On Our Own and Out in Front
August 28, 2018
By Darrell McDaniel
It’s good to be back, and when I say “back,” I mean to our roots. Back to being the nimble, entrepreneurial company we were before we merged with M+W Group in 2010. It’s like a breath of fresh air.
Being part of a large multinational construction firm was great. It helped to put us on the global stage in the world of high-tech manufacturing and helped us achieve consistent growth. But as market demands changed, we realized that both of our companies served the same market, but had different synergies.
At our core, NSTAR is a semiconductor equipment and facilities service company. We work with high-tech equipment, and we provide engineers, skilled technicians and scalable resources to the larger industry.
As a wholly owned subsidiary, NSTAR operated as a financially independent company while adhering to a corporate structure. We appreciated the opportunities of being associated with a renowned engineering and design conglomerate, but our strength was in our independence. We amicably agreed to go our separate ways, and thanks to a management buyout completed in April, NSTAR is once again an independent entity, and I’m pleased to be at the helm.
In the month since it was publicly announced, we can already feel the positive energy returning among the staff as we come into our own as an autonomous company. Longtime employees remember how it was and are enjoying a return to simpler procedures and quicker response times.
Even the newer hires, who have only worked with us as a sliver of a large corporate entity are discovering how liberating it is to work in a more flexible environment, where they have the ability to execute on ideas without the previously inherent corporate conditions.
New and returning customers alike are benefiting from a more aggressive pricing structure and the rapid pace of business now that there’s no more red tape. We’re seeing a renewed interest from customers we have not heard from in some time.
The true test of our decision came during SEMICON West, which took place last month in San Francisco. As we have for the past five years, we based our operations for the show at The Kiterocket Experience, located above Moscone North. This time, however, we were not on the M+W side of the Experience. We were there as our own company, on the NSTAR side, and we were right out in front.
Our customers said they enjoyed our consistent presence and location; they could take a break from the hectic pace of SEMICON West, enjoy some refreshments and a great view. They also liked that they still knew where to find us, right in our established spot.
As the saying goes, hindsight is 20/20. We were lucky to have experienced being part of M+W Group (now Excyte), and we are even luckier to understand that returning to our roots is the best path forward for growth.
At NSTAR, we know how to work hard and have fun. We’re excited about our future as we venture out on our own, poised for success.
