4 Ways the Electronics Manufacturing Industry is Changing

The demand for electronics continues to rise, driven by several different factors, including the growing use of electronic devices in daily life, shorter product life cycles, and technological advancements in diverse industries such as consumer, industrial and automotive electronics.

Increasingly, competition driven by the globalization of the electronics component supply chain is placing more pressure than ever on manufacturers. In this highly competitive market, companies must take every opportunity to become leaner and more efficient to keep up the pace. Electronics manufacturing organizations must streamline, control costs, and operate efficiently to meet increasing demand and competition.

Companies in the electronics manufacturing industry are, more than ever:

1. Using Technology to Streamline Processes
   Often the best response to a change in the external environment is a change in your company’s internal processes. Technology can be applied to streamline operations, including automating recurring tasks in the purchase order and RFQ process. This automation results in greater efficiency, faster process cycles, fewer errors, and better management of employee time and resources.
   
   
2. Leveraging Data Analytics
   Electronics manufacturers can use historical process data, and through advanced data, analytics identify new patterns and relationships to improve processes, yield, and even logistics along the supply chain. Manufacturing data management and data analytics can improve the electronics component supply chain by providing actionable insights and create models for testing different scenarios to achieve cost savings, boost production, reduce errors or accidents, and direct organizational actions toward strategic objectives.
   
   
3. Forming Strategic Partnerships
   Price Waterhouse Coopers reported that in the modern marketplace, technology equipment manufacturers are benefiting from strategic partnerships. Original Electronics Manufacturers (OEMs) are outsourcing more development and design activities to Electronic Manufacturing Services (EMS) partners, reducing overall costs and shifting spend from fixed to variable costs. EMS partners benefit from new revenue opportunities and new lines of business, expanding their enterprises in the process.Many electronic manufacturing companies are exploring the benefits of gaining a technology partner to help automate regular business processes to control costs, reduce errors, improve speed and efficiency, and better direct employee resources to higher-level activities. Automation solutions are readily available for business processes including purchase orders, RFP, RFQ, and data interchange activities.
   
   
4. Focusing on Logistics
   An efficient supply chain has a direct impact on sales performance and a company’s bottom line. Maximizing efficiencies along the supply chain can not only help you to control costs, but it also allows you to strengthen relationships with suppliers and with customers, and improve speed and reliability of deliveries while reducing errors and overall complexity of the supply chain.
   
   In the face of increasing market complexity, high demand, and intense competition, electronics manufacturing companies are looking to streamline operations and form strategic partnerships to control costs and meet the needs of customers worldwide. Taking advantage of the opportunities offered by technological advancements, data analytics, and strategic partnerships is critical.

Some companies, like Orbweaver, have already developed technology to address many of the changes outlined in this article. The Orbweaver Platform is an all-in-one integration and automation solution built for the electronics manufacturing industry. The platform helps companies streamline their internal processes and enable electronics manufacturing organizations to remain competitive in this increasingly complex business environment.

To learn more about how to improve your electronics manufacturing processes throughout the supply chain, request a free consultation with an Orbweaver representative today.