Getting to Know Tico Electronics
With Marko Mileta
In December of 2022, Lisk acquired Costa Rican manufacturer Tico Electronics. We sat down with Marko Mileta, Managing Director, to learn more about Tico Electronics, their company culture and their capabilities.
When was Tico Electronics founded?
Tico Electronics was founded in 1995 by a group of Christian missionaries who came to Costa Rica with the purpose of creating jobs for single mothers in vulnerable neighborhoods. The idea was to create a safe and sustainable working environment through light manufacturing. We started by hand placing and soldering through-hole components on Printed Circuit Boards, but soon transitioned into fine wire windings and consequently more complex aerospace assemblies.
How would you describe Tico Electronics company culture?
Our company culture is our biggest asset. We pride ourselves in having a horizontal organization, with a dedicated and dynamic workforce. Visitors always commend on perceiving a certain happiness in our facility. We have offices with big windows, a well illuminated and clean production floor. In Tico Electronics we promote open conversation among the various departments, and even vote on the type of music that is played throughout the whole facility.
On the other hand, we are very disciplined and work hard. We strive to have Gemba boards visible for everybody to review our performance, and have quality deeply rooted in our DNA.
What products does Tico Electronics manufacture?
We are a build-to-print shop that focuses on complex labor intensive products for the Aerospace, Medical and Industrial markets. We specialize in all types of windings (motors, resolvers, bobbins, etc) and wire harnesses.
What social and environmental program does Tico Electronics have?
Since a lot of our workforce is still socially vulnerable, we have programs in place to analyze and help our employees and their families with financial, medical, psychological and social issues. We work on these programs in conjunction with our Credit Union (Aseticos) and outside consultants in order to attack problems in an integral way.
On the environmental side, we have just been awarded the Blue Ecological Flag award, which is a Costa Rican certification that audits and promotes best environmental practices. For example, we have covered our roofs with solar panels to improve on our electricity consumption and carbon footprint.
What manufacturing certifications does Tico Electronics have?
We are certified to ISO9001, AS9100 (aerospace) and NADCAP in TIG welding. We also have in house trainers and certified operators to J-STD-001 soldering and IPC-A-620 wire harness processes.
What is one of your favorite memories working at Tico Electronics?
I have been here for 21 years full time, and a few more before as an intern, so there are a lot of memories that I remember fondly.
One of the interesting traditions that we have is that we would always take a Christmas picture of the full staff. This was an easy task when we first started and had few employees, but it became more and more complex as we grew. We then decided to create calendars with our group picture to share with all our employees, kind of like a yearbook. This soon caught the attention of customers and suppliers, so now our calendar photo is one of the most anticipated events of the year.