Connectors
Connecting a laptop to its screen is a challenging task that should be tackled early
'Just in timE' or all thE timE?
If buyers can convince designers to talk to connecter suppliers early in the design process, everyonewins. Sowhy aren’t OEMs doing it?
Manufacturers are demanding increasingly tight relationships with suppliers tomeet faster targets for 'manufacture on demand' and ‘just in time’ delivery. But, as yet, few are maximizing the value these organizations can deliver early in the design phase to both optimize technology and informlogistics decision-making.
Why are laptopmanufacturers, for example, willing to spend
several hundredman years on design, yet only consider the issue of connecting the screen to the laptop well into the process? By contrast those organizations that have embraced signal interconnect expertise early in the process have not only been able to deliver performance improvements through the use of innovative technologies that are designed in tandemwith the core product values, but also reduce environmental impact and improve product safety. Critically, they have achieved a better design with fewer iterations, with less cost and faster time tomarket.
As Jeff Bierman, senior vice president, Volex Group, insists,
component manufacturers can deliver so much more than ‘just in time’ delivery. Embedding their expertise and experience in the core design can enable manufacturers to transform product performance and deliver the innovation required to achieve market differentiation.
50 | Annual Edition 2011 Embedded expertise
Integrated, end-to-end supply chains are a fundamental component ofmodernmanufacturing.With products increasingly built to order at locations around the globe, nomanufacturer of electronic equipment would embark upon a relationship with a component supplier that could not offer ‘just in time’manufacture or local support inmultiple global locations.
Manufacturersmust also consider the expertise of any
potential component providers in the specific context of their operationalmarket. Each industry has unique demands and any potential supplier should have the expertise to understand and deliver on these specifications. The industrialmarket, for example, requires cable assemblies with a rugged design for the outdoor environment, whereas the consumermarket requires a more aesthetically-pleasing product.
So justwhere should the end-to-end supply chain start? Fromday
one of productmanufacture or during the design phase? Growing numbers ofmanufacturers are nowlooking to leverage the expertise and experience of component providers, not just in delivering slick logistics, but also underpinning product design expertise.
Apple, for example, embeds interconnect experts in its
design teamin California to ensure the key issue of cable assembly
www.electronics-sourcing.com
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