Rich Fitzgerald

Rich Fitzgerald is an internationally recognized manufacturing and leadership expert. He has more than 20 years of technology and management experience. Rich joined Qual-Pro Corporation as Chief Operating Officer in January 2010.

Prior to Qual-Pro, Rich was the Chief Executive Officer of Team Precision, a public company (SET:TEAM) based in Pathumthani, Thailand with over 1,400 employees worldwide and $70M (USD) in sales. In his role, he was instrumental in developing Team Precision’s global presence with the opening of sales offices in the USA, Singapore, Denmark and the Czech Republic. He was also responsible for mergers and acquisitions activity for Team Precision.

Prior to Team Precision, Rich held the role of Global Vice President of Operations for CTS Corporation’s (NSYE: CTS) EMS business, a $430M division with more than 1,600 employees. He managed nine factories in the USA, China, Thailand, Singapore, UK and Mexico. In addition, he was instrumental in the acquisition of Orion Manufacturing in San Jose, California, a $24M privately held company. He came to CTS through the 2005 acquisition of SMTEK International (NASDAQ:SMTI).

At SMTEK, Rich was the Vice President of Global Operations. He was instrumental in the turnaround of SMTEK from a company that had declining sales of $67M and negative equity into a company with sales of $130M. Moreover, within two years, the company went from a significantly negative EBITDA position to one of the most profitable Tier III EMS businesses in the industry. Ultimately he was responsible for the operations integration of SMTEK into CTS.

Prior to SMTEK, Rich held the role of Manufacturing Manager for California Amplifier (NASDAQ:CAMP) where he was responsible for the global integration of manufacturing and design from Texas to California and China. He was instrumental in the manufacturing portion of Cal Amp’s acquisition of Gardner Communications, a Dallas, Texas designer and manufacturer of LNB down converters.

EMS companies I have worked with

Qual-Pro Corporation http://www.qual-pro.com
Team Precision Public Company Thailand http://www.teampcba.com
CTS Corporation http://www.ctscorp.com
SMTEk International

The skills I often see lacking in the EMS industry today

Scalability
Measuring the business from womb to tomb and sharing that data with customers real time
Managing inventory - more specifically Excess Inventory
Human Capital and succession planning
Customer allegiance is lacking at times - Too many transactional relationships

What I think about some of the emerging EMS markets or regions

Thailand by far is the strongest in terms of execution and the passion to deliver on excellence outside of Japan and the North America
China is too BIG, and I think there are bigger issues looming due to the inflation, labor rates, and the continued issue on IP protection.
Mexico is challenging now with the safety concerns.
The United States can play a large roll in the future

What I think about low-cost manufacturing

Plays a significant role in global manufacturing. However customers not should just assume this is the best solution for them. there are many opportunities to save one of which is low cost regions. there are also low cost solutions in North America. Customers must look at total COO.

My thoughts on what makes a good program manager

There are many good program managers in the EMS industry. However, EMS lacks great ones. What separates good from great is ownership, passion, and a clear understanding of what the customer needs. Crystal clear project management skills, coupled by a clear understanding of a customers vision. A great program manager builds relationships at all levels - and drives business deeper and wider.

A book I recommend to others or am currently reading

Clearly the best manufacturing book ever written was the Goal. Easy to read, old but still applies today.
Lean thinking was one of my favorites as it articulates the importance of implementation and reminds us not to complicates things.
Winning is another favorite of mine.

If I could travel back in time and witness any event one would be

To be a fly on the wall when Ronald Reagan was President

One of my favorite quotes

"Whatever else history says about me when I'm gone, I hope it will record that I appealed to your best hopes, not your worst fears; to your confidence, not your doubts. My dream is that you will travel the road ahead with liberty's lamp guiding your steps, and opportunities arm steadying your way" - President Ronald Reagan

Someone I would most like to sit next to at a dinner party

My wife, my children and my brother.

Some of the countries I have visited for work or play

Thailand, Philippines, Singapore, China, Malaysia, Okinawa, Japan, Korea, mexico, Brazil, Canada, Scotland, Ireland, Great Britain, Sweden, Denmark, Germany, Switzerland, India, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Bali

A helpful travel tip I often use

Be sincere, cordial, patient, prepared, and most of all, always enjoy the experience for the world is really at our fingertips.

The ultimate consumer electronics product I would still like to see developed

Apple consumer products are clearly the most fascinating tools I have witnessed. To see them integrated into a manufacturing environment for real time tracking would be incredible. As well, I have yet to witnessed the BEST manufacturing/ERP tracking tool for EMS.

A favorite electronics gadget

iPhone

One of my favorite toys as a child

Tonka Toys and sports equipment