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The Where and How Issues of SMT
December 31, 1969 |Estimated reading time: 1 minute
Electronics assembly has caused a real stir in the news lately. Even the location of the plant is important. Nokia announced it would discontinue producing mobile devices in Germany and close its Bochum plant this year, laying off 2,300 employees. Nokia, acknowledged as number one in global phone shipments and market share, didn't find the location to be competitive enough. Now they plan to move this manufacturing volume to less costly sites in Europe. Previously, Motorola stopped manufacturing mobile phones in Germany, as part of a plan to reduce headcount.
Enics, a Swiss-based EMS provider ranking 41st in company size, provides electronics contract manufacturing in industrial and medical electronics with end-to-end solutions including design support, manufacturing, supply chain management, and new product introductions (NPIs). This company plans to reorganize its EMS printed circuits assembly plant in Lohja, Finland. This will reduce approximately 110 jobs in the Enics Vaasa unit, while increasing the Lohja plant by approximately 10 or more. By shifting around some of their staff in Finland and reducing headcount in the process, the company will increase efficiency. Enics employs 2,700 people worldwide. I wonder what will happen to their staff in China, Estonia, Sweden, Solvakia, and Switzerland.
The where and how of board assembly is important to keeping costs under control. With economies of scale, keeping to areas with low-cost labor and overhead, and using software and automation as much as possible, EMS providers have grown to giant size. Hon Hai Precision/Foxconn, a Taiwan-based provider, is on top of the market in revenue and employees. However, with Solectron Corp. integrating into Flextronics International Ltd., this too may change. Now the horse race has begun. In the end, attracting major contracts, assembling in low-cost areas, and delighting the customer makes all the difference in the world to both EMS and OEM assemblers.
For more EMS rankings, check over past SMT articles: iSuppli Report: Electronic Manufacturing Capacity Undergoes Global Rebalancing
TFI Predicts About 11% Moderate Growth for EMS/ODM
Gail Flower, editor-in-chief