Absolute Electronics
W137 N8589 Landover Court, Menomonee Falls
Industry: Electronic contract manufacturing
Employees: 21
www.absoluteelectronics.net
Kishor Patel’s journey to become a business owner started with a challenge. He was working for a circuit board manufacturer in the 1990s when an engineer lamented the problems he was having getting the boards assembled.
Patel asked the engineer to show him how the assembly was done and after a lesson, the engineer had a challenge for him: 5,000 pieces completed within two weeks. Patel took on the challenge, completed the job and soon found himself building Absolute Electronics.
“I love challenges,” Patel said.
Founded in 1995, Absolute Electronics is a full-service contract manufacturer, putting components on printed circuit boards for a variety of different customers. The company has the capacity in its 10,000-square-foot Menomonee Falls facility to handle higher volumes, but its niche is with small- to medium-sized runs with quick turnaround. This often includes low volume, high mix production and prototypes delivered in three to five days.
“There’s where we live,” said Rafael Vela, vice president of sales and marketing. “Our company is designed to serve that kind of customer.”
Anne Ward, client service manager at StarTrol, a manufacturer of LED lights for medical and veterinary offices and a customer of Absolute Electronics, said Patel and his team have been great to work with and have great follow through. She said they are taking on some of StarTrol’s additional electrical work.
“They want to make sure what they give us is correct and what we’re looking for,” she said.
Within the last few years, Absolute Electronics has added design services. The addition means the company can now work with anyone from a guy with an idea to some of the region’s original equipment manufacturers.
“For us, it doesn’t really matter if it’s a startup or already a mature customer. We just like to work with any type of customer,” Vela said.
“We are pretty flexible to the customer’s requirements,” Patel added.
When the company started, through-hole circuit boards were the norm. Vela said the rise of smartphones and other consumer electronics has forced the shrinking of components and the use of surface mount technology. The change has presented a challenge for contract manufacturers, but it also created an opportunity. Firms willing to invest in new technology were able to grow and expand, Vela said, while others closed down. He said Absolute looks to be an example of the former, in some cases adding new technology the same quarter a supplier begins offering it.
“The fuel for that is the passion we have for technology in this company,” Vela said.
He added that the growth in technology has continued to push the industry forward. With more companies using sensors, Wi-Fi, LED lights and other ways of improving a device’s performance, many are coming back to Absolute Electronics looking for ways to update their products. To meet those demands, Patel has kept designs for essentially every job the company has done, allowing his staff to pull out the plans and get to work whenever a company returns with a new request.
Meeting customer demands is extremely important to Patel, as providing a high-quality product can help build a solid reputation, while having issues can cost business. To that end, every board is inspected before leaving the shop.
Having quality suppliers is also important, and Patel says that because of his time spent manufacturing the bare circuit boards, he can tell right away if his suppliers are giving him quality materials.
Vela was brought in recently and brings knowledge of distribution networks and components. Patel says the addition has already meant at least half a dozen new customers.
The company has also found that in a competitive marketplace, the easy access to its Menomonee Falls location has helped land business. Ward agreed. Her offices are also in Menomonee Falls and said the location makes it easy to address problems in person.
“We’re here to serve our neighbors,” Vela said, noting some customers are right in the same industrial area, “and the Midwest in general.”
Plans for the future include a continued investment in technology, Vela said, and pursuing certifications to open up possibilities in the medical and military areas.
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