As many great entrepreneurial stories begin, ours began inside a humble garage in California. Since then Creative Electron has become one of the largest x-ray manufacturers in the country while remaining true to its founding core values and principles. The principle that defines us and our growth is a simple one: Made in USA.
We get why our competitors go overseas to make their machines. It is tempting to add a few bucks to the bottom line by getting things cheaper somewhere else. The tradeoff is flexibility, innovation, and quality. Good or bad, when you have manufacturing under your roof, it’s on you to make things right. And if they’re not right, you have the time and resources to make them right. On the other hand, if x-ray cabinets land in your facility already made by someone else – well – there’s not much you can do other than cosmetics.
We also get innovation is not a priority to our competition. It is for us. Innovation is not only a priority, but a way of life. That’s how we’ve been able to grow from our humble beginnings to the company we are today. Innovation is in our DNA, so cosmetic changes to boxes landed in a container don’t work for us. That’s why when we started working in artificial intelligence in 2018, we didn’t want to outsource it. We made the investment and developed the skills internally. It was expensive and painful, but we got it done. Same thing with automation, and now have an awesome team that can make robots dance the Macarena (is that still a thing?).
Artificial intelligence, automation, and x-ray expertise became the cornerstones of our business. We could not have gotten there if we were outsourcing most of our manufacturing. Innovation is hard to plan, but we love when it develops organically. Today these three elements are used to solve inspection applications from medical device quality control to the detection of defects in golf balls. These three elements give us the critical building blocks to design solutions for any application. And with a manufacturing team that practices operational excellence – these ideas become reality.
The proximity between our departments provides a tangible connection, enhancing the fluidity of production and improving our flexibility and effectiveness with customers. This allows us to pivot better to accommodate their niches and expectations.
These are the five core values essential to who we are. We hire and fire based on these values.
The bottom line is that we need to be true to our DNA. For us and our core values, Made in USA is what makes sense. A short and tight supply chain works for us. That means we’re not the cheapest company in the market. It means we’re the company that helps our customers in a timely manner with solutions they (for the most part) thought it was not possible.
