Not Just China - Complex Boards Are Designed and Manufactured in South Moravia

"We have been operating in component placement for seventeen years. The owner, Martin Lepka, decided to focus on prototype production in an accelerated mode from the very beginning, which has proven to be a great decision in retrospect. We offered boards that our competitors could not produce, and, at the same time, we delivered them in a very short time. This attracted many significant customers to us," says operations director Stanislav Sehnal, who started working at the company as a part-time worker and now helps manage the company.

Speed as a key competitive advantage

Even today, Safiral can deliver a completed board in days rather than weeks. All its internal processes and investments in new machines are geared towards this goal. "Everything starts with the inquiry, to which we try to respond as quickly as possible. We know from our partners that many competitors take up to two weeks to respond to an initial inquiry. Within those two weeks, we can complete the delivery to a customer," adds Stanislav Sehnal.

It is the speed in today's business that allows European companies to keep production as close to developers as possible. As a result, Safiral's customers are often expert development teams.

While it is practically impossible to compete with Asian producers in terms of price in large-scale production, in the case of smaller and atypical series or prototypes, completely different aspects play a role.Typically, rapid and operational communication between a manufacturer and a developer, together with the accelerated process of prototyping, allow everything to be tested quickly and either adjusted or released into larger production.

There is one thing in common between Safiral and Consilia. Customers typically turn to them when deadlines are tight, and they want something a bit 'impossible.' Consilia often expands the teams of multinational companies with its extraordinary expertise when these companies are under time pressure or unable to cope.

Safiral, on the other hand, can produce top-quality boards while meeting deadlines that others refuse. Satisfied customers usually stay with both companies, carry out additional orders with them, or recommend them to others. As a result, both companies have been growing steadily and significantly in recent years.

However, Safiral's success and business plan are far from being based solely on cooperation with regional companies. "Four years ago, there were 22 of us in the company; today, we are approaching 70 employees, which is significant growth and also a commitment. We must constantly invest to ensure that the best and biggest customers have no reason to leave. Today, our client portfolio include not only development specialists but also well-known multinational corporations based in the region, such as Thermo Fisher or Honeywell. We have also been approached by Greek or Swedish companies. We have long-term collaborations with German companies known for their perfectionism in terms of quality”, explains Stanislav Sehnal.

Components are shrinking, investments are growing

Working with the best also means extraordinary investments. "To remain a leader in component assembly, we must constantly complement production with the latest technologies and, of course, automate all processes that can be automated. Customers demand state-of-the-art technologies and often come with very unusual requirements, whether in terms of materials, assembly precision, drilling, or bonding sophistication. We must be able to meet various standards across different sectors, of course. For example, aerospace, automotive, or medicine are among the areas that are extremely protective of various standards," adds Stanislav Sehnal.

Along with the miniaturization of all parts, technologies are also changing. Safiral often handles requests for flex or rigid-flex boards.

Local labor and automation for sustainable business growth

While in partnership or investment policy, it seems that a truly extraordinary potential is opening up before Safiral, the region's labor force itself may prove to be a limit.

"For now, and let's keep our fingers crossed, we have been managing to keep our staffing levels up quite well. In the last four years, we have hired almost fifty new people. We still rely on the natural environment of Kunštát. If I may estimate in percentages, about 65 percent of employees are local. They come to us because they see no point in commuting an hour to Brno when we can offer them very good conditions, stability, perspective, and a friendly atmosphere right here. On the other hand, we cannot solve everything through continuous recruitment; we must look for every opportunity to streamline processes and automate. We want to prove that, even under Czech conditions, a top-quality, sustainable, and profitable manufacturing company can exist in the long term," concludes Stanislav Sehnal.