Monday, April 27, 2015

Is This The Party To Whom I Am Speaking?

Alright. A old favorite quote from the phone operator (Lily Tomlin) on the 60's TV show “Laugh-In” may be a bit odd here. But even her brash remarks and jokes might be more preferable to a caller than a one-way (no doubling back) 5- or 6-step decision tree menu -- with an electronic voice posing multiple-choice questions.

So many businesses have them. Electro Technik Industries 
had one.

Of course, when you become totally familiar with such a system, using it is a breeze -- you’ve learned the prompts and know most of the direct lines or extensions anyway. What’s the problem? But first-time callers had no such familiarity. And first-time callers are often potential new customers. Overseas or international callers with English-language limitations were even more likely to make an unintended choice. Oops. Hang up. Call back. Really?

When multiple calls came in, one would sometimes roll over to a different ETI company’s open line. “Thank you for calling Hytronics.” “I was trying to contact Winatic.” “It’s OK. You’ve reached Winatic. Your call just came in on a different line.”

No more! The new ETI phone system is one of the most up-to-date available. Unlimited rollovers eliminate the (example) Hytronics/Winatic confusion. There’s still a menu, but you can double back if you need to. Automatic forwards to cell phones enable callers to reach their parties even if they’re away from the office.

Web-generated RFQs are very important. E-mail inquiries equally so. But our potential customers always want to speak to an ETI 
person, to get into the nitty gritty of their custom-component needs.

We listened to our rep and customer comments and we heard you. Moving forward -- a totally pleasant and rewarding experience when calling an ETI company.

Monday, April 20, 2015

ETI's Microwave Group Headed for Phoenix and MTT-S 2015

Coming soon: IEEE MTT-S 2015, Phoenix, AZ, May 17-22. Major focus of the huge event will be ETI's Microwave Group Booth #3341 -- of course!  The Microwave Group consists of Res-net Microwave, Nova Microwave, and Star Microwave.  

It's hard to believe that almost a year has passed since Microwave Week last June! Held in Tampa, FL, it was the first opportunity for many in our newly formed Microwave Group to get together, compare notes and products, and meet face-to-face with our inside sales people and support staff. 


On the final evening of MTT-S 2014, domestic and international sales representatives from Res-net, Star, and Nova Microwave (the latter two companies acquired by ETI within the previous twelve months) gathered with ETI staff at the Tampa Bay Museum of Art for dinner and a powerful presentation by Alen Fezuli covering the strengths of each company, exciting new products, and cross-selling opportunities that now exist as a result of this company grouping.

Acquaintances became friends; "contacts" became associates.

A reunion will take place in May. ETI folks and many many more will make the pilgrimage to Phoenix for IEEE MTT-S 2015. The show organization describes the event (in part) as “the premier conference covering basic technologies, from passive and active components to systems over a wide range of frequencies including VHF, UHF, RF, microwave, millimeter-wave, terahertz, and optical....”

The ETI Microwave Group will be there in force, once again.

Monday, April 13, 2015

Weed Out Counterfeits From Your Supply Chain.

We've heard so much about counterfeit components -- rejects, refurbs, and fake components sold as bona-fide first-quality parts --  it's almost as if the matter has become old news. It's difficult to believe that certain companies would go to such effort to do wrong, and continue to do wrong, as if there's no risk to getting caught.

Sprinkling, blacktopping, remarking. And what if a counterfeiters does get caught?  Names change to protect the guilty, and there's always a new customer looking for a bargain or an extra-fast delivery -- the gray market.

Years ago, it was intellectual property everyone was concerned about -- ramp up production (and reduce costs) by outsourcing offshore, enjoy the benefits for a brief time, and then marvel at the sudden appearance of look-alikes and copies -- IP down the river. These days, IP theft barely causes a stir compared to the huge problem of counterfeiting.

Perhaps you remember -- back  in 2011/2012 we learned about the U.S. Senate's finding that counterfeit electronic parts were installed or delivered to the U.S. military for several weapons systems, including the Army's Theatre High-Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) missile defense system, the Air Force's C-17 airplane and the Marine Corps' CH-46 helicopter.

Or, a bit further back, the FBI effort called "Operation Cisco Raider," which exposed the purchase of fake Cisco routers, switches, and cards by the U.S. Navy, the U.S. Marine Corps., the U.S. Air Force, the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration, and even the
FBI itself.

But counterfeiting has come long way since then. It's even bigger business now and growing, as indicated by the hi-tech lengths counterfeiters go to change and disguise their wares to sneak under X-ray inspection and other testing techniques.
And that's the true cost of counterfeiting -- the millions of dollars spent on policing and detection.

All of the companies in the ETI family are responsible manufacturers. We investigate the sources of our materials and QC the goods we receive from them. We manufacture in best faith -- to customer expectations -- without cutting corners or playing games. We're honest. IP is safe with us. We manufacture in the U.S. and also in Costa Rico to save costs near-offshore where we can. None of our scrap ends up in China to be recapped, blacktopped, remarked or resold.

We manage our supply chain very tightly, and make it easier for our customers to reliably manage theirs.

Monday, April 6, 2015

Get Your Ohms Here!

Electro Technik Industries has recently expanded its resistor selection to include thick-film resistors, made by HYMEG, which is now an ETI subsidiary. The new line includes:

HYMEG Precision Thick Film Axial Lead Resistors
HYMEG High Voltage Thick Film Axial Lead Resistors
HYMEG Precision High Voltage Plate Resistors & Dividers
HYMEG High Power Non-Inductive Resistors.

These new products share a common denominator -- they're all built using thick-film technology. The economical products are widely used where high resistance values are called for in relatively small-size packages, and where lower precision and higher temperature coefficients can be tolerated in the application. In effect, the thick-film manufacturing process used for HYMEG products results in lots of high-voltage/power handling capability for the real estate occupied, and a big bang for the buck. 

Another ETI subsidiary, TEPRO, manufactures precision wirewound resistors, chip resistors, disk resistors, Military RL-42 and other precision metal film resistors, and thin-film networks. Precision is the emphasis here, most often called for in lower voltage/power applications.

Choosing the most cost-effective resistor for an application tends to involve more than a component-to-component comparison of performance vs. size vs. cost. For example, it could cost less to use the resistor with superior overall performance specifications, because the need for compensating circuitry (and the cost of the associated components plus their assembly) may be eliminated. Furthermore, cost savings may also be achieved by concentrating precision in the resistors rather than in the active devices, because active devices have greater cost per marginal performance improvement than the resistors do.1


Our advice -- just tell one of our application engineers what you're trying to do and a bit about the circuit (727-536-7861). We now have a comprehensive selection of resistor types to choose from, so you can be sure to make the perfect choice.