Spotlight On
completely different matter. This is why collaboration with members of our technical staff can prove to be pivotal. Optoelectronics is among the other areas where superior engineering support is merited. The inclusion of touch-enabled displays is now almost mandatory in electronic design (whether it is for industrial, retail, medical, or avionics purposes). Through our Ginsbury division, we’re able to present an array of different related services. Among these are integration of touch screens, optical bonding (so that the effectiveness of these touch screens can be enhanced), bezels to ease the installation process, plus screen printing to cover the branding aspect. Imaging devices are also starting to see greater uptake (and often assistance is needed here). Home automation, security, machine vision, IoT and drones are all responsible for driving this.
In your opinion, which elements are crucial to the success of your operation?
I would say that the primary one is having the right people working for us. We’ve put a lot of time and effort into recruiting the best possible candidates to add to our workforce. There is also a greater deal of encouragement for existing employees to take additional training programs - with approximately 25 per cent of our overall staff participating in some sort of ongoing training or advancement at any given time. Our staff are constantly challenged to think differently and propose new ideas. Through our apprenticeship scheme we are looking to inspire the next generation of engineers. Just recently we hired three graduates straight from college to train for sales engineer positions. Bringing in bright
young people and nurturing nascent engineering talent will clearly be paramount - not only to our success, but also the ongoing prosperity of the industry as a whole.
Which are the key markets for Solid State Supplies and do you envisage these changing in the future?
Our markets are necessarily diverse, in alignment with the varied nature of the UK industrial electronics base. Over the years we have established considerable strength in the military/aerospace and embedded computing arenas. Whilst no
single market dominates our business, these are certainly among our primary revenue sources. In addition, we see great scope for business growth in areas like LED lighting and wireless communications.
What are the main challenges that the supply chain sector will face in the next five years?
Consolidation within the semiconductor industry over the last 18 months has been on an unprecedented scale and, moving forwards, this is going to be a big issue for any company involved in distribution. Though most players will
see it as threat, we have also identified it as a potential opportunity. With the big chip vendors commanding more attention from the broadliners, many of their medium sized counterparts are going to be looking for a better service - and this is where we come in.
How will the UK leaving the EU effect the country’s electronics industry?
It is very early days and I don’t think anybody can truthfully say they can predict what will happen post-Brexit with any degree of certainty. The current situation is that the weakened pound is impacting on the price of components/modules that OEMs are putting into their electronic designs, but conversely it means that the finished products they are subsequently exporting are more cost competitive. Whatever the outcome of this, and the other issues we have discussed here, Solid State Supplies will remain agile and keep on evolving, so that it can bring value to its customer base. This industry never stands still - so neither can we.
www.sssltd.com www.cieonline.co.uk Components in Electronics February 2017 27
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