Press Release | City of San Diego

Local Hispanic-Owned Business Receives Official Recognition
Joseph Vilella Receives City of San Diego Proclamation

SAN DIEGO – The San Diego City Council recognized the first EmTek Fund loan recipient, by proclaiming April 15, Joseph Vilella/Vectron Day to commemorate the company’s many contributions to San Diego’s regional economy. According to the City’s proclamation, Joseph Vilella made an exemplary transition from downsized defense engineer to successful technology entrepreneur, and model for San Diego entrepreneurs with his creativity, enthusiasm, vision and determination to succeed.

Vectron is a Hispanic-owned, San Diego-based company that specializes in the design and manufacturing of innovative leading edge mechanical, electronic and image processing equipment. Vilella, Vectron, Inc. CEO and founder, was the first recipient of an EmTek Fund loan in 1995, when he had one employee and operated out of his Chula Vista home. EmTek is an innovative loan fund managed by the City that provides investment capital to promising smaller early-stage growth businesses located throughout San Diego County.

After becoming a by-product to the downsizing of defense industry during the mid-1990s, Vilella decided to stay in San Diego and become an entrepreneur. Vilella used the initial $125,000 of EmTek funding to refine Vectron’s flagship product –a patented circuit board inspection system. Vectron now provides the most effective solution to manufacturer’s printed circuit board quality problems, with their Automated Optical Inspection (AOI) systems.

The motivation to solve the inspection problems plaguing surface mount technology manufacturers came when QUALCOMM personnel approached Vectron, looking for a more advanced inspection solution. After three years of extensive work on robotics, high-resolution optics and software development solutions, Vectron developed its K2-AOI technology, allowing a complete scan of possible circuit board errors to be concluded in seconds, a process that would otherwise take four hours for a person to complete.

“More and more in today’s information age, safety and productivity depend on the reliability of our electronic components. Vectron provides the ultimate quality in automated optical inspection systems to ensure the reliability of printed circuit boards, which are made of hundreds of electronic components that humans can’t even see anymore,” said Vilella.

In addition to becoming a highly successful technology-based company, Vectron has enhanced San Diego’s reputation as a thriving high-tech center that develops cutting-edge technologies, as well as creating more than 20 new jobs in the region. After raising over $8 million in equity, Vilella repaid the entire amount of the EmTek loan early, generating a high financial return for the City.

The EmTek Fund is a public revolving loan fund that participates alongside private equity investors to provide angel-stage capital to promising San Diego County entrepreneurs. The EmTek Fund targets smaller growth businesses in under-served communities and minority and women-owned businesses within San Diego County.

With funding from the City, the federal Economic Development Administration, the North American Development Bank, the County of San Diego and a consortium of area banks, EmTek provides patient, flexible working capital in amounts of $50,000 to $250,000. Terms of the loans are for up to five years, at modestly, below market interest rates. In an effort to support the region’s entrepreneurs, the City's Community and Economic Development Department performs as operator of the EmTek Fund with assistance from the Jacobs Center for Nonprofit Innovation and a volunteer advisory board.

For more information on the EmTek Loan Fund and other City of San Diego business assistance programs, visit the City’s web site at www.sandiego.gov or call the Community and Economic Development Department at 619-533-4233.

With an emphasis on the City’s urban core neighborhoods and low and moderate income residents, the Community and Economic Development Department strives to improve the quality of life and ensure a healthy economy in San Diego through job development, business development, neighborhood revitalization, public improvements, redevelopment, social services, and revenue enhancement.

Community & Economic Development