Bird Technologies

Source: Technology Digital

Date :07/01/2008 08:52:55

Product innovation and investment in business improvement help keep Bird Technologies at the forefront of its market

Written by Ruari McCallion and Produced by Pat Harlow

Ruari McCallion learned from Ed Bartos Bird Technologies, which is based in Solon, near Cleveland, Ohio, describes itself as a ‘global, innovative supplier of RF products, systems, services and educational solutions’. The global element is easy to prove: something around 44 percent of its output from its five locations is earmarked for international markets. The leading destination is the Far East, followed by Europe and then Latin America. The mix reflects the company’s extensive and adaptable product range.

“Wireless and broadcasting equipment are strong for us in the Far East. Europe has a good mixture of that and public safety products. Our major market is the United States, for which we have been busy supplying public safety and wireless equipment,” says Ed Bartos, Operations Director. It’s worth a moment to define what Bird means by its various descriptions. ‘Public safety’ is communications equipment for police, fire service and emergency medical use; ‘wireless’ refers primarily to mobile communications, cellphones infrastructure in particular. ‘Broadcast’ is self-explanatory.

Bird doesn’t make the handsets for cellphones or public safety communications; its role is to provide the physical infrastructure that makes communications possible. And innovation has been a key element in Bird’s growth and success since it was founded, in 1942.

A broad range

“We began in the power measurement segment and have grown into various areas and markets,” says Bartos. “Our range now includes multicouplers, tower-top amplifiers, signal boosters, antennas, instrumentation and metering. We have about 12,000 models and manage around 35,000 part numbers, including approximately 9,000 purchased parts.”

One of the company’s recent innovations is its new SignalHawk SH-36S Spectrum Analyzer, a test solution for installing, maintaining and troubleshooting everything to do with radio frequency (RF) communications systems. It analyzes radio frequency spectra including intended and interfering signals.

It allows setup of frequency, amplitude and markers and displays signal amplitude and frequency graphically, making it very easy to operate. As field engineers and technicians are as likely to be found at the top of a mast as indoors, it’s designed to be very rugged; it passes US Military and European drop-test standards and comes out fighting. The ease of use means it’s a very handy piece of equipment to have both in military environments, where rapid deployment is vital, and in regular commercial communications.

The SignalHawk was launched in November; the month before, Bird launched its new AT-500 Series antenna testers and a Rapid Deployment tower-top amplifier, which followed closely on the heels of a compact 782-824MHz tower-top amplifier system that was introduced in September. With improved and new lines in couplers, solderless connectors and signal boosters, the company came to market with no less than seven new or upgraded products in 2007 alone. It has also been RoHS (the European Union’s Restriction of Hazardous Substances directive) compliant since July 2006.

Bird’s manufacturing facilities – in Angola, NY; North Apollo, PA; Suzhou, China and two in Solon – are complemented by support and service locations in Singapore and Shanghai, China, and by partnerships with companies in Europe, Brazil, India, South Africa, Australia, Japan, Colombia and Taiwan. While it makes a lot of its own components, it buys coaxial and other cables from Rosenberger in Germany; connector supplies from Connectronics and Delta; and analog meters from Simpson electric. In a digital age, it may seem strange to still be offering products on analog bases.

Analog, in a digital age

“The military requires analog equipment and other customers also,” says Bartos. “There are still some advantages in analog; it’s cheaper, and a lot of people have used them for their entire careers. Broadcasters, for the most part, insist upon analog displays due to the fact that trend analysis is much easier. Analog does not necessarily imply less accuracy.

The meter is only a small component in the error budget. Ham radio operators like them and a large market remains in government services. It can take a while for governmental bodies to certify new products and, with an established base and existing trained personnel; they will continue to use that equipment, in applications where ultimate accuracy isn’t paramount.”

On the other hand, customers like Motorola, in its public safety business, Transmitter Company Harris, and distributors like Transcom in China, Aimil in India and Tyco/Maycom require contemporary engineering. The biggest challenge for Bird is management, both of its supply chain and of its production processes.

“We have huge variation and manufacture our projects the same way Subway makes its sandwiches; we have all the ingredients ready and make up the finished article as the customer requires. With 35,000 part numbers and 12,000 models, we have to work hard at keeping stores and inventory in shape,” he says. “We went down the road of business improvement with Oliver Wight MRP2 Class A, focusing on sales and operations planning.”

Repetitive products are forecast on a monthly basis and the data is fed into Bird’s ERP Avante ERP system from Epicor, which directs the timing and purchasing.

“We hold safety stocks of products that turn over quickly, whether they’re newer lines or higher-volume items. But we keep our inventory as low as we can, so we can turn over quickly. With our high variation, we schedule to the highest level of commonality and then configure to order. We’re definitely a high-mix, low-volume company.”

A thorough process

The complex production process is governed by a series of monthly meetings, conforming to the Class A practice as defined by Oliver Wight. At the beginning of the month, new product developments are considered, with pilot runs scheduled. The second meeting covers forecasting and demand planning.

The sales managers provide their best information and market intelligence, drawn from direct salespeople; representatives and distributors. The next step is the supply meeting, which is essentially the operations side of meeting demand. Financial reconciliation follows and, finally, the overall S&OP meeting – the culmination of the other four. It sounds like a lot of get-togethers. “Yes, it does. But it covers the entire business process and leaves us free to get on with the job,” Bartos says.

Careful planning is essential for making any business run smoothly and to improve. The proof of that pudding is in the eating of the numbers. “When we started our improvement process five years ago we had about 198 main suppliers.

That has been reduced by around one-third, by combining and leveraging each of our facilities. Our on-time delivery is now up 30 percent and average lead time is down 55 percent. Scrap has been cut 79 percent and rework by over two-thirds, and first-pass yields are up 10 percent.

Our supplier on-time delivery is up 37 percent, which is very good for the supply chain. We operate a very robust program to drive costs out, in our materials and processes, and it’s all driven through ongoing Lean manufacturing initiatives.” That’s the kind of effort that keeps the lights on at Bird Technologies – and communications connected at its customers across the world.