Know the “whys” behind each clause in the manufacturing agreement.

Partnership is one of the most hackneyed terms in the electronics manufacturing services (EMS) industry. It often gets used to describe business relationships that are anything but partnerships. At the same time, the best EMS relationships actually are partnerships where parties have a symbiotic relationship beneficial for both companies. What drives these different relationships in the same business model? Often the answer is the program manager.

Back when outsourcing was a new concept, the most experienced employees at an original equipment manufacturer (OEM) were assigned the responsibility for the relationship. In many cases, those executives had manufacturing as well as purchasing experience. When demand or allocation surprises occurred, these experienced teams worked together for a good resolution in most cases. Today, contract manufacturing is just one more thing that most OEM purchasing departments source and manage. Buyers may or may not have ample experience managing EMS suppliers, particularly given the volume of turnover in these roles. Less experience translates to a focus on unit price, less ability to understand the impact of errors in forecasting, and difficulty in understanding issues that excess material creates.

What to make of the technology that unites industries and those who run them.

While concerns still abound, life has returned to some semblance of normal in the post-Covid world. While most were hunkered down for months or years thanks to restrictions on travel and social distancing protocols, those times are now behind us and, at least in my case, I am traveling as much as ever. While glad to be able to travel once again and see people in person, I have been reintroduced to many of the accompanying irritants, such as long lines at airport security and flight delays caused by weather or tardy flight crews. On the positive side, however, I am continually reminded of how it truly is really a small, small – and interconnected world – after all.

During the worst of Covid, I thought the world was small thanks to technologies such as Zoom, Teams, etc., that enabled people from virtually anywhere on the globe to communicate and be seen – in real time – by colleagues, friends or family via a few simple keyboard clicks. While not the same as being in person, the technology enabled the next best thing – instantaneous interaction.

UHDI may be the next step, but what are the true limits of miniaturization?

How big is big? How small is small?

Some things sound simple but in reality are very hard, if not impossible, to fathom. Consider space. In its most simplistic form, space is simply “up there.” Look to the sky and that is space. Of course, scientists will then expand upon that to incorporate other planets, and again expand to include the solar system that encompasses those planets that circle the sun.

Within the past 100 years, humans have traversed and viewed increasingly farther into space thanks to ever-improving technology. This exploration has identified and in some cases, made contact with, phenomena such as asteroids, comets and black holes, to name just a few. Mind-boggling as these phenomena may seem, however, it is nothing compared to the infinite vastness of space! Voyager, a spacecraft launched to explore and transmit photos to Earth from deep space, has traveled over 14.8 billion miles and has only scratched the surface of the enormity of space.

Options for fixing your revenue stream.

What are you doing differently this year?

Is your topline growing? Is your slow-moving inventory number shrinking? Are you attracting new clients while defending good existing ones? Is your cash position improving? Or are you stuck in an EMS/OEM mud pit?

Will 2024 be business as usual? Where will you get your inspiration to improve your business, from the inside team you’ve assembled or from an outside third party?

Sometimes inspiration comes from the most unexpected sources. I lack an engineering degree, but am part of a patent. Years ago, I solved a design issue as our time to prove a concept entered the final hours of our quest. The inspiration came from simply looking at my wife’s tiny rock jewelry box and how the lid interfaced with the body of the box. Our engineers were blown away that the head of sales and marketing helped solve this difficult engineering design problem. (For what it’s worth, so was I.)