How Zollner Scaled From Startup To 400 Jobs In Cartago with General Manager Octavio Matus

Philip Spognoli Stoten (0:07)

Hello, I'm Philip Stoten. I'm at Zollner in Costa Rica, and I'm joined by Octavio Matus, who is the General Manager.

Octavio Matus (0:14)

Yes, indeed.

Philip Spognoli Stoten (0:15)

It's been a while. It's been nearly 12 years since I was here last.

You're bulging at the seams in the old facility. Completely. It's been an adventure. Tell me about the start and the challenges at the very beginning, and a little bit about that journey.

Octavio Matus (0:30)

Sure. Very nice to have you here again. It has been a great story. Behind all these 12 years, with the first EMS in Costa Rica, all the challenges to develop suppliers, the challenge to also train the people, find the people, which actually was not difficult, but train the people under our Zollner culture.

And also start interacting with new customer, right? So we have developed all this beautiful story in Costa Rica. Now after 12 years, very proud. I can tell you, very proud to see what we are doing now, developing our future, our journey for the next generation.

Today we have more than 400 employees. Now with this expansion, built for expansion, we're going double capacity now, double in many different ways. So I can tell you that all the effort that we did during all these 12 years, I can see now the result very positively. And Costa Rica, I believe, is a very good place to be, because it has been very easy to do. I won't say not easy, but at least a place that actually helped us to grow as well.

Philip Spognoli Stoten (1:32)

Yeah. And I think that's really interesting. I think the Zollner story and the story of technology, high-tech in Costa Rica have gone in parallel. You talked a bit about talent. How has the team here developed? You told me earlier that much of the management team are the people that I met here 11 and a half years ago when you opened up.

Octavio Matus (1:50)

That's true. I mean, something that I really appreciate from people is the commitment, the loyalty, I would say the sense of belonging. We have developed a great culture in Zollner Costa Rica. Actually, my first level of directors started with me. 2014, the same team. So imagine all the skills that we have obtained all this year. The customer also appreciated because the knowledge.

And this is also a very good message to our customer because the stability that we have actually selling to them is, I would say, the best in class.

Philip Spognoli Stoten (2:25)

Yeah, absolutely. And I was just taking around the facility by one of your, with one of your engineering team, solving problems for the customer with automation, with different inspection methodology. There was a huge sense of pride for solutions that were developed locally.

And you have a really big engineering team that is now becoming the base for the whole of the Americas.

Octavio Matus (2:48)

The base. And this is a very good point, Phil, because we have now the hope for engineering in Costa Rica. Can you imagine?

12 years ago when we started, we started with one SMT and a small shop, now becoming the hope for Americas, for engineering, right? And the short services out of Costa Rica. So this is great, very proud of it, because we can do now, I mean, the end-to-end, I would say, process for our customer, right? Vertical integration, I would say, for engineering point of view, I would say all the support, testing, development, the product itself, I mean, Boxbill Assembly, supplier development in Costa Rica, and the knowledge as well. I mean, all the DFX, DFM, DFT taking place in Costa Rica, this is amazing. Besides, without mention, the Lean Six Sigma mindset that we have in place, right? This is the best in class, I would say, the magic between knowledge and also philosophy and discipline.

Philip Spognoli Stoten (3:36)

Yeah. Yeah. And that is part of that Zollner culture that you talked about. And you mentioned that you have that culture here, but it's throughout the business, isn't it? Being able to visit other sites, understanding that they're working with the same equipment, with the same challenges, in some cases, the same customers. It really gives you the basis to do even better here.

Octavio Matus (3:57)

Absolutely. The partnership between Zollner sites is amazing as well. This is the reason why we're now working with Americas, it becomes more natural.

Philip Spognoli Stoten (4:07)

Yeah.

Octavio Matus (4:07)

Because it's not like we see us like, you are from US, I'm from Costa Rica, we are the same company. Yeah. So this also enable us to improve the relationship internally, but also supporting our customers. Yeah.