Instead of tapping outside help to build Able Electronics Corp.'s IT infrastructure, company president Peter Dennis asked managers to develop an internal system that tracks production materials on a real-time basis.

Using its AbleTrax system, the contract manufacturer over the last six months has been able to give customers enhanced order-status information via the Internet. The midtier EMS company began taking the pulse of its customers' IT needs more than a year ago.

"We asked our customers what frustrated them most, and they said trying to get hold of program managers," said Dennis, who is also chief operating officer at the Hayward, Calif., company.

Asking the right questions and getting the correct answers to customers' IT needs has benefitted the privately held contractor. Able's new system has helped it gain three new customers, he said.

"Now order status is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week," Dennis said. "The program manager writes notes giving the chronological history of an order so the customer can see that everything is okay. It helps us show we want to improve relationships with our customers."

Able is one of several EMS providers that have used the current economic slowdown as an opportunity to boost its supply chain effectiveness with home-grown IT tools.

EMS providers that have established themselves globally want to show one corporate face to their customers, and IT has become the vehicle of choice, according to industry observers. Midtier contractors are still catching up, said Randall Sherman, an analyst at New Venture Research Corp. in San Francisco.

"They might be a little late in the game, but all customers require it now," Sherman said.

Rather than spend enormous sums on a multitude of software programs, Able executives have paid attention to the supply chain basics. "We're enhancing our phones, fax, e-mail, and other value-added services," Dennis said of the company, which also has a manufacturing facility in Tijuana, Mexico.

Customers like the change.