Firstronic LLC today announced that it has made several management additions and also realigned some existing team members to better support its growing business base.

Hilario Apodaca has joined the Company as director of quality. Previously, he served as director of quality and the export compliance officer at EPIC Technologies. He has nearly 30 years of experience in electronics and electromechanical-related manufacturing operations. He was earlier associated with Alcoa Fujikura de Mexico as materials manager, Electro-Wire/AFL as divisional quality manager, Avio-Excelente, AVX in various process engineering and quality supervisory roles, and A-O Smith as plant quality manager. He holds a Bachelor’s degree from the Universidad Autonoma de Cuidad Juarez, has completed specialized training as an ISO/TS16949 lead auditor and an AS9100C lead auditor, and pursued additional studies in Quality Management and Supply Chain Management.

Edgar Galvan has joined Firstronic as a program manager. Previously, he served as a senior manufacturing engineer at Sensus Metering Systems. He has nearly two decades of experience in electronics manufacturing that includes metering and automotive applications as well as contract manufacturing. He was earlier associated with EPIC Technologies and Delphi Corporation in a range of program management and project launch management positions. He served in engineering capacities at the GM Toluca Regional Engineering Center, the Delphi Mexico Technical Center, Delphi Harrison Thermal Systems and Ford Motor Company. He received his MBA degree and a B.S. degree in mechanical engineering from the Instituto Tecnologico y de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey.

In a related staff realignment, Michael Flynn has transitioned back to operations manager, from his previously announced program management role.  In his role as operations manager, Michael will also be assuming responsibility for production scheduling, customer service / inside sales and logistics.  Michael’s previous experience as operations manager included over 8 years in this role at Firstronic, as well as over 20 years in the EMS industry in various capacities. 

In an additional staff realignment, Sandy Kolpe is moving from quality manager to program manager. With over 16 years of experience in the EMS industry, Sandy has held previous positions in planning and program management. With her Six Sigma Black Belt certification, Sandy brings a strong commitment to ensure that systems are developed to support customers’ requirements.

“We have won an unprecedented amount of new programs as well as incremental business from existing accounts in 2012, in part because we are seeing a strong re-shoring initiative in the markets we serve. That business is launching or ramping to volume in 2013 and we felt it was important to further strengthen our team. Hilario and Edgar have extensive experience in both electronics manufacturing services, as well as automotive, metering and industrial product manufacturing. They are hitting the ground running. Michael and Sandy are highly valued members of the team whose expertise is being redeployed to best support our current schedule of frequent production ramps of complex product. Just as we ‘flex’ cross-trained teams on our production floor to best serve demand, our management team has enough multi-disciplinary expertise to realign as needed to best support our growing business requirements,”  said John Sammut, Firstronic CEO.