Trends in the U.S. PCB and global connector markets suggest stabilizing PCB demand, and growing connector demand.
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Trends & Observations
Recent electronics book-to-bills suggest improving demand
Choosing providers: EMS or ODM?
The landscape for outsourcing electronics has changed significantly in the recent decade resulting from a combination of the emergence of the Taiwanese original design manufacturers (ODM) as well as the consolidation of traditional EMS providers. Companies such as Compal, Quanta, Wistron and Inventec …
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Labor disputes and recessions: Who has your back?
Japanese politicians are publicly voicing their concerns, but solutions to address unemployment and the growing homeless problem have not surfaced. Meanwhile, China’s increase in …
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Value propositions and differentiation for contract electronics services
For EMS firms, this means a continuation on their march toward bankruptcy and eventual replacement by emerging service providers. For OEMs, their ability to fully outsource production and focus on their core competencies will remain limited. Collectively, stagnancy in the EMS-OEM relationship will …
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Korean electronics sector: Bright spot in the world economy?
Most sales for consumer electronics products have shifted to Korean electronics companies, and they switched from Japanese vendors to Korean since costs are lower and …
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EMS tier winners and losers for Q209
Looking at the EMS stock index by tier, the large tier index has increased 49.2% from Q109, the mid tier index has increased 38.0%, the small tier index …
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Printed circuit board and related materials trends
Many mid-sized flexible circuits manufacturers displayed 20 microns pitch and finer circuits for single-sided and double-sided circuits. A few companies employed the semi-additive process for pitches finer than …
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Trends for electronics manufacturing equipment amid sluggish demand
Representatives neglected to point out the increased prices until I brought it to their attention. All of the manufacturing reps agreed there are two many LDI machine manufacturers for today’s demand.
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Battling EMS growth stories
IDC says the recession will drive down industry revenues by $37 billion in 2009, a –12.9% contraction. The EMS sector generated $167.1 billion in revenues for 2008, representing 58.5% of the overall industry. Additionally, the diversified revenue sources for the EMS sector should…
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Chasing EMS value with low-volume / high-mix
Well-done high-mix, low-cost EMS work requires strong process engineering, good systems and infrastructure, and experienced management talent. Many EMS companies, particularly in low-volume / high-mix are continuing to lose money …
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