This interview was help with Mr. Oren Beckermus, which is Co-CEO of Beckermus.
Tell me about Beckermus Technologies?
Beckermus Technology is a privately-owned company, I co-own it with my brother, Oded Beckermus, the name of the company as you can already guess comes from our family name. our company provides microelectronics & micro optics assembly services, we specializes in “bare die” assembly from all sort of sectors and applications: from medical devices to communications, automotive, AR\VR, defense and other, our experience and expertise is in providing full TK solutions for start-ups and R&D teams from prototype level to mass production.
Our production is performed at our 8000 SqFt cleanroom facility. We comply with ISO 13485 for Medical devices, AS9100D for aerospace as well as the IPC-A-610 & MILL-STD 883.
When did you start Beckermus Technologies? What were you doing before that?
My brother, Oded Beckermus and I established the company in 1998 out of our vision to create an excellence center in the field of micro assemblies, you have to understand that at that time in Israel this kind of industry was not yet developed and you couldn’t find someone to provide you with such services, we saw the opportunity and the potential and decided to make the jump. At start we focused mainly on the local market, providing subcontracting IC packaging services, with the years the company has evolved alongside the growth of the local startup community and the expansion of the global corporate activity in Israel, extending our services to the global market as well as offering full turnkey solution in almost all the required microelectronic and micro optic applications.
Before establishing the company, I worked for many years as an industrial designer, designing products for manufacturing, today I mainly use my design skills and knowledge in providing customized engineering solutions for mechanical challenges that we face in our day to day projects. My brother Oded served in key roles for some of the microelectronic industry’s leading companies for over 20 years, we joined forces together in 1998 and working side by side together ever since.
What problem did you see that needed to be fixed? What is your approach to solving that?
We have noticed a problem that is basically more typical to start-ups and small-scale companies but can also be seen in big organizations, as part of the NPI process companies are requested to proof of concept by building prototypes and small volumes prior to moving towards mass production. as strange as it may sound it is not always easy to find high skilled subcontractors that are willing to deal with such small quantities and if they find one they are often required to pay costly in NRE for equipment & facility, besides that they usually need to work with multiple suppliers for the different services that they are lacking of such as design, material sourcing, procurement etc, this is where Beckermus brings its added value, we have years of experience working with start-ups & R&D teams, we are used to working closely with small groups and can provide the manufacturing platform, no job is too small for us and mostly we take an “end to end” approach by providing full turnkey service, a one stop shop from design and development to mass production.
Which market segment seems promising to you? And why?
I would have to say Photonics and optics.
In the recent years we see a substantially increasing demand for packaging of optical and photonic components (VCSEL, Photo diodes etc..) from all parts of the industry sectors (medical, communication networks, automotive, AR\VR etc), I can say that almost 90% of our projects involves this segment and we believe it will even grow higher in the near future, this is why we are investing a lot in expanding and improving our abilities in this field year after year.
What is a typical customer for Beckermus Technologies?
I don’t think I can put my finger on a specific typical customer, the world of micro assemblies is very wide and you can find among our customers a variety of customers types coming from all sorts of sectors and applications, it can be startup companies, it can be development teams of leading companies (apple, intel etc), ASIC design houses and more. what I can say is that the majority comes from R&D teams that seek our help in solving their assembly challenges, process development and industrialization of their products. growing with this industry for so many years we have accumulated invaluable knowledge and insights which offer a distinct advantage to our customers.
How was the role/offering of Beckermus Technologies changed during the recent years?
As I mentioned previously we have noticed in the recent years a HUGH development in the field of photonics and optics segments, the market is totally moving towards that direction and you can practically see it everywhere in variety of applications and usages, in order to be able to answer the demand and expand our tool kit we have added optical design services in addition to our opto-mechanical ones and invested in high end equipment, by doing that it basically allowed us to offer a more complete and robust solution to our customers.
Did any of the market consolidation (or acquisition) affected your business and how?
Usually whenever a large-scale company acquires a small one it has a direct effect on all parties related to the acquired company.
I can give you a good example from our own experience, a medical start-up company for which we were assembling endoscopes for more than 15 years was acquired by “Medtronic” about 2 years ago and it had a very positive impact on our company, a part of the HUGH leap in quantities, it contributed us a lot in terms of quality, although we hold the ISO 13485 for the medical devices, in order to be a certified supplier of “Medtronic” we had to go through a long & demanding qualification process with very strict audits that eventually helped us improve in general our internal processes and procedures.
Customers are focused on time-to-market, first-time-right, price, etc. Do you see a change in customer behavior in recent years? Where is the focus today and why?
Ever since I remember customers always focused on time to market and price, there is no change in that aspect, working in our industry which is considered to be more complex and one that requires high precision with 0 tolerances for mistakes, our customer mostly focus on quality and innovation, this is why put tremendous efforts in maintaining the highest quality possible at all times, it starts with our high end environment – a state of the art cleanroom, equipped with the most advanced machines, continues with qualification to the industry’s most strict QA standards and ends with our exquisite team of experts that result in unique solutions for which Beckermus is well known of.
What are the 3 top things you wish your customers would do better (or different)?
when you deal with start-ups and R&D projects one of the most important stages in the project’s life cycle is the preliminary design reviews, this phase is crucial since it pretty much defines the product and its specifications, unfortunately, many times we see companies that meets us after the design phase has already been completed and that can be a big issue, not rarely we find design faults which requires changes to be made and that can lead eventually to additional costs and a delay in the project’s time lines.
next good and open communication is a must, it allows us to have a better understanding of the customer’s needs, provide our inputs, raise the flags when necessary and provide him eventually with the best possible solution, we really believe that a project can be successful only if both sides consider themselves as partners in the process, and lastly I would say bureaucracy, although it is more common in large scale companies still I think customer will do better if they work to remove this obstacle out of the way, often we see projects getting stuck due to internal processes and procedures which are not necessarily relevant to the professional aspects of the project, I must admit it can be very frustrating sometimes, for both sides.
Where can one find more information?
The main place to search for more information on our company is through our website (www.beckermus.com) and our LinkedIn page, you can find there deep view of our services, abilities, facility, and the latest news.
How do you spend your time outside working hours?
I give great deal of importance to my spare time, while running a company it can be very consuming and stressful, this is why I try to make a clear cut between the working hours at the office and my private life, I usually fill my spare time with family time, swimming, painting and sculpturing.
