looked like it might not survive as the global semiconductor market went into decline in 2000.
"There was a stage when it was looking like it was going to be very difficult to keep the company afloat", conceded John Simpson, Managing Director.
"To survive, we realised we had to reduce our operating costs and develop more of an entrepreneurial approach, a move which was fully supported by the Asti board".
The recovery plan Simpson and his team implemented, helped by Scottish Enterprise Fife, started with the staff who remained.
As well as maintaining Investors In People status, staff were trained to be multiskilled, providing flexibility if one part of the business was busy when another was quiet.
The team also knew that semiconductor devices were continuing to be reduced in size and that conventional surface mount business alone would not be sufficient to move the company forward.
With this in mind, the development of a specialist packaging medium for bare die and flip chip devices was started.
The result was MicroTape.
In conjunction with the development of MicroTape, Reel Service's sister company, STI, had also developed a specialist piece of equipment to perform the packaging of the bare die and flip chips into tapes such as MicroTape and together they provide the ideal packaging solution.
Today, Reel Service Glenrothes has 75 employees with an annual turnover of GBP 3.4 million.
Now, with the launch of MicroTape and the bare die and flip chip tape and reel service, sales are expected to grow steadily during the next two to three years.
Simpson said: "During the leaner period, we were struggling with costs and were concerned about how to move forward".
"Scottish Enterprise Fife was excellent and not only gave us support but also helped us access the funding needed for marketing and to further develop MicroTape.
"With the support of Scottish Enterprise Fife's marketing funding, they have assisted us in repositioning the company in the marketplace".
Joe Noble, Chief Executive, Scottish Enterprise Fife, said: "Like many companies in this sector, Reel Service has been through rocky times but what sets it apart is the way its management team handled difficult times.
"Its people were highly creative in the solutions they came up with to manage and train their workforce, develop new products and make the very most of what skills and assets they had".
"Companies across Fife and indeed Scotland can learn from this approach - not just in times of crisis but to foster greater long-term growth".
• Scottish Enterprise: contact details and other news
• Email this article to a colleague
• Register for the free Electronicstalk email newsletter
• Electronicstalk Home Page
Search the Pro-Talk network of sites
