Category Archive: Industry Eductation

Spotlight on Women in Manufacturing

We support gender diversity and inclusion at MPS Industries. As a leader in manufacturing magnetic components for industries ranging from automotive to military, we recognize the importance of setting a positive example for other organizations. We encourage strategies designed to lessen the gender gap.

Women only make up 1/3 of U.S. manufacturing jobs. Today, the sector faces the lowest number of females since 1971. So why is it that the number of women in the industry is declining despite the growth of the overall number of manufacturing jobs in the United States?

About Gender Disparity

Unfortunately, misconceptions about manufacturing have kept many women from wanting to enter the industry. For example, there are assumptions that facilities are unkempt and that grueling physical work is part of every position. Neither is true. There is also the sense that managerial roles are held only by men.

Reducing the Gender Gap in Manufacturing

Encouraging women to pursue careers in manufacturing is a goal of STEP (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Production) Ahead. This initiative highlights intriguing, fulfilling careers in the industry and celebrates female accomplishments to not only the industry but also to society. Lessoning a skills gap is possible with efforts such as this one to motivate more women to seek manufacturing-related jobs.

The Manufacturing Institute, which showcases world-elite talent in manufacturing, will honor 130 women from across the United States with the STEP Ahead award in April at a gala in Washington, D.C. The winners have made impressive achievements in the community and their organizations as manufacturers. With women being significantly underrepresented in the sector, STEP Ahead is helping encourage the next generation of women to join the manufacturing workforce.

Why Recruit More Women?

Manufacturers stand to benefit from a higher number of females in their companies. With gender diversity comes a boost in innovation, rise in ROE, and more profitability. Adding women to organizations enables organizations to tap into a new talent pool and one that is well-educated too given the number of women earning degrees. They are professionals who can become effective leaders within the manufacturing industry.

Attracting, retaining, and promoting women within the manufacturing sector is crucial to growing the U.S. economy too. Women bring skilled labor as hard workers with creative and problem-solving abilities. A more diverse employee pool gender-wise, which is possible through STEP Ahead and efforts of associations like Women in Manufacturing, brings different mindsets, which makes for better problem-solving abilities within organizations.

Contact us today to learn more about our initiatives and high-quality products like power transformers and inductors. Also, follow our blog, Twitter, and LinkedIn to stay up to date in the industry.

MPS Puts a Spotlight on Safety This June

MPS Industries, Inc. is happy to spread word of the annual National Safety Month this June. The initiative, run by the National Safety Council (NSC), is supported by thousands of businesses and organizations across the country. National Safety Month aims to promote workplace safety and reduce common risks of death and injury on the job, at home, and everywhere in between.

Our team is proud to be a part of this important event year-round. At MPS, we believe safety should be a critical concern in all processes, and we’re constantly looking for ways to innovate and improve our safety initiatives. To ensure optimal safety and health of our clients, we take into account the specific safety risks inherent in each industry we serve — from automotive, industrial, and military to medical, aerospace, and consumer electronics.

As part of our ISO, we closely monitor final product pass-rate, making sure we continually improve our quality processes, products, and procedures. We provide safety only using parts that pass final inspection and testing before they are shipped. We also make sure to store any failed parts in an isolated designated area so that they are never used. Needless to say, bad parts are extremely hazardous in our field. This is another reason we support speaking out during National Safety Month. Here at MPS, our staff works hard to provide our customers with quality parts to avoid any potential safety issues in your system or installation.

Making Safety a Year-Round Priority

As a manufacturer of magnetic components such as transformers and inductors, we place particular emphasis on electrical safety and the unique dangers posed by electrical applications. According to an OSHA report, electricity is responsible for 12% of all young employee workplace deaths, with about five workplace electrocutions occurring each week.

Electrocutions are primarily caused by accidental contact with overhead power lines, live circuits in panels, poorly maintained cords, and even the occasional lightning strike. Minimal electricity is needed to cause harm, making stringent safety precautions critical. Also, the risk of fire increases when electrical systems are not properly maintained and monitored. While the hazards of electric shock can never be fully eliminated, they can be controlled with the proper protection and training.

The NSC recommends having a certified electrician regularly inspect all tools and machines to ensure compliance with electrical code requirements, as well as only permitting trained and authorized personnel to work on your electrical equipment.

At MPS we stress the safety of our employees when it comes to operating the electrical machinery and tools used in all of our manufacturing processes. For more electrical safety tips that we use, check out the NSC’s full list of recommendations or browse the resources on their homepage.

If you’re interested in learning about any of our products or services, or would like to discuss how MPS Industries can help you meet your magnetic needs, contact us today. And don’t forget to follow our blog, Twitter, and LinkedIn to stay up to date on the latest industry products and trends.

Stay safe!

Sales Drives Engineering, Engineering Drives Sales

It’s one thing to be a generic electronic component manufacturer, churning out the same identical transformers, inductors, and magnetic components on a day-to-day basis. There’s certainly a market for that – plenty of applications use off-the-shelf parts. But for custom components, you need a manufacturer who can combine a task-oriented sales force and a smart, driven engineering team that is up for solving any task you throw their way. This means coming to a manufacturer like MPS Industries.

Sales Driving Engineering

Sometimes, a component is purely customer-driven – a current or potential buyer has a specific need to be filled, and they need a great company to work with. Our sales staff will meet with the customer, discuss the needs and requirements of the component, and then work with the engineering team to develop a product that meets the need. The sales team can then help the customer tweak the product as needed, develop pricing, and work on prototypes and production quantities.

Engineering Driving Sales

Other times, our engineering team drives the sales of traditional and custom components through their innovative design. Maybe one of our team members hits on a component that fits an unfilled niche in the market, or has an epiphany over lunchtime on how to improve an existing component. Or, maybe one of those happy accidents occurs where a component seemingly wills itself into existence. In all of these cases, our team would produce a prototype, and place the product in our list of components on our website. If a customer then inquiries about a specific part on our website, the sales team can quote pricing and work with engineering on any customer requested modifications.

Working Together for the Customer

In the end, sales and engineering are working towards the same final goal – satisfying your needs as a customer, regardless of your requirements or industry. Here at MPS, we serve industries including (but not limited to):

  • Automotive
  • Renewable Energy
  • Industrial
  • Military and Aerospace
  • Medical
  • Consumer Electronics
  • Telecommunications

If you are interested in working with us here at MPS Industries, contact us today to talk to our staff and set up a meeting to discuss your industry needs. Even if you don’t have an immediate need, we’d be happy to hear from you and start developing a relationship. You can keep in touch and see what we are doing through our LinkedIn page, our Twitter, or by checking back here at our blog on a regular basis.

MPS is Attending APEC 2017

This year we are attending APEC 2017 from March 26th through the 30th. Taking place at the Tampa Convention Center in Tampa, Florida, the conference is considered to be the “premiere global event in applied power electronics.” Attendees will learn about practical and applied sides of the power electronics business.

What to expect at the conference:

  • Equipment OEMs that use power supplies and dc-dc converter in equipment
  • Designers of power supplies, dc-dc converters, motor drives, uninterruptable power supplies, inverters, and any other power electronic circuits, equipment, and/or systems
  • Manufacturers and suppliers of components and assemblies used in power electronics
  • Manufacturing, quality and test engineers involved with power electronics equipment
  • Marketing, sales, and anyone involved in the business of power electronics
  • Compliance engineers testing and qualifying power electronics equipment or equipment that uses power electronics

The notorious expo brings together both national and international business owners, designers, engineers, and manufacturers, giving everyone the opportunity to network with various industry experts and professionals. This kind of conference layout allows groups to attend educational seminars and explore new and innovative technologies and equipment to better personal business and growth for companies and customers alike. This year the MPS Industries team will be exhibiting at Booth #627 .

At this year’s show we will be presenting our new product, the HWI34 series. This High Current HEW™ features:

  • Low profile, small footprint, compact form
  • Inductance Range 4.7 uH to 29uH
  • Exceptionally low DCR
  • Great heat dissipation
  • True 45-55 Amp wire handling capacity
  • Powered cores with distributed gap for soft saturation
  • For high-temperature environments – up to 125°C ambient (max temp 180C)
  • Higher current available
  • Different mounting available

If you have any questions we will be having two of our design engineers, Kian Chow and Arthur Grebe, presenting at the trade show and around for continued technical support. We will also have our two account managers, Nicole Randall and Jasper Davis, on site for additional assistance and sales support.

We look forward to seeing you at our booth come show time to view our line of magnetic components, highlighting out newest products! As industry leaders, MPS specializes in the manufacturing of custom transformers, inductors, current sensors, and common mode chokes.

For any questions on our products and services before or after the show, please feel free to contact us today. And don’t forget to follow us on both LinkedIn and Twitter for the latest industry trends and updates!

For more show information click on the links below:

MPS Industries Celebrates National Manufacturing Day October 7th

 

National Manufacturing Day is held each October on the first Friday of the month. This year, the event will be October 7th, with over 2,341 events scheduled to date. Events are held at manufacturing facilities across the U.S., Mexico, and Canada.

National Manufacturing Day was created to celebrate manufacturing and how it positively impacts our nation’s communities and economy. It’s also a day for companies to open their doors to STEM students and the general public to give them a better understanding of just what manufacturing is and to connect to and inspire future generations to become more involved. This is important because of the skilled labor shortage that companies are facing now and in the near future.

National Manufacturing Day has four co-sponsors: Fabricators & Manufacturers Association, International®, National Association of Manufacturers, Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP), and the Manufacturing Institute. The goal of these four organizations in establishing National Manufacturing Day was to change misperceptions surrounding the manufacturing industry, address the skilled labor shortage, and establish a secure path for manufacturing’s future.

MPS Industries, Inc. celebrates National Manufacturing Day and is a leading manufacturer of magnetic components. We produce a wide variety of transformers, inductors, common mode chokes, current sense transformers, RF transformers, broadband, LAN, and telecom magnetics, video isolation transformers and audio transformers. MPS Industries, Inc. provides products to a wide range of customers in the automotive, industrial, aerospace, defense, medical, and OEM industries. We now have two domestic manufacturing sites located in both California and Texas, with plans for continued expansion of both offices. Keep an eye out for updates on our later blogs!

MPS Industries, Inc. is committed to providing the most innovative and best quality products for our customers. We believe in excellent customer service, continuing support for customers, and competitive pricing to meet and exceed customer expectations.

nmd-logo-oct-2016

MPS Will Be Attending APEC 2016 to Showcase Our Quality Engineered Magnetic Components

APEC 2016, the premier global event in applied power electronics, focuses on both the applied and the practical aspects of the power electronic business. The 2016 APEC Conference and Expo will be taking place on March 20-24 at the Long Beach Convention & Entertainment Center in Long Beach, CA.

We are looking forward to attending again this year as we have been exhibiting for many years with great success. The APEC Conference draws visitors from around the world and offers designers, engineers, and manufacturers the opportunity to network with other professionals in a wide range of fields, to learn from educational seminars presented by experts, and to explore new, innovative technologies and equipment.

At the show this year we will be proudly displaying our world-class products and services in Booth #1122. Offering a broad product line and custom design options enables us to meet the needs of a wide range of industries and applications. At the show this year we will be featuring some of our HEW (Helical Edge Wound) High Current Inductors, which have been very popular in automotive, energy, and other power applications.  We are very proud to offer the largest selection of HEW Inductors in the industry, as well as the highest density and most compact package high current inductor in our new HWI4434 series.  

Featuring an inductance range of 3.6µH to 83µH and rated current of 100 amps or higher, the HWI4434 is a high current inductor in a very compact package. With operating temperature range from -40°C to +150°C, it is well suited for a wide variety of power applications. We also offer a variety of packaging and mounting options, including vertical and horizontal, as well as with mounting clip and base for increased support and strength.

If you are attending this year’s show we hope that you will stop by the MPS Industries booth to explore our full line of magnetic components. We specialize in manufacturing custom transformers, inductors, current sensors, and common mode chokes and look forward to discussing with you about our local U.S. based design and manufacturing support services.

If you have any questions on our products and services, please feel free to contact us.

Off-Road Segment Gets A Hybrid Upgrade

Popularity among hybrid and electric vehicles have grown exponentially within the U.S. Tesla has stated they spend $0 on marketing yet demands have continued to grow. In fact, think about how you’ve never seen any ads or commercials from Tesla. With no marketing power how can it have such strong potential to take over the roads?

The answer is twofold. One is because consumers are more environmentally conscious than in the past. But what also helps is their great performance attributes.

When it comes to electric or hybrid vehicles, there is a whole other world benefiting from their efficiency and reliability within the off-road segment, including marine, agriculture, construction, industrial, etc.

The off-road segment has certain industry-specific requirements like huge torque for construction equipment, considering that along with, their high fuel costs and the ever-changing emission standards, electrification has become a great solution to these off-road segment concerns. The introduction of electrification in off-road segments has drastically cut fuel usage, improves performance and satisfies future regulations.

MPS Industries foresees the electric and hybrid technology within off-road vehicles as a leading technology for today and tomorrows’ market. At MPS Industries, we encourage trailblazing initiatives, especially within the green and off-highway industries. This initiative of electric and hybrid technology is no exception.

We have already begun backing and working with the leading developers on this initiative by putting out some of the highest performing and efficient magnetic components out there.

We’re proud to be working with our customers within these industries to better optimize our products to specific application needs, customize things like mounting, cooling, packaging, etc. in order to deliver the best possible performance, overall cost, and reliability for our customers. If you would like to talk to one of our experts about how our magnetic components may help your off-road vehicles, please visit our website.

MPS’ Recent Trip to China

As a manufacturing company, it is important for us to maintain solid relationships with our suppliers, provide our customers with high quality products and services, and remain informed of the most recent trends throughout the industry and within the economy. Recently, some of our employees took a trip to China in order to visit our facilities there and ensure our Chinese production is running smoothly. Additionally, it gave us the opportunity to visit with some customers and suppliers.

One common theme we uncovered while in China was how dramatically the manufacturing landscape has been changing. In fact, almost everyone we spoke with commented on the labor issues that have been occurring in China. Many factories have closed down, or reduced their size, as a result. It was encouraging, however, to see how the strong factories have survived. Many of the Chinese factories are beginning to integrate newer technologies into the production process, including automation; our overseas factories are no different. We have put focus on the use of automation in order to improve our production process and remain competitive in the changing market. It is important to us to provide continuous support for all of our customers; this includes keeping our pricing competitive and improving the quality of our products, which we have been able to achieve through the introduction of a more automated production process. Despite the labor trends occurring in China, we are still able to maintain healthy and productive facilities there. You can watch how it’s done in our automation production video.

It was a great opportunity for us to spend two weeks in China, visiting our facilities, suppliers, and customers. We pride ourselves on offering the highest quality products and services, so we make it a point to keep up with every aspect of our business and ensure everything is top-notch.

Education Equals Expertise

Here at MPS, we have a long history of manufacturing quality electronics.  Our 25 years of experience in the industry serves as the backbone for our continued commitment to maintaining and pursuing consistently excellent products.  However, rather than depend on our reputation and trust solely in what we’ve already learned, here at MPS we’ve made it our commitment to continue learning and improving, so as to consistently be able to provide our customers with cutting edge technological expertise.  One of the primary ways we do this is by attending industry conferences and trade shows.

Within the past year, we’ve already attended the (2012) BIOMEDevice Show in San Jose, APEC in Long Beach, the Del Mar Electronics & Design Show, and the EPTECH show in Mississauga, ON., among others, and we plan to continue our attendance with these and other industry events.  These conferences are great not only in that we have the opportunity to interact with those in our industry, but also because they are places to keep on top of the latest trends and discussions in electronics design and engineering.

We believe that expertise is founded on an education that continues to expand and be refined.  Particularly within electronics, the trends and technologies are constantly changing at an extraordinary rate, and it is our pleasure and prerogative to keep up with each new advance.  As the industry changes and improves, you can count on MPS to be informed about the latest ways in which our education and expertise can help to improve your electronics.