First Sumiden Circuits, Inc. received the Oscar M. Lopez Award for Performance Excellence or Oscar Award during the Lopez Group Business Excellence Awards Ceremony held at ABS-CBN’s Studio 1 on July 25, 2008. FSCI is the first among the Lopez Group companies to have received the award.
Prior to winning the Oscar award, FSCI was also a recipient of PQA Level III-Mastery in Quality Management in 2006 and PQA Level II- Proficiency in Quality Management in 2004.
FSCI’S Journey to Excellence
FSCI’s small victories in the past are the foundation of its vast achievements. Its journey to excellence made FSCI cognizant of how far it has gone for the past twelve years and how much farther it can go for the years ahead. Twelve years ago, FSCI pioneered the manufacture of flexible printed circuits (FPC) in the Philippines. Determined to capture the growing FPC market, FSCI since then has been guided by its vision of becoming a "world's leading manufacturer of flexible printed circuits" and its mission to "capture the flexible printed circuits market by providing the highest quality, lowest cost and fastest delivery time, in order to increase the value for its stakeholders."
FSCI laid the foundation of its work systems and procedures in its start-up period. Its first ISO certification was obtained in April 1998, barely a year after its full process operation in June 1997. This was followed by the 14001 certification in 1999 and eventually the Integrated Management certification in 2003. In its drive to increase customer satisfaction, generate cost savings, and encourage continuous improvement among its employees and business partners, it steered its course towards the Six Sigma Way in 2001.
The Oscars provided the framework for integrating its various initiatives and the needed template for achieving radical improvement in business results. It enabled FSCI to inch its way toward its vision and its never ending quest to achieve success in a globally competitive market. During its initial bid for the Oscars FSCI was one of the 4 companies that merited site visit, out of 8 applicants. In its 2nd attempt, FSCI was among the top scorers and was awarded a trip to 2004 MBNQA Conference. Participating in the last 2 cycles of the Oscars served as the inspiration to apply for the Philippine Quality Award (PQA). In 2004, FSCI received the PQA Recognition for Proficiency in Quality Management (Level II) in its 7th Cycle. Two years after, it was a successful recipient of the PQA Recognition for Mastery in Quality Management (Level III) in its 9th cycle (2006) after scoring 751-875 points and being in band 7
Other than local awards, FSCI received international recognitions for its world class business practices. In the 7th Six Sigma Summit held in UK in 2006, FSCI garnered 2nd place on its maiden attempt in UK’s Six Sigma Excellence Award. The following year, received an Honorary Mention in the Six Sigma Excellence Awards during 2007 Asian Six Sigma Summit held in Singapore. It also received international recognition for its volunteerism efforts. It was one of the finalists in the 2006 Awards for Excellence in Workplace Volunteer Programs of the Points of Light Foundation, a top US award for the most outstanding employee volunteer programs in any small, medium, large or international business.
Through all these victories, the goal of providing a safe work place for its employees remains a top priority. 2008 marks another milestone for FSCI. After more than two years of implementing intensive safety programs, FSCI finally surpassed its previous record of 15.48 million safe man-hours which was reached in January 2006. FSCI has achieved 18.72 million safe man-hours to date.
FSCI’s business results speak of its achievements. Despite lower sales brought about by minimal growth of the FPC business, FSCI’s income continued to rise until 2005. In 2002, its profit tripled in spite of the decline in sales. In, 2003 it again doubled its profit with only 9% increase in sales and in 2004 recorded its highest profit which was surpassed by another profit record in 2005 and 2006. In the first semester of 2007, FSCI was losing because of the delivery and quality problems as well as market price reduction of its products brought about by global competition. By applying the business excellence principles in action, First Sumiden overcame its difficulties and ended the year with a net profit of $1.51M, or a $2M turnaround in profitability in 6 months.
FSCI’s journey does not end in winning the very first Oscars Award for Performance Excellence. It begins there!
