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Celebrating Women Who Move Humanity Forward: Paragon Sponsors Sally’s Night 2025 On November 13, Paragon Manufacturing proudly sponsored Sally’s Night. We Celebrated the Women Leaders of Space, an inspiring gathering of innovators, pioneers, students, and engineers shaping the future of aerospace. Hosted at Lake Nona’s new MS2 accelerator space and presented by the Space Happy Hour FL Chapter, the event brought together an incredible community of women-focused tech groups, businesses, and charities united around one mission: celebrating the women who make space exploration possible. Honoring the Legacy, and the Future, of Women in Space From trailblazing astronauts like Dr. Sally Ride, America’s first woman in space, to brilliant mathematicians like Katherine Johnson, to Florida’s own Janet Petro, the first woman to lead NASA’s Kennedy Space Center, women have always been at the forefront of aerospace innovation. Yet far too often, their achievements have been overlooked or only celebrated long after the impact was made. Sally’s Night was created to change that. This year’s event featured powerful insights and stories from an inspiring lineup of speakers, including: Krystel Knowles, Sharon Hagle, Lt. Col. Kimberly B, and Natalie Brattain, each sharing their perspectives on leadership, exploration, and the future of women in space. With talks from women astronauts, hands-on networking, student engagement, community partners, and an atmosphere buzzing with excitement for the future, Sally’s Night showcased the women who are actively shaping the next era of exploration, right now. Why Paragon Supports Events Like Sally’s Night At Paragon Manufacturing, we believe every great mission begins with connection between ideas, disciplines, and people. Aerospace advancement doesn’t happen in isolation. It happens when engineering excellence meets collaboration, creativity, and the courage to reach for something greater. That’s why supporting women in STEM and aerospace is more than sponsorship for us, it’s alignment with our purpose. From the earliest dreamers to today’s engineers, women have continuously expanded what humanity can achieve. Their leadership influences everything from spacecraft design and safety systems to mission planning and advanced manufacturing, directly impacting the work we do every day. Paragon’s role may happen on the ground, but our mission is always tied to helping humanity go further. Through precision craftsmanship, relentless problem-solving, end-to-end engineering partnership, and a passion for supporting the future of aerospace, we’re proud to be part of the system that helps bring complex ideas to life. A Night to Inspire the Next Generation Paragon is committed to supporting events that help more young women see themselves in STEM careers, whether in engineering, manufacturing, aerospace, robotics, or any field that pushes the boundaries of innovation. Proud to Be Part of the Mission We’re honored to have supported this year’s Sally’s Night and to stand alongside the women who are advancing science, engineering, and space exploration. Their leadership elevates the entire industry, and it’s a privilege to help amplify their work. To the trailblazers, the innovators, the students, and the next generation of explorers, Paragon celebrates you. Your impact is already shaping our future.

The Top 5 Mistakes Driving Up Manufacturing Cost In manufacturing, even small oversights can snowball into major expenses. From rework and material waste to missed deadlines and lost customer trust. At Paragon, we’ve seen firsthand how simple process adjustments can save companies thousands while improving product quality. Here are five of the most common mistakes that drive up manufacturing costs and how to prevent them. 1. Failing to Set Requirements in Stone One of the most expensive missteps happens before production even begins. When requirements aren’t clearly defined or change midstream. It leads to confusion, rework, and material waste. Every tweak after the fact adds time and cost. How to avoid it:Take the time to lock down your design intent, tolerances, and documentation before production. A clear, approved specification eliminates guesswork and gives your manufacturing partner the direction they need to deliver precisely what you envisioned. 2. Overlooking Regulatory and Compliance Requirements Ignoring or underestimating compliance standards can be costly. Whether your product must meet ISO, FDA, or industry-specific requirements, nonconformance can lead to scrapped builds, failed audits, or full product recalls. How to avoid it:Involve your manufacturing partner early to ensure your design aligns with all applicable regulations. At Paragon, our compliance experts verify each step meets required standards, protecting you from costly do-overs and delays. 3. Designing Without Understanding Your Customer Base Many manufacturers assume they know what customers want, only to learn too late that the product isn’t aligned with user needs. Designing in a vacuum can result in over-engineering, unnecessary features, or products that miss the mark entirely. How to avoid it:Define your target market and design for your end user from the start. Use feedback, field data, and focus groups to ensure your design adds real value. A product built with the customer in mind reduces waste, improves satisfaction, and supports long-term profitability. 4. Misjudging Material Lead Times Material availability often dictates production schedules, not the other way around. Failing to understand procurement timing or supply constraints can stall your project, create bottlenecks, and add rush costs. How to avoid it:Work closely with your supplier to plan material purchases early. A proactive sourcing strategy, especially for long-lead or specialty components, keeps your build on schedule and prevents costly downtime. Paragon’s sourcing team helps clients forecast and align materials with production milestones. 5. Allowing Scope Creep As projects progress, it’s natural to think of “one more thing” to add. But uncontrolled scope creep, additional features, expanded capabilities, or changing priorities, can drain budgets and stretch timelines. How to avoid it:Establish a disciplined change management process. Any adjustments should be reviewed for cost, impact, and feasibility before approval. When everyone understands the agreed-upon scope and the implications of changing it, projects stay efficient and predictable. Build Smarter, Spend Less Manufacturing efficiency isn’t about cutting corners, it’s about eliminating uncertainty. By setting clear requirements, adhering to compliance, designing with purpose, planning material timelines, and managing scope, you can keep production costs down and quality up. At Paragon, we help our partners achieve this balance every day, turning smart design and disciplined execution into stronger, more profitable products.

When Cutting Edge Technology Meets Opportunity When cutting edge technology meets opportunity Paragon Manufacturing works with a lot of good companies that produce a lot of great products. When one of our customers invites us to become involved with some unique high-tech assemblies, it is noteworthy. As it happens, Paragon has just such a customer. They make component assemblies for a Boeing refueling drone (see picture) and we make cables for some of them! We have the capability to support these types of projects with our engineering, tooling and precise, quality assembly. With advancement in our tooling, management systems, and staff training, we continue to expand our capabilities to meet the needs and requirements asked of us. Our customers have come to know that we are ‘all in’ when it comes to cables and sub-assemblies for innovative new products.   So it’s no surprise when the stars align and Paragon gets to be part of something amazing. In fact, ‘something amazing’ is becoming a regular event for us. We invite you to be part of this type of event. Contact us now with your unique assembly. For the full story: https://www.defensenews.com/naval/2021/06/07/us-navy-boeing-conduct-first-ever-aerial-refueling-with-unmanned-tanker/ ‍

Won’t somebody think about the wires? The route the wires need to follow gets overlooked. Here’s how we fix the problem. A manufacturer, who has been in business for decades and has a staff of engineers in the double digits might run into it. Younger manufacturers might be boiling over with enthusiasm, ambition, determination, and flexibility, and run into the same problem. Despite having access to great people and taking great pains to dot and cross every last letter, the best manufacturers can run into the same problem. Nobody is minding the wires. A team can have highly qualified mechanical engineers and electrical engineers. But as they pass design projects back and forth like a baton, they’re often handing such projects off into a dangerous gap in the design process. Nobody is planning a path for the wires to follow, which is a strange problem to run into in the field of electronics design. Manufacturers are designing state of the art pieces, but the assemblers are destined be left scratching their heads. what are the electrical engineers typically working on instead? The electrical engineers are busy with… planning where the signal needs to get to and what kind of signal it is What are the mechanical engineers typically working on instead? The mechanical engineers are busy with…designing form and function of the assembly, rather than wiring What are some typical problems that arise from the wires not being planned? They’re handling all of the components except where the wires go. This can lead to problems like the inefficient use of wire due to poorly routed wiring, or even to the wires not fitting. Oops. What are some typical not-so-great “solutions” that you’ve seen manufacturers try? How does your manufacturing firm handle the problem? Do you have on-the-floor “engineers” —people who operate machines, assemble parts or coordinate such tasks, who sometimes take on the role that slipped through? You’re lucky to have them, if that’s the case. Maybe you let your mechanical engineers argue with your electronics engineers over who’s going to pick it up? Who “wins” that fight? Definitely nobody downstream, like your production team, who spend their days fitting their processes into tight windows in order to make quota. And who else is downstream? Yes, your customers. You know how deliberating, debating and other such delays lead to an accumulated pile-up of all the forms of waste —and therefore costs to both your company and your customer’s. We’ve seen all of the above and more. We’re well acquainted with the frustration involved. Here’s how we handle it: .. —pre-production review —customer service and engineering teams closely following the project —constant feedback to improve both the product and the process Developing this process has taken time, and effort, but we’ve become proficient at it. Enough to say we fill the wiring gap without disruption. The wiring gets done, and it meets the careful standards for quality, cost, and time that all of our output is held to. That can include your wiring, as well. Paragon welcomes the challenge of filling in gaps, anywhere in your supply chain. We’re built to respond quickly and deliver quality, even under intense time constraints. When you have a disconnect, plug in Paragon. Sourcing of quality materials at competitive costs Engineering and consultation, to understand your needs and address the demands you’re facing A versatile engineering team that handles mechanical, electrical and circuit design Quick-turn strategies for delivering quality under looming deadlines Parts tracking

New Laser Wire Stripper Capabilities New Laser Wire Stripper Capabilities Hey – all you aeronautics, medical, and precision harness folks! Have we got something for you. This new Schleuniger Mercury-4 Laser Wire Stripper Paragon has acquired will really help you out. We know that the requirements for most cables you have built have to include the exactness of a laser wire stripper. TheMercury-4 strips wires and cables ranging in size from 0.0010 to 16 mm2 (50 AWG to 6 AWG) using a powerful 20 watt CO2 Laser. The capabilities of this machine are wide and varied: jacket slitting, multiconductor cable processing (jacket only), out-of-round cable processing (jacket only), shield cutting twisted pair cable, window stripping and of course laser stripping .Oh, and as far as CE-Conformity, The Mercury-4 fully complies with all CE, OSHA and FDA guidelines relative to mechanical, electrical and laser safety. Class 1enclosure incorporating a Class 4 laser product. So bring us your cable needs. We’re ready to assist you.

Paragon Mfg Corp Acquires New Laser Wire Stripper! Let’s get straight to the point: Paragon now has Cable and Wire Laser-Stripping capabilities!  Paragon has made a bold and essential move to enhance our already terrific manufacturing process by purchasing a Schleuniger Mercury-4 Laser Wire Stripper.  This cool new tool will enable us to create your most complex assemblies with the ultimate precision that only comes by using a device of this nature. With this key infrastructure investment, we will be able to meet any industry’s most exacting requirements.   So please contact us regarding our newest capability. Send us your drawings for quote, and please specify that the assembly needs cables and wires stripped by Laser. Paragon is ready for you. ‍

How we can help! When problems arrive at your doorstep, it’s great to have reliable assistance to help solve them. In business, it is an absolute necessity. Who can you depend on to navigate the murky waters of potential disaster? Well, Paragon, of course! We here at Paragon recently fielded an SOS call from one of our customers who were in dire need of organized solutions. They had absorbed a company whose vast collection of assemblies were built in Germany and documented in German. The plethora of accompanying parts were also labeled in German and stuffed unceremoniously into boxes and crates. They wanted us to sort out the mess to get the assemblies sorted, quoted and ready for first articles, and ultimately production–as soon as possible. No problem! We sent a team to where all the parts were to identify, sort and document everything. Our engineers worked with their BOMs for pricing and their prints for streamlining processes. As we asked the right questions and worked diligently to adhere to their requirements, we were able to set achievable expectations–which is the most important trait a great vendor, who works as your business partner, can have. It took a quite a bit of effort and work to get the list of assemblies to the point where the documentation was complete enough for our customer’s engineering team to finalize, and this allowed their purchasing group to effortlessly place orders. In the end, the customer was pleased as their potential disaster was averted. Paragon once again confirmed itself as the ‘go-to’ supplier.

Bringing Future Technology Today It has been said that ‘the times they are a changin’’, but actually that couldn’t be more true. Not only are the effects of the pandemic forcing companies to be more creative and efficient, but more and more industries and manufacturing facilities are improving that efficiency by embracing artificial intelligence, robotics and specialized computer programs. Even the most modest shops are upgrading if only to keep up – albeit on a smaller scale. Incorporating the technology of the future today opens a whole world of possibilities. These changes have been especially helpful in the medical, aerospace and transportation fields. Here at Paragon, we have kept up with these changes and are poised to be outstanding partners for these forward-thinking companies. Paragon has always been savvy with regard to production organization, and now more than ever we are not just keeping up with but getting ahead of the technology curve. With capital investments aimed at specific improvements and our ever present advanced certified training for our production employees, Paragon has continued to be a leader in our industry. More and more companies from a growing variety of fields are relying on Paragon to move forward with them into an ever increasingly more technical world. At Paragon we are bringing about future technology today.

RoHS3, REACH, and Compliance Documentation As we move into an era where sustainability and environmental awareness are key elements to doing business around the world, we are often asked about customers’ assembly compliance.  As a Build-to-Print Contract Manufacturer, Paragon Manufacturing Corp.’s response can only be that our processes are compliant, but as we do not control the Bill of Materials, known as the BOM, we cannot certify that the assembly itself is compliant.  This leaves a number of customers in a quandary as they then have to scramble to find a way to have their assembly BOM certified as compliant.  Our solution: to assist those companies with compliance documentation through our Engineering Team. Our Engineering Team has resources that are able to work with our vendors to verify compliance at the component level.  The assembly is dissected down to the component level, traced to the proper vendor, and the required paperwork is gathered, documented and archived.  The component paperwork is then provided with any additional custom documentation that is requested so that the customer will have what they need.  From there, the customer can be confident they have what is needed to get through their compliance process. This service has been key for many companies who find themselves needing documentation to meet these requirements, but do not have the internal resources or expertise to assign to a project such as this.  Paragon Manufacturing Corp. saw the need, found the resources, created the team, and now offers the services to help those who are unable to start this process a path to being able to complete it.

Going Green- Are you serious or is it just a marketing strategy??? If going green is just a marketing slogan then this article isn’t for you.  If you’re serious, then you will need to consider all aspects of your manufacturing process beginning with your supply chain. To truly “go green”, one of the first aspects that you need to consider is the environmental impact the physical distance your components travel to get from raw materials to finished product. Let’s look at plastics as an example.   Paragon has a customer that uses a large plastic housing that is molded at a local molding facility.  This supplier delivers these housings in cardboard boxes, 12 per box separated by a thick paper layer.  Paragon recycles the cardboard box, and we reuse the paper separators when we ship the finished product to our customer. Since the molding house is local, they can deliver the product with minimal packaging because they control the shipping environment.  This also has the effect of minimizing fuel consumption because the parts come directly from the factory without first going through a distribution center. The only plastic bags that are used in the entire process are the bags that the bulk components are delivered in, the bags we use in our kitting process, and the bags we place the finished assembly in for shipment. Paragon has another customer that states they’re “going green” but has their plastics molded in China due to cost considerations. But what is the true cost to their green marketing strategy? The raw materials are shipped to China. After the parts are molded each part is placed in a plastic bag.  Every 5 parts (in their individual bags) are placed into another plastic bag.  5 bags of 5 are then placed in a bigger plastic bag that goes into a cardboard box.  The box then travels across the ocean by freighter (which is powered by heavy fuel oil that is much higher in sulfur than diesel), loaded onto a diesel-powered truck and driven to a distribution center. Then loaded onto another truck to be delivered to Paragon where we un-package everything and throw away all the plastic bags.