Lightfair 2017 is just around the corner, with the 2017 event being held from May 9^th to the 11^th at the Pennsylvania Convention Center in Philadelphia. Lightfair 2017 will play host to members of the architectural and commercial lighting industries, as they meet to learn about new solutions, knowledge and discoveries in lighting.

A hot topic at Lightfair 2017 is sure to be LED technology, with improvements to the technology a focal point of discussion. Pace is excited to attend and learn more about the technology.

One of Pace customers’ primary concerns is to dramatically reduce lead time to market. With LED technology improving so rapidly, the lighting company able to bring that new LED technology to market first, will dominate. Pace is assisting customers on the front end, with early supplier involvement (ESI) in the engineering and design of LED castings. By also getting designs to be die cast friendly, reducing their weight, and making them as cost-effective as possible, Pace is meeting customer demand.

By addressing these concerns at the beginning of the process, Pace can generate a quote faster, get their tool shops involved quicker, and reduce the lead time to build new tools. This is enabling customers to get their product out into the market faster than their competitors.

While Pace will not be showing at Lightfair 2017, they will be present to meet with industry experts to learn about advances in the lighting industry, and what role they will play in the future of lighting. Stay tuned for what they learned at the show.

Pace’s Port City Group was recently awarded a Certificate of Achievement at Toyota’s Supplier Conference. A casting division of PCG supplies Toyota with the vacuum pump bracket used for the hydraulic brakes in the Toyota Tacoma TRD Off Road package. The certificate was awarded to PCG for achieving a 100% on-time delivery rate and a zero PPM defective for the year of 2016.

A PPM (Parts per Million) score relates to the number of parts per million that are defective. If a supplier produces 10,000 parts and just one of those parts is defective, that supplier has a PPM of 100. PCG was responsible for production of over 30,000 parts, a relatively small number, but achieved a PPM of zero. While many other companies avoid taking on smaller production volumes, PCG was able to deliver these parts with a zero PPM, while remaining 100% on time.

Being on time once is easy. Being on time thousands of times, across all areas of production, throughout an entire year is a difficult task without doubt. In 2016, PCG not only met Toyota’s strict production requirements, they did it on time every time. Being on time saves the customer downtime, money, and in the end, cultivates a sense of trust between supplier and customer. When a customer knows they can depend on the supplier, they don’t need to look elsewhere.

Not only is PCG responsible for the casting of the part, they also provide secondary machining and assembly for the vacuum pump bracket. PCG machines the part, inserts a gasket (assembly), and then pressure tests the assembly to ensure the highest quality and functionality is being delivered to Toyota.

With Port City Group able to offer these secondary operations, they provide an added value to their customers. While competitors may only supply the raw casting, PCG goes above and beyond to ensure that whatever they produce is being sent to the customer when they need it and how they need it. The secondary operations for this part include machining, blast finishing, assembly, and pressure testing.

This award from Toyota stands as a testament to the Port City Group’s uncompromising commitment to excellence, upholding the values of Pace as a whole. By accommodating all processes in-house, PCG helps Toyota optimize their total cost by providing an end to end solution, saving time and money. At PCG, our culture of zero defects and exceeding our customers’ expectations ensures that partners like Toyota remain just that.