STARTEAM Global Ltd (STG), which was established in 2022 following the merger of CML Group Hong Kong with CIA Holdings Ltd Hong Kong, is continuing its expansion as part of a global growth strategy. In September, the inauguration of the plant in Prachinburi (Thailand), the emerging industrial center of Thailand, took place. With this step, STG has expanded its global presence with a new smart manufacturing site.
From left to right: Peter Metzger, Martin Schneider, Sabine Bohner, Michael KönigMartinSchneider (CTO of STG) and Peter Metzger (General Manager), supported by Michael König (CFO) and Sabine Bohner (Senior Marketing Executive), explained during a visit to the Karlsruhe site how the company has developed from JCB, founded in 1988 by Klaus Jacob in Germany and later CML Group, which products and services are offered today and which future steps are planned.
Global growth strategy: significant growth planned
STG is headquartered in Hong Kong and is managed by Daniel Jacob, the son of the founder of JCB. He is a partner and CEO. Under his leadership, the company has evolved from a wholesaler in the PCB sector to a PCB manufacturer. A PCB factory in Jiangyou, Sichuan (China), was acquired from the CML Group Hong Kong back in 2018. The merger with CIA Holdings Ltd. Hong Kong in 2021 made it possible to expand the business segment into new geographical areas and to extend the product portfolio to include a range of customer-specific products, such as batteries, cables, connectors and transmission and connection solutions. In 2022, the company was renamed STARTEAM Global Ltd. Around 60% of STG's customers come from the automotive sector. The remainder come from the industrial, telecommunications, energy and medical sectors. There are also individual customers who cover the consumer sector.
STG currently employs around 950 people at 34 locations worldwide. The company intends to continue its sustainable growth by investing further in production facilities, logistics, engineering and quality services. Significant sales growth is planned. From $245 million last year, a sales volume of $400 million is to be realized by 2026, with at least 50% to be produced in the company's own plants.
A look inside the factory
Comprehensive product range and sustainable further development
The production of prototypes is realized with regional PCB manufacturers. From the C-sample upwards, production takes place in series production plants. The current production capacity is over 1.5 million m² per month. Standard PCBs of up to 12 layers can be produced in-house. Others, such as rigid-flex, flex and HDI PCBs, as well as PCBs with special requirements, are purchased from partner companies. In future, it is planned to manufacture these in the company's own plant. To this end, the new plant in Thailand is to be systematically developed and expanded.
The expansion of production capacity at the plant in China is also being continued. This includes the ability to manufacture IMS (aluminum and copper), thick copper and HDI printed circuit boards. STG holds patents for special PCB manufacturing processes in China and also conducts research and development. In addition, investments have already been made in solar energy projects, recycling systems and projects to reduceCO2 emissions in order to do justice to the concept of sustainability in line with the corporate strategy.
Second production site successfully launched - China+1 strategy
Schmoll drilling machines at PSTDue tothe political situation and at the request of a number of customers, primarily from the automotive industry, a further production site was sought outside China. At the beginning of the year, a suitable production site was found in Prachinburi, east of Bangkok (Thailand), whose infrastructure met STG's requirements.
This new site has now been equipped with the same equipment as the Chinese plant, so that the same production processes can be implemented there. Over 80% of the equipment was newly procured, which means that the new site in Thailand is technically state-of-the-art. This includes 12 ultra-modern drilling machines (model no. N6-200) from the manufacturer Schmoll Maschinen. Equipped with six spindles each, which can rotate at speeds of up to 200,000 rpm, half of them also feature controlled deep drilling. Other notable systems include laser direct imaging (LDI) machines from Hans Laser and wet processing machines from Universal (UCE).
The official start of production in Thailand took place with a grand opening in September 2023. The investment in Thailand is a strategic decision in line with STG's China+1 strategy and serves in particular to meet the increasing demand.
In order to better serve customers worldwide, this milestone will further diversify the company, increase production capacity and improve synergies and resource utilization. Thailand is one of the largest automobile manufacturers in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and is continuously developing into a center of the electronics industry, which, in conjunction with the skilled workers available there and the high-quality infrastructure already in place, enables efficient production of high-quality printed circuit boards.
The plant in Thailand is expected to be able to produce multilayers with up to 24 layers as early as next year. The company is planning a monthly production capacity of 25,000 m² with over 200 employees by 2024.
Warehouse and customer support in Europe
STG offers customers a one-stop solution with intensive support. This is made possible by a global engineering and CAM team, which is implemented using a cloud-based solution and experts at the individual locations.
STG's logistics department is also extremely efficient. The company has Authorized Economic Operator (AEO) status, which enables DDP deliveries within the EU economic area, among other things. Goods are transported from Asia mainly by sea freight and alternatively by air freight or rail. A warehouse is located in Ettlingen near Karlsruhe, from which customers throughout Europe are supplied.
A team with many years of experience in the areas of quality and technology is based at the Karlsruhe site and is responsible for customer care and customer support. Technical coordination is sometimes carried out directly with the OEM developers.
The sales network is being expanded in line with market developments - long-term growth is generally expected. Many new future-oriented projects currently require additional capacities, particularly in the areas of engineering and the recruitment and training of specialists, which are created through on-the-job training in the company's own plants.
The cornerstones of the business are efficiency, quality and sustainability
Smart manufacturing is also implemented as part of the product processes in the form of precision, efficiency and quality to the highest standards. The equipment used is highly automated and digitally networked. This ensures reliability, accuracy and speed in the supply chains. The company strives to network machines, workers and big data within a standardized ecosystem. By using intelligent systems such as AI production planning, a Manufacturing Executive System (MES) and other machine learning tools, top performance in efficiency, reliability, traceability and transparency is achieved. By implementing a lean manufacturing methodology, STG also aims to source materials locally and sustainably by working with regional suppliers. STG is also committed to meeting and exceeding the requirements set by the European Supply Chain Act in terms of positive environmental, social and governance impacts.
Through the combination of production sites in China and Thailand and world-class engineering and quality experts, STG manufactures printed circuit boards to the highest quality and reliability standards, including requirements for automotive, medical and railroad technology. STG strives to deliver premium products and offer solutions that meet all customer requirements.
