INDUSTRY ROUNDTABLE
TRANSITION, RECOVERY AND FULFILLMENT
In an industry round-table Michelle Winny, editor of Electronics Today speaks to Roy Phillips, MD of Intelliconnect, Eric Lakin, Vice President Finance and Strategy, Smiths Interconnect, William Heath, Commercial Director, OMC (UK), Steve Rawlins, CEO, Anglia Components and Brendan Farley, Managing Director of Xilinx EMEA and VP of Wireless Engineering about the current state of the electronics component industry, where businesses is headed and the post pandemic recovery phase
H
ow has business been the past 18 months? Has COVID-19 or Brexit had an impact?
Roy Phillips, MD of Intelliconnect: “Undoubtedly our business has been adversely affected (in different ways) by both Covid and Brexit. Firstly Brexit. It’s (obviously) difficult to fully assess the economic impact of Brexit because of the enormous impact of the Coronavirus. The areas in which Intelliconnect, like many manufacturing businesses, has been affected have been recruitment and shipping. As a fast growing business, recruitment is becoming a major issue because, the availability of Eastern European labour has diminished massively and the suitability of ‘local’ labour is, to say the least, patchy. There are many over-qualified people out there who are not wanting long- term prospects and we are seeing an unprecedented level of staff turnover on our shopfloor. The big worry is that when the economy recovers from Covid, recruiting manufacturing operatives will become impossible.
10 MAY 2021 | ELECTRONICS TODAY
“In regards to Brexit, shipping to Europe, actually anywhere in the world, including domestic has presented massive challenges with one of the largest freight companies seemingly incapable of completing paperwork correctly, delivering product in agreed times or indeed sometimes not delivering at all!
“The effect of Covid is somewhat more difficult to quantify for us. Year-on-year sales growth last year was 25% (mostly driven by exports) which, by most standards is impressive. However, because we had budgeted a 100% increase, it was ultimately, disappointing. The reasons were simply that several major projects were delayed due to Covid. Interestingly, day-to-day background business held up very well.”
Eric Lakin, VP, Smiths Interconnect: “While the pandemic has presented
unprecedented challenges to all businesses, we have maintained business continuity throughout the past 18 months with no material interruptions to our market support. “Our products and services are considered instrumental to the continued operation of
essential industries such as medical/ healthcare, aerospace, defence, rail, communications and digital infrastructure. Accordingly, we have followed applicable regulations and used lawful means to ensure our sites have remained open, whilst taking appropriate precautions to protect the health of site workers and enabling those who can work from home to do so. “At the same time, we have closely monitored the potential impact of the pandemic on our supply chain and taken appropriate measures to minimise effects on product manufacture and delivery to customers. To date, we have seen minimal operational disruption with limited impact to our customers.
“As for Brexit, with our global diversification and the preparatory mitigating actions we have undertaken, so far Smiths Interconnect has seen minimal impact from the UK’s departure from the European Union. We remain confident in delivering for our customers and fulfilling responsibilities to suppliers and employees.”
William Heath, commercial director, OMC
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