Kymeta Fulfills Global Mobile Connectivity Promises

From RFQ to Production in Six Months

To expedite time to market, Jabil’s West Coast engineering team spent time at Kymeta’s headquarters working with early prototypes in the lab. What started as a knowledge transfer process soon turned into a collaboration to identify design industry best practices, standards and tools to improve Jabil’s performance and cost efficiency. “Jabil helped create a manufacturing mindset and culture in our design engineering teams, so they were always thinking of questions that needed to be answered and key design elements that had to be addressed,” says Shadle. “This clearly had a positive impact on setting objectives and defining processing, cycle times and capabilities to ensure success.”

The constant interaction also streamlined decisions around product capabilities, supply chain, manufacturing processes and automation. “Jabil supported us in a number of ways,” recalls Kundtz. “Flexibility on the front end helped us learn what we otherwise didn’t know about production. Most important, Jabil allowed us to focus on the core elements of our business in antenna design.”

Kymeta points to Jabil’s materials expertise as a pivotal factor in moving forward its alpha product prototype. “Jabil’s engineers worked with us to finalize materials and remove uncertainties,” adds Shadle. “Together, we turned the prototype into something real and ready for production in just six months, which is remarkable. We were thrilled to build our first product after just launching the project months earlier.”

Kymeta also credits close supply chain alignment for expediting processes while lowering costs. Jabil’s supply chain experts reviewed initial prototypes and made sourcing recommendations that resulted in major cost savings. “Whenever you introduce a new technology, it can be quite expensive to produce early prototypes,” Shadle notes. “With Jabil’s supply chain insight and sourcing recommendations, we reduced costs by 43% while improving quality. The ability to do that quickly was huge for Kymeta.”

Delivering Visibility and Value

From the start, Jabil’s InControl Intelligent Digital Supply Chain played a major part in helping Kymeta reduce risk, which is crucial, especially for a new company. An accurate risk assessment of Kymeta’s supply chain was presented in a quantifiable, measurable way. “Jabil InControl helps us understand and manage risk both strategically and tactically,” says Shadle. “The risk framework lets us quantify very specific elements of our supply chain, and pinpoints where we should be focusing our attention and priorities, which is huge.”

Moving away from single-sourcing components is one way Kymeta continues to lower its risk score, which now has a benchmark typical of a high-tech company in a multinational environment.

Another risk factor addressed by InControl is the ability to immediately assess and minimize the impact of geo-political events and natural disasters. Getting a real-time notification of any event that could disrupt Kymeta’s supply chain is crucial, especially since the company leverages the LCD industry, which is heavily concentrated in earthquake-prone areas of Asia.

With InControl, Kymeta has structured its supply chain so every piece can scale. “Jabil helped us go really deep into our supply chain, which gave us confidence that Kymeta can deliver what our customers expect without hiccups in the supply chain,” says Kundtz. “We don’t have to worry about what it will take to reach large-scale production, allowing us to stay focused on our core mission.”

Looking ahead, Kymeta is eager to take advantage of InControl to synchronize the multiple tiers of its supply chain, while having virtual access to information on any connected device. “Anywhere, anytime visibility into what’s going on in the supply chain across first, second and third tiers is powerful,” says Shadle. “Providing more suppliers with some of that access will result in more collaborative planning, improved inventory availability and greater operational efficiency.”

Automation is another strategy enabling Kymeta to reach volume production, especially as it relates to glass handling. Jabil’s special expertise in this area led to a recommendation to invest in automation, which Kymeta believes will contribute significantly to improved efficiency and quality. Making antennas for the first time using components that come off an LCD production line is not trivial, so Kymeta expected low production yields initially. However, the team experienced high yields early on, which has validated early manufacturing process decisions and boosted confidence for a successful commercial launch in Q2 2017.

Kymeta also gives credit to Jabil’s workcell business model, which encompasses a dedicated team to oversee all aspects of Kymeta’s manufacturing and supply chain operations. “Jabil’s model strikes the right balance between customer focus and the ability to leverage synergies across the globe,” adds Shadle. “Simply stated, it’s a powerful combination.”

Another winning combo is a strong cultural alignment and transparency between the two organizations. “In contrast to other contract manufacturers, Jabil has matched the energy and pace of our organization,” says Kundtz. “They’re always ready and flexible when it comes to dealing with the inevitable changes that come with a new company and technology. Jabil is essential to our market entry.”

In March 2017, Kymeta announced commercial availability to meet early customer requirements while continuing to advance its antenna technology. Regardless of whether a car is in New York City or the Sahara Desert, always-on, always-connected communications will not only replace spotty Wi-Fi available today, but it also lets software updates and fixes be delivered over the air. This becomes even more important as the industry moves toward autonomous vehicles.

Kymeta also is making major inroads in its other target industries through a series of partnerships with technology companies and manufacturers of civilian armored vehicles, yachts, rail, coaches, aircraft and more. “Automotive and aerospace OEMs are very demanding when it comes to quality,” concludes Shadle. “Jabil has the pedigree, experience, DNA of quality management and partner network to support us. Jabil’s right in the middle of our operation today and is a key component of our future.”