Contract Electronic Manufacturing

The market for electronic components in Europe was dramatically transformed in Europe by the growth in contract manufacturing when a growing number of electronic equipment suppliers opted to sub-contract their manufacturing operations to specialist contractors. Many of these operations have moved to the Far East especially China, the preferred location for high volume assembly. However, in some cases a British or other European company may maintain a domestic manufacturing facility for the production of samples and small batches. The higher cost may well be justified in the case of 

However, certain niche markets are likely to continue being served by specialist domestic contractors in Europe. These include complex, high mix, low volume PCB and very densely populated PCB especially for customers in the medical and military sectors. One leading UK PCB manufacturer, who prefers to remain anonymous, maintains that his business is sustainable provided he keeps clear of the high volume, low cost sector of the market. 

Another area where domestic contract manufacturers can retain business is in some just-in-time areas where it is possible to stop or change production at short notice and where it is also possible to incorporate design changes at the last minute. Sometimes design changes are needed to produce replacement units because some of the components originally used are now obsolete and there are no suitable replacements available. This situation can occur with military equipment. 

According to the Manufacturing Market Insider (MMI), the industry newsletter, the world s top fifty Electronics Manufacturing Services (EMS) companies reported aggregate market sales of US 94.26 billion in 2005. Ranked number five in world terms the Canadian company, Celestica, reported sales of US. 5 billion. It has over 46,000 employees at its 47 locations across the world of which only one, the Telford plant is located in the UK. In contrast there are eight plants in China. However, the market leader is Singapore-based Flextronics International with fiscal year 2005 sales of US 15.9 billion. 

Domestic contract electronics manufacturers are struggling to survive in a market where the major multinationals can shift production to those areas where labour costs are lowest. All is not lost however as the recent management buy-in, buy-out operation of AWS Electronics at Newcastle-under-Lyme illustrates. This contract electronics manufacturer with 270 employees and annual sales in excess of 12 million serves global businesses in the aerospace, communications, defence, food, medical and scientific technology sectors. 

---

Assembly Requirements. The assembly engineers, whether contract Electronics Manufacturing Services (EMS) provider, independent original design manufacturer (ODM), or captive OEM, have requirements that are very different from those of the PCB fabrication... 

The customers for electronic components manufacturers can be categorised in four major ways, catalogue distributors, contract equipment manufacturers (CEM), original equipment manufacturers (OEM) and overseas distributors. 

An electronics manufacturer has outsourced production of its latest media players to a contract manufacturer in Asia. Demand for the players has exceeded all expectations, whereas the contract manufacturer has limited production capacity. The electronics manufacturer sells three types of players—a 40-GB player, a 20-GB player, and a 6-GB player. For the upcoming holiday season, the demand forecast for the 40-GB player is normally distributed, with a mean of... 

Richard L. Rowe is retired chief executive officer of MCMS, Inc., a 550 million electronics contract manufacturing company. His experience includes sensor technologies applied to aviation security, and his expertise includes new technologies in optics and radio frequency, electronic sensors, and switch products. He has more than 20 years of experience in the electronic sensors and switch products in-... 

Contract Manufacturer A company that manufactures products that will be sold under the brand names of its client companies. For example, a large number of consumer electronics, such as laptop computers, are manufactured by contract manufacturers for leading brand-name computer companies such as Dell. Many other types of products are made under contract manufacturing, from apparel to pharmaceuticals. Also see Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) and Original Design Manufacturer (ODM). ... 

Organizations are also responsible for ensuring that any contract manufacturers, suppliers, or third-party distributors used are made aware of the length of time they will be required to retain records of their activities either electronically or on paper, in case these may be required in the future. 

---