Bala Bahl: Directing Sierra Circuits on Its Pursuit To Revolutionize The Pcb Industry

Never too late to go after your dreams. – Bala Bahl
Responding to the pressing need for an innovative firm to tackle the existing industry inefficiencies and push the envelope to help revolutionize the PCB industry, Bala Bahl incorporated Sierra Circuits along with her husband, Ken Bahl (President & CEO). Sierra Circuits is an ISO 9001:2015, certified, Silicon Valley-based, high-technology manufacturer and assembler specialized in quick turn PCBs and medium production.
Specializing in quick turn PCBs and medium production runs, Sierra’s primary focus is delivering the highest quality product in the shortest amount of time. What makes this possible is that Sierra is the actual manufacturer and assembler of PCBs. By owning their manufacturing and assembly facilities, they control every aspect of the production schedule.
Designated as Vice President at the company, Bala Bahl is the backbone of the firm. Her unrelenting determination to get things done makes her a perfect counterbalance to her husband’s visionary ideals. Ken & Bala keep each other completely content with the effort & the results in creating this organization that is servicing the world today. Their love for family and strong company culture is reflected in the integrity of Sierra Circuits’ products.
“I am the co-owner and my role is the internal performance of the organization while my husband’s role is in creating and executing the future vision of the organization”, shared the leading lady.
THE INSPIRATION BEHIND THE INCEPTION
When they were interviewing people, they were asked the same question. Since the first day, the core motivation has been to do good to the world & make a difference. Since then, they have done better & better to take care of the associates at work & to do good to the world which has continued all the way & will continue for the rest of this organization’s longevity.
Annually & continuously, they take a portion of the value of the company profits & give to a charitable trust which supports organizations to educate the children, health care & less fortunate around the world, not just in the United States. Ultimately, on a mission for Sierra to be financially strong to start a project of paying for employee’s children’s education.
CLIENTELE & CORPORATE ETHICS
Anyone who is in the electronic industry is served by Sierra Circuits. Examples: Google, Amazon, Facebook, Apple, and innovative start-ups which are capable of changing the world, like Tesla, SpaceX, Zoox, Waymo. They recently got a certification for supporting Amazon’s Blue Origin flight to space etc. & they also service customers in the military aerospace market like Lockheed and Boeing, Plexus, etc.
Their objective is to provide existing technology they are using & take them into the future technology that they would need according to the increased tech demand of the future. To support that, they continuously create new technologies, and currently, they have approx. 18 awarded patents and multiple in the process.
THE TURNING POINT IN BALA’S JOURNEY FAR
The turning point was when her husband kept increasing his vision for the future and Bala being a conservative person, there were times they would disagree on the subject.
Converting her into supporting the vision of her husband is the biggest turning point for her today. The investments he did, he always exceeded the limits that their size of business should do.
He always invested in the future which is hard to predict but, their efforts together made the future real. Even today her husband’s vision is to dominate the electronics business of the future & completely support him.
BALA’S UNIQUE LEADERSHIP, MISSION & VISION
She believes that communication with all the employees must be a part of the core culture-creating aspect of every organization. She is always finding new ways to motivate the teams to achieve the company objectives building relationships with them & she calls them “Sierra Family”.
Their mission is to continuously support the design engineers with the software & the hardware needs, in the shortest possible time from design to prototype. By owning their manufacturing and assembly facilities, they control every aspect of the production schedule. Because they are controlling all the processes from beginning to the end, it gives them a unique opportunity to shorten the design cycle & give businesses time to market faster than any competitor.
“The biggest differentiator from our competitors is completely integrated processes and the services that we provide to them to correct their errors in design & make the product more manufacturable. The new vision is to support our customers in production because the patented technology cannot be produced by anyone else. By providing unprecedented quality, reliability, and a single point ofsupport, our difference is delivering quality products on time, and services to make their design flawless for production. Hardly any competitor can come close to meeting that”, the visionary apprised.
DEFINITION OF SUCCESS
The leading lady describes success as supporting her customers to their desired level and exceeding their expectations with continuous ongoing improvement.
Her continued growing success helps her do the best to her associates within her organization and the world in educating children as well as taking care of the less fortunate.
She credits her success to her associates who play a key role in producing the product & giving services to the customers.
INDUSTRY’S SCENARIO OVER THE YEARS
“In the last 36 years, the industry has changed from manufacturing in the U.S. to offshore for economic reasons & our plans changed accordingly to provide the product that offshore can’t. Which essentially is the cycle time of manufacturing. Now the time has come when our manufacturing has become so optimum that now we can even provide production volumes at a better value than the offshore for the high-tech jobs. And that is how the industry has changed for us and we have changed with the industry to support our global customers”, shared Bala Bahl
PROGRESSING IN THE LEADERSHIP POSITION
As a leader, Bala Bahl encourages managers to pay attention to details & which creates the foundation for the success of the services. Make associates proud of their accomplishments, which inspires them to improve all the time. The second distinction is the aggressive mission to grow the business to make a difference and to do good in the world.
She takes care of everyone around her. The firm’s general philosophy is that if we take care of the associates, then they will take care of the business. And take care of the customers who then become lifelong supporters of the business. Sierra’s continuous effort to provide career opportunities for associates, providing the tools needed to succeed and providing them with training & education to grow them as individuals and professionals.
PERFORMANCE THROUGH 2020 & EXPANSION PLAN
Surprises in business will always happen & you always need to find ways to mitigate the negative & enhance the positives to maintain the business. Which Bahl and her team did.
In 2021, the company grew 20% as compared to 2020 & continues to do so with the help of the associates here at Sierra while expanding the production facilities & team of associates.
WORDS OF WISDOM
Never give up on your dreams & take care of the world at large.