The main idea relevant to businesses stemming out of last week’s Conservative Party conference in Manchester has been the potential to create a market for SME bonds, following Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne’s announcement about ‘credit easing’ to help smaller companies. No one seems to know how this is going to pan out and how easy it’ll be for businesses to apply for funding. Though, it was good to see that all three party conferences have debated how we should rebalance the economy and create the right environment for the resurgence of British manufacturing.  (more…)

Technorati Tags: British manufacturing, Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne, Conservative Party, Consumer Electronics, Electronics Manufacturing, Eurozone, Freescale, global electronics industry, HP, NXP, OEMs, Philips

Market and industry analysts have finally done their number crunching for 2010. It’s no secret the electronics industry across Western Europe rebounded last year, with production of electronic equipment and components increasing by 6.8%, according to figures recently released. The drive for growth has been the export led recovery in Germany, particularly in the area of industrial electronics and the recovery in automobile production. On the other hand, component shortages had a negative impact on equipment growth in 2010 although the situation eased towards the end of the year. Looking forward, the industry will definitely continue to rely on the automotive, industrial, high-end communications and defence segments. Analysts are currently forecasting further growth in 2011, albeit a more modest increase of 1.6% according to some, with downside risks still very much present, particularly due to fragile consumer confidence and the impact of reduced government spending.

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Technorati Tags: electronic equipment, Electronics Manufacturing, growth, Innovation

Last week Intellect hosted its first Plastic Printed Electronics Conference, which has finally shed some light on this emerging technology – but is a stand-alone industry sector going to surface? This new set of materials and processes will most likely complement rather than revolutionise existing electronics. There’s no point in fostering fragmentation when technologies inexorably tend to converge and, as new players seek new markets, regulatory challenges may emerge as a result. Medical and green technologies are typical examples where innovative applications materialising from telecom and plastic printed electronics will require companies to gain a thorough understanding of the legislative landscape in order to influence it. We hence need a strong and unified voice to get the message about technology’s role in the economy across to decision-makers as we did last Friday when business secretary the Rt Hon Vince Cable MP paid us a visit here at Russell Square House.

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Technorati Tags: Electronics Manufacturing, growth, plastic electronics, vince cable

One element of recession coverage that really gets under my skin is the oft repeated view that UK Manufacturing has ‘fallen off a cliff’ recently. Firstly, what cliff are we talking about? Dover? Or, as one commentator recently put it, ‘not so much a cliff, more Mount Everest!”. In fact, the keener the author is to get coverage, the more dramatic the metaphor that is used.

I’m not denying that large elements of the sector are in trouble. It is not a good time to be making cars in the UK. But at the same time, to talk about all manufacturing in this light is at best a generalization and, at worst, simply incorrect.

If you talk to the electronics manufacturers involved with Intellect, and read the data we collect from them on a monthly basis, you get quite a different story. Many members in this area are lower down the supply chain and sell on a business to business basis, rather than directly to consumers. In general, their business model revolves around outsourcing, or contract manufacture of some kind. A recent poll of their customers noted that 59% of expected to increase outsourcing in 2009. There is every sign that their markets are actually growing, rather than contracting. Customers want low-cost added value manufacturing options. Moving production away from in-house facilities saves money. And everyone wants to save money at the moment. Some members are even opening new facilities and expanding capacity to meet new demand.

Those electronics manufacturers even lower down the supply chain, especially those that make items like circuit boards (the base material of all technology products) are little bit more reticent. We’ve seen layoffs here, and order books are generally fairly flat. But there has been certainly been no crash in the same way there apparently has been in other manufacturing industries.

In essence, I’d say that UK Electronics Manufacturing is engaged in a bit of light down-hill skiing (probably on a blue slope) rather than, as the analysts would have us believe, involuntarily base-jumping off Mount Everest. Hopefully as the rest of UK Manufacturing catches up, analysts metaphors will as well.

Thankfully, the most recent data shows that perhaps this process is beginning.

Technorati Tags: Electronics Manufacturing, EMS, PCB, UK Manufacturing