A sharp increase in demand has prompted Darekon to take rapid action to grow capacity. The firm has invested in a completely new SMT production line at Darekon’s Haapavesi plant.
The global growth in cybercrime and working from home has led to an update in security practices.
The corona situation has remained calm at all of Darekon’s four plants. Operations are in line with the new normal and no one has caught the coronavirus so far. The situation is being closely monitored and all activities are health-first, which is the most important thing. Detailed action plans have been prepared for possible illnesses.
Strong growth in demand
The strong increase in intensive care units and other growing needs for medical care in the world have been reflected in the strong growth in demand for certain products at Darekon.
“The pandemic has caused us an explosion in the demand for certain products,” says Antti Järviluoma, plant director at Haapavesi. “For example, if the annual production of one product has been 20,000 pieces, the same quantity should now be produced in three months. This indicates the scale of the situation.”
There is no time to dawdle in the face of this new situation. The decision to invest in a new production line was made quickly and the new line began production in early May. In addition to a assembly machine and a reflow oven, the investment includes a paste printing machine, an automatic optical inspection machine and a selective soldering machine. The new line will almost double the plant’s SMT production capacity.
“We are at the forefront of the fight against the pandemic – in a valuable and important position,” Järviluoma continues. “The staff understands the situation and is very committed. The acquisition and installation of the new line was achieved in record time. The normal delivery time for machines from all over Europe is 10 to 12 weeks, but we received the equipment on a ‘bypass lane’ in a few weeks.”
With the new equipment, new personnel was also needed at Haapavesi. The current number of more than 100 people has increased and will increase by about 10 to 15 more people. The total value of the investment at Haapavesi is approximately EUR 1.2 million.
Working from home requires security management
Using VPN on laptops was already a routine at Darekon, but the strong increase in working from home has required new practices. These include, for example, encrypting disks on portable computers and 2-stage authentication, MFA (multi-factor authentication).
“Cybercriminals are a problem in companies of all sizes, and various hacking attempts have clearly increased recently,” says Pertti Mäkinen, Darekon’s system development expert and director. “Everyone has a responsibility to not give ground to criminals. You have to do what can be done.”
“If a thief takes a laptop from the car’s back seat, he will not get his hands on the contents of the machine’s encrypted disk. If the machine is successfully started, it will be reported to IT support, which can empty the contents of the machine. MFA, on the other hand, prevents the hijacking of an e-mail account, for example, when the login needs to be confirmed with a code that came through another channel.”
Let’s take care of our own share
According to Mäkinen, e-mail is still used too much to send important information. Cybercriminals have ample means of accessing and reading e-mails like an open postcard. For example, customer-specific channels for product management can be built through teamwork spaces, through which communication and data transfer can be implemented easily and much more securely.
“We can’t wait to see how the big ones act,” Mäkinen continues. “We want to take care of our own share, we do not spread harmful content and we safeguard our own operations. It is a matter of attitude and diligence. When we come from the city, we wash our hands. We are aware of the risks and act accordingly.”