Honoring our past and inspiring our future - a look back at my first two years

When I joined Celestica two years ago, I knew I was joining a company with a strong legacy. I also had some ideas about how the company could change. 

My approach to change has always been to honor and respect the past, inspire the future and be the partner our customers need. In the past two years, Celestica has achieved seven straight quarters of year-over-year revenue growth, strengthened relationships with some of our biggest customers and made smart investments that will ensure our company’s continued competitiveness in an increasingly globalized market. We have made great progress on our strategy and we are doing the right things to deliver value for our customers.  

Honor and respect the past
Knowing who we are as a company helps us define who we want to become. Celestica’s unique history has helped us become who we are today. It has ingrained in us a focus on technology, a passion for continuous improvement and a culture based on strong values and the empowerment of our people. 

Throughout our more than 20-year history, we have learned that there is no compromise on quality, delivery and service for mission-critical products. Our reputation for excellence and adhering to the highest quality standards is paramount. 

We also believe that engineering is at the core of everything we do, and I’ve been proud to see our teams around the globe deepen their relationships with our customers, helping them to solve increasingly complex challenges.

By understanding where we excel, we will unlock new opportunities. High-reliability electronics have always been the foundation upon which Celestica has built its reputation. From sophisticated electronics assemblies for commercial aircrafts, to software-defined data centers that store critical and highly sensitive information, the products we manufacture are depended upon in the most important of environments.  Around the globe we are witnessing a resurgence in the need for high-quality, long-lasting hardware, and because of our experience, we are perfectly positioned to take advantage of this trend. 

Inspire the future 

To unlock our full potential, we need to inspire ourselves to create the future.

During my time at Celestica, we have doubled down and focused on our aerospace and defense, smart energy, and joint design and manufacturing capabilities. We have realigned our operating model towards our customers and added organizational strength to strategic business areas to ensure our teams are future-focused. Most recently, we have expanded our presence in Silicon Valley through the launch of our Celestica Silicon Valley Customer Experience Centre (CSV). 

CSV is a tremendous example of how Celestica is inspiring the future. One of the biggest lessons I’ve learned in the past two years is that the opportunities for collaboration are endless. CSV enables our customers to tap into our global network of industry experts. It’s a place for customers to think about the unlimited possibilities ahead, and shape the future of their business. This is only the beginning. 

Be the partner our customers need
I think the biggest changes are yet to come. Over the next five years, industries and companies alike will be transformed as never before. With supply chains growing and technology like AI and IoT starting to revolutionize entire markets, our customers are looking to Celestica to act as partners rather than simply manufacturers. Our success over this period is going to be defined by our ability to become an even more customer-centric organization. To do this, we will need to not only understand our customers’ markets, but listen to their needs and preempt their challenges. 

Our industry is rapidly changing, but so are we. The future will come quickly and we will continue to make the right investments to prepare ourselves for the long term. Going into my third year with Celestica, I’m proud of what we’ve built together. Tomorrow's challenges will be more complex, faster-paced and bigger than anything we’ve yet confronted. And our customers will continue to rely on our vision and experience to guide them through this complexity. The value we deliver to our customers will determine our success. I am confident our team will provide the partnership and deep industry expertise they require to stay ahead.