NEOTech’s Armando Gonzalez on Building High-Performance Teams
NEOTech is a longstanding EMS provider focused on high reliability programs across Aerospace & Defense, Medical, and High-Tech Industrial markets, with sites including Fremont and Southern California (Carlsbad/Chatsworth). The Fremont, CA facility, serving the greater Silicon Valley region, specializes in low-to-medium volume, high-mix production for demanding sectors such as A&D and medical, backed by a company culture centered on customer excellence and quality-driven manufacturing.
NEOTech’s operations have embraced Lean for many years, with documented results from initiatives at its California sites. That continuous improvement mindset forms the backdrop to how the company structures daily production, leadership development, and visual management on the floor.
We sat down with Armando Gonzalez, General Manager at NEOTech, to discuss his leadership philosophy, the mechanics of communication and accountability, and how servant leadership and Lean training translate into better throughput, quality, and engagement.
Armando, what’s your personal approach to leading a successful production team?
It starts with communication and recognition. Communication must be precise, fast, and unambiguous, especially between production and support functions. We deploy common tools so information flows without friction: our manufacturing leads manage shop floor control in Microsoft Planner and collaborate through Teams and Outlook so issues immediately route to the right owner, whether that’s manufacturing engineering, quality, test, planning, or supply chain. The second pillar is recognition: when a line lead, assembler, or tech surfaces a solution, we call it out and act quickly. That positive reinforcement encourages others to contribute and builds momentum.
What makes your production floor stand out?
Discipline around a daily visual management routine. Every morning, first thing, each production cell reviews an SQCDP board – Safety, Quality, Cost, Delivery, People – and presents how the line performed the prior day. If any metric misses target, the lead documents the reason, the support owner, and a dated action. We run this as a true visual factory: anyone, customers included, can see at a glance where we’re on target, where we’re not, and what’s being done about it. That transparency compresses response time and drives issues to ground quickly.
How do you manage unexpected disruptions on the line?
Two things: urgency and clarity of consequence. When a problem is raised, we explicitly state the impact – hat slips if we don’t act – so buyers, planners, ME, QE, and test understand the priority. Then we assign an owner and a time-bound commitment on the board. That shared urgency keeps everyone aligned on what matters now.
If you had to pick one mindset or tool that’s moved the needle most, what would it be?
Servant leadership. My job, and the job of supervisors and support staff, is to serve the production team. The people who move the needle every day are assemblers, technicians, and inspectors. If they hit a barrier, our role is to remove it quickly. Titles and degrees don’t change that responsibility. When teams feel that support, they speak up sooner, problems surface earlier, and throughput improves.
What’s the “secret” to consistently delivering high quality?
People first. Keep teams motivated and engaged and give them the training and tools to succeed. Recognition matters, but so does job fit. Sometimes quality improves simply by moving a talented person to a line, customer program, or department where they’re more energized. We also invest in our leads with coaching on precise communication; no “they/them,” no “almost/maybe.” We ask for names, quantities, dates, and times. Precision in language leads to precision in execution.
You’ve mentioned SQCDP and servant leadership, and both are very “lean.” How is lean manufacturing shaping your approach at NEOTech?
Lean is the foundation we’re building on. We’re rolling out a structured program we call our House of Lean: this year, leads, supervisors, and support staff complete a Yellow Belt curriculum and drive multiple A3 projects. Next year, program managers, MEs, and supervisors advance to Green Belt projects that translate directly into cost and throughput improvements and select high performers will pursue Black Belt training. We’re fortunate to have a Lean Six Sigma Black Belt trainer on staff, which lets us embed the training into daily work. The idea is simple: start with 5S and core lean tools, then scale problem solving capability across the factory so improvement becomes routine, not episodic.
Last question: how do you keep the culture strong through the inevitable tough days?
By closing the day together and reopening it together. We acknowledge that passionate debates happen…quality, supply chain, and production see problems from different angles. We address the issue, document the action, then create space for team bonding outside the line: small events, quick celebrations of wins. The next morning, we’re back on the floor aligned on goals. That rhythm builds trust.
