| SpringBoard Technology Corporation
Marsha Montori
The Momentum Group
(413) 525-1700
Digital Equipment Corporation
Nikki Richardson
(508)493-6369
FORMATION OF SPRINGBOARD TECHNOLOGY CORPORATION ANNOUNCED
SPRINGFIELD, Mass. -- April 21, 1993 -- Anthony F. Dolphin, site and
plant manager of Digital Equipment Corporation's Springfield
manufacturing facility, today announced the formation of SpringBoard
Technology Corporation, a high technology spin-off of Digital
specializing in refurbishing and low-volume manufacturing of tape
drives, disk drives and modules.
SpringBoard is scheduled to begin operation on May 24 in 100,000
square feet of leased space in the former Digital State Street site.
Dolphin, who is the majority owner of SpringBoard, expects the staff
to expand to over 100 fairly rapidly. The core of SpringBoard's
workforce is drawn from Digital's former Springfield manufacturing
organization.
With average experience in the range of 15 years, the staff of
SpringBoard has accumulated substantial skills in manufacturing and
refurbishing disk and tape drives designed by Digital and other key
OEMs(Original Equipment Manufacturers). As part of Digital, the
Springfield plant launched more than 100 new products of varying
technological complexity. In addition, they instituted several
initiatives in the areas of process and quality that have resulted
in demonstrated leadership in the application of Six Sigma (Total
Quality Management) methodology, a Class A MRP (Manufacturing
Resource Planning) certification and a recent ISO certification.
"Digital devoted over 20 years to building a highly skilled, highly
motivated workforce at the Springfield plant," said Edward B.
McDonough, vice president of Manufacturing and Logistics for
Digital."We, and other companies doing business with SpringBoard,
will certainly benefit from the technical expertise of its
employees.
"In addition, the formation of the company will have a positive
influence on the community by retaining inner-city jobs in
Springfield," he concluded.
"Digital has been extremely supportive in launching SpringBoard,"
said Dolphin. "Our lease not only includes space in the State Street
site, but also tools, equipment and an existing clean room for
refurbishing and remanufacturing computer disk and tape drives."
SpringBoard plans to begin construction immediately on a second
clean room to accommodate additional OEM contracts.
The products in SpringBoard's target market include disk drives 5.25
inches and smaller with capacities greater than 100 megabytes; and
8mm, 4mm DAT, QIC and Digital proprietary catridge tape drives with
capacities greater than 70 megabytes. With the trend toward
subcontracting support for mature product line tape and disk drives,
the market for repair services in these product categories is
projected to grow to $505 million by 1994.
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