THE SCIENCE OF CERTAINTY. / www.connectpositronic.com1

22 Mile Patrol.6 Roadside IEDs.Zero Margin of Error.

the POSITRONIC GLOBE

JUL 2017

IN THIS ISSUE

Strategic Initiative Update 1 Observing the Strategic Plan

in Action – The Employees’ View

Sales Success Story 4 Scorpion connectors fly high

with Ariane 6Divisional News 5 New ESCO in France 5 Innovation DayCommunity Events 3 Missouri Holds Annual 5K 7 Positronic is Here for

the Student CommunityCoworkers’ Corner 6 Coworkers’ Corner

Observing the Strategic Plan in Action – The Employees’ Viewby Michael West, Director of Strategic Initiatives

This year, Positronic has embarked on implementation of an aggressive strategic plan, a great adventure that focuses on six streams of activity and accomplishment:

1 Unifying around a shared vision

2 Developing epic customer engagement

3 Accelerating product development

4 Aligning sales operations

5 Increasing operational efficiency

6 Advancing strategic marketing

We’ve been reporting on the progress across these streams here in The Positronic Globe. This month, we’ve asked a number of employees for their view of changes they’re seeing as the plan unfolds. Below are their comments.

Unifying around a shared vision: Job satisfaction survey

With last year’s job satisfaction survey, Positronic Missouri has started several initiatives to help better meet the needs of its employees. The first initiative was a response to improving opportunities for advancement. The HR team here is meeting with every Missouri operations employee to discuss their professional goals and how Positronic can help them meet their goals. The second program started is related to increasing the number of ideas that are discussed and implemented. At this point, a team has been created and about 10 ideas are in the process of being presented and implemented. The final program is leadership development designed to improve the quality of managers and supervisors in the organization. This involves training on

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various skills and tools they can use to improve teamwork, mentoring and coaching, and putting people in positions where they can be successful.

Jeremy Lee, Missouri HR

Employees are still receptive though a bit rattled about the purpose of the job satisfaction survey. Most of them are not critics, but some did write their comments seriously. It helped that it was anonymous. A survey is non-confrontational, so we are able to find out the underlying issues, if any. The answers and results collected were varied, but they serve as an effective tool to find out how our valuable assets -- employees -- actually think of our performance and if they actually could reciprocate. I personally think that is a good start to find out how employees think of the environment of the company and how we should engage with them. Additionally, we can use the data collected to improve on weaknesses and continue to grow and expand on our strengths. It also demonstrated that the company is positively committed and believes that employees are primary, and by understanding and able to provide good and conducive working environment, the company is able to have happy and satisfied employees, and therefore, happy customers.

Peck Ching Lim (Janice), Singapore HR

After the presentation of the survey results, Positronic France decided to form a team to work with employee volunteers from different departments, in to order to have a common objective on each item and to work on an action plan. We planned a meeting for each topic of the Job Satisfaction Survey. During the meetings, there was a good participation and constructive remarks from the employees. We really felt a desire for improvement. Now the action plan needs to be approved by Positronic Missouri and France’s unions before its application.

Audrey Comte, France HR

The main purpose of a job satisfaction survey is to obtain an understanding of our employees’ needs and how the company will respond to those needs. The results of the survey, distributed in October 2016, were provided in December 2016, revealing that the most critical area was

the communication between employees and supervisors. Immediately, Puerto Rico’s management took action and all employees, including the supervisors and managers, had the opportunity to attend a presentation on How to Effectively Communicate. It was awesome! The important thing was to accept those opportunity areas and engage to improve in these areas. But we didn’t stop there: Around three weeks ago, we gave out another survey of four questions related to the communication presentation and improvements since then. The results revealed that Puerto Rico has improved in communicating. The presentation and graphics as to this matter will be sent to Positronic Missouri, and it will not end here. Not only HR, but Puerto Rico’s management is committed to improve continuously in communicating effectively and appropriately with our co-workers. And we cannot forget: When there is open communication with management, work place happiness increases, and employees feel obliged to reciprocate with increased performance.

Zoraida De Jesus, Puerto Rico HR

Here at Mt. Vernon, we have had great feedback about what we have been doing so far. People are very excited to be a part of planning the Employee Appreciation Day! They like the clocks we have had installed, providing an accurate time for everyone. They like being heard and seeing their suggestions becoming actions.

Casey J. Harvey, Missouri Assembly

Increasing Operational Efficiency

As part of the strategic plan, Improving Operational Efficiency is one area of great significance. Positronic in Missouri has seen changes firsthand in the expansion of the Injection Molding Department, as this department becomes the primary manufacturing location for injection molded parts. There are changes to the machine location layout, which allowed for the removal of an old upright machine and the addition of two newer Engel in its place. There are additional tools that were received and added to the tooling racks. There are increases to the amount of plastic raw material that is stored in the warehouse and within the molding department. All of these changes and additions are showing employees the increased production

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that is to come within this department. By running more machines more hours, the molding department will run more efficiently and consistently. Employees are excited about the opportunity to take on this challenge and support Positronic globally for these component needs.

Blake Harrison, Missouri Operations Manager

Epic customer engagement

The customer service team has jelled into an amazing squad over the last few months. The five members of the group bring a combined 72 years of Positronic experience to serving customers’ specific needs after the sale. Susan Shuck specializes in PosiShop and patience, Jennifer Hilton focuses on scheduling and charming the customers, Misty Brand’s work features her QA knowledge and investigative skills, Cheston Jennings brings his production experience and technological know-how, and Jon Hayes concentrates on escalated customer issues and being cool, calm and collected. Positronic customers all have an advocate in customer service, ready to dig into problems and offer knowledgeable factory support, speedily and skillfully.

Corinna Foley, Missouri Customer Service Manager

Aligning sales operations

The last few months have been exciting for Inside Sales. Through the transition, they have been exposed to a new software system (Salesforce), had the opportunity to experience a “day in the life of a Field Salesperson,” and participate in training designed to enhance our relationship with our customers. Has it been totally smooth sailing? No. But through their determination every day, it is getting better. We are excited to be part of the Positronic’s continued growth and success.

Anita M. Warner, Inside Sales Director

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COMMUNITY EVENTS

Missouri Holds Annual 5Kby Gearldine Butler, Human Resources

Positronic held its annual 5k event to improve social responsibility and community involvement as well as to improve the health and wellness of our Positronic team. The event took place in Republic, Missouri at Miller Park and featured a 0.8-mile walking track where employees were required to complete 4 laps or 3.2 miles. Employees donated $626 to the Mt. Vernon Veteran’s Home. A few of the Patriot Guards were in attendance, presenting flags from the different branches of the military. In all, about 26 employees and their families joined in the festivities and completed the challenge.

Visit our NEW intranet to stay up-to-date on the latest

news and information!connectpositronic.com/intranet

password: eclipseA password is required for those logging in

outside of the company.

Please note: we change the password periodically.

HR ANNOUNCEMENTSHOLIDAY SCHEDULE

Schedule all divisions from 15 Jul to 15 Aug 2017

• Tuesday, 25 Jul 2017 - Constitution Day (FR) • Wednesday, 09 Aug 2017 - National Day (SI) • Tuesday, 15 Aug 2017 - Independence Day (IN) • Tuesday, 15 Aug 2017 - Assomption (FR)

Legend: FR-France; SI-Singapore; IN-India; US-United States

Visit our Intranet for more annoucements.

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Ariane 6 is a big rocket (aka a launch vehicle), and its purpose is to send into space all kinds of payloads, such as satellites, telescopes, and whatever needs to escape the Earth’s gravity. This rocket is so powerful that it will be capable of a total liftoff weight of about 800 tons, or 1.8 million pounds. The first test flight is scheduled for 2020, and the development is commissioned by the European Space Agency (ESA), which is the European equivalent of NASA. The manufacturer is Airbus, which oversees the program across all 13 participating countries from the European Union. Ariane 6 is another big rocket that is sure to impress the whole world at its first flight!

But the coolest part of this big contraption is a little blue connector tucked away safely between backplanes and plug-in cards, within the power distribution circuits that feed the control systems of the three separable stages. This blue connector helps direct the control systems to shed the rocket’s empty fuel tanks consecutively while it keeps going up and up into space.

It’s a tough job and a big burden of reliability for a little blue connector loaded with only twenty size-16 contacts … Well, this is what our products are all about, right? High performance and high reliability. But wait, a Scorpion connector for such a high-profile space

flight application? Indeed, it was not easy to convince the engineers, who kept asking all kinds of questions and wanted more and more qualification data and performance info on all kinds of materials.

But fortunately, the Positronic cavalry came in with the right responses, information, and compelling arguments to answer all their questions and secure the design! Success!

We have a wonderful technical sales team that is capable of securing these results for Positronic. Next time you meet these guys, slap them on the shoulder and tell them, “Good job!”

• Thierry Auvin, Regional Manager and 25-year Positronic veteran.

• Julian Montalvo, Product Line Manager at Giza Technologies, our wonderful distributor in Spain.

• Stephane De Monicault, Field Application Engineer and magician with technical presentations and test reports.

• Florencia Marino, Inside Sales Administrator and factory support extraordinaire, just to say the least.

SALES SUCCESS STORY

Scorpion connectors fly high with Ariane 6by Gaby Mindreci, France Sales Manager

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DIVISIONAL NEWS

Innovation Dayby Stephane DeMonicault, France Field Application Engineer

A team composed of engineering and sales staff recently participated in Innovation Day, which was led by Jay Sandidge. The objective of this training was to show attendees that it is possible to innovate with methods outside of those that are considered standard.

Innovation Day’s numerous short challenges and games between small groups

allowed everyone to work together in a friendly atmosphere. Each participant left the training with a book about innovation and a firm understanding that it is possible to innovate in all sectors and in many different ways.

In May, we received a new Escomatic, the D5 CNC TWIN. It’s a small machine measuring only 2.5 m by 1.2 m that will allow us to increase production thanks to its two workheads. It can also reduce the cost of contacts while increasing their quality, and it features integrated

automatic control to monitor quality parameters (drilling, length, ejection of the piece). This next-generation machine will also help us reduce costs associated with poor quality of parts.

DIVISIONAL NEWS

New ESCO in Franceby Jean C. Delmas

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Carmen Rosado, from the QMS Department, is very proud of her two nieces for their recent achievements:

Ronald Rodríguez, from the Molding Department, has shared with us that his daughter, Valeria M. Rodríguez, has been admitted among a select group of students to the Specialized and Accredited School of Visual Arts.

The staff of the Molding Department congratulates Ronald Rodriguez for his daughter’s accomplishment and wishes Valeria great success in this new stage of her life.

Carol Alvarado, from the Human Resources Department, is proud of her daughter, Sofía E. Rodríguez, who graduated from prekindergarten at Nuestra Señora de Valvanera College. The celebration took place at Aquaventura in Coamo. Sofía (middle) is accompanied by her two teachers.

Linda Hampton (Sales) welcomed her first grandbaby.

Scarlett arrived June 12. She weighed 7lbs 3oz and was 18 ½ inches long.

COWORKERS’ CORNERTell us about yourself, your family, or a coworker. Nothing will be published unless that employee approves the information being posted in the newsletter. This can be engagements, marriages, birth announcements, external awards for self or family member(s), passing of a family member, self or child graduating, anything you would like to share about yourself or your family with the company.

This will be a great way to “meet” each other around the world. Please send any information that you would like posted to your local HR Manager and they will submit for the newsletter. You may submit as often as you would like as we will be posting in each newsletter that goes out.

Lourdes Colón graduated from Ponce High School.

Raquel Enid Cepeda graduated from eighth grade at Santa María Academy.

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At Positronic Industries Caribe, Inc., we are pleased to welcome a group of six students from the Mechanical Engineering Department of the University of Puerto Rico, Mayagüez Campus.

The first day of their visit in January 2017, the students were accompanied by their professor. They were greeted by our General Manager, Engineering Manager, EHS Coordinator, Project Manager, HR Manager, along with Engineer Nelson López. Nelson will be guiding them in the project and mission assigned.

Three students will be working to design a machine capable of bending an entire row of connector contacts. The other three will design an automatic contact installation machine for ODD connectors.

The professor advised that since he began giving this course, this is the most challenging project due to the complexity of the projects assigned to the students.

Background and Problem Statement

What did the students learn and present to their professor and to the whole class?

“Positronic is a global manufacturer of electronic connectors and cable assemblies for military, space, commercial aerospace, medical, and industrial applications among others. Positronic’s plant in Ponce focuses on building connectors following a low volume and high mix business model. This business approach creates many opportunities to attend the needs of diverse customers that require very unique connectors. A low

volume high mix business model approach requires an equally flexible manufacturing process that can be adapted to connectors of different sizes and shapes. For this, a lot of the manufacturing process sequences for these connectors require manual labor to complete, since it is costly to automate a sequence with equipment that might be more expensive than the revenue generated by an order with a low volume of unique connectors.

The manufacturing engineer, Nelson López, has identified a 26 pin ODD connector with enough volume and low variability in its design to attempt to partially automate its assembly. This connector has a sequence where the pins are bent at a right angle (right angle solder termination). The bending sequence machine setup bends all the three rows of pins before proceeding to the next connector.”

Their Goal

To design an alternate automation solution to reduce the cycle time of the row bending sequence and loading process that can be implemented within a four-month period. This automation proposal should include a modular design to allow the manufacturing process to adapt to connectors of different sizes and additional contact rows if needed. The proposed design should also have the foresight to simplify its integration into future automation initiatives of the other manual operations in the manufacturing process.

Don’t these students remind us of our Vision and Mission?

COMMUNITY EVENTS

Positronic is Here for the Student Community