The 7 biggest trends and challenges of electronic manufacturing in 2017

The 7 biggest trends and challenges of electronic manufacturing in 2017

Electronics manufacturing faces challenges and opportunities in 2017. Control costs are still the primary problem for manufacturers, and the introduction of new technologies provides opportunities for development, but requires manufacturers to collaborate with technical solutions providers and can provide capabilities outside of the company's core focus.

Every trend of the electronics manufacturing industry in 2017 comes along with challenges. Electronics manufacturers will focus on how to use the current trends, while balancing the needs of control costs, technology integration into its main areas, and to meet customer demand for more efficient and environmentally friendly manufacturing process. Next look at the seven trends that electronic manufacturing industry in 2017 and the challenges they face.

1. Demand for intelligent electronic equipment continues to rise.

Devices like smartphones have been around for years, but in 2017, looking for the same connectivity from all aspects of vehicles to microwaves. This trend will lead to the development of new partnerships, because electronic manufacturers seek technical partners to help build and support the connectivity needed for smart devices.

Ayla Networks explains, "for manufacturers, this opportunity represents a huge revenue potential. However, the challenge is to bring secure, scalable connectivity products to consumers, but for most manufacturers, connectivity is not their core expertise.

Manufacturers need to be more flexible to keep up with changing electronic requirements. Changing consumer trends mean changes in operations, as well as opportunistic thinking among training staff, especially executives.

2. Installation of pressure for green electronic products.

"Green is not just for hippies and disgruntled Xers. With the increasing statistics of climate change, consumers, enterprises and governments are increasingly under pressure, and more and more environmentally friendly manufacturing solutions are increasingly being considered. Various carbon ceilings or carbon trading programs that are being implemented will also help push this, even in countries where the global manufacturing costs are low."

3. The development of energy-saving electronic products, forcing manufacturers to develop new methods to produce more energy-efficient equipment.

Environmental problems are critical not only in the manufacturing process but also in the life of the entire electronic device. Reducing energy consumption is an effective way to cut costs, enabling businesses and consumers to choose energy-saving electronic products. Manufacturers are facing the pressure to adopt green manufacturing processes, while producing cheap electronic products, thanks to lower energy needs. The increasing power consumption in the world will lead users to pay attention to energy conservation through the use of high efficiency electronic products. This will drive the demand for market growth for voltage monitoring IC in the next few years.

4. Medical equipment technology is a market worthy of attention in 2017.

The field of medicine has been an early adopter of technology, especially when medical devices improve care services or enable patients to manage medical needs at home rather than in clinical settings. Although other sectors are taking advantage of lower manufacturing costs overseas, they are expected to remain in the United states.

According to an article from Source Research, "the manufacturing trend in the United States is focused on high value-added processes such as integrated circuit manufacturing, medical or military assembly."Because these industries essentially need to be close to manufacturing, the sector will continue to grow because of the high quality and reliability required by these types of electronic devices.

5. Electronic manufacturing services (EMS) are steadily growing, but the overall electronic manufacturing sector is expected to grow slowly in early 2017.

According to data released by the IPC - electronic connector Association in January 2017, the electronic manufacturing sector is expected to grow slowly in early 2017.

6. Strategic partnership will help electronics manufacturers control costs.

In a report in June 2016, PWC discussed the growing field of technology and equipment manufacturing and pointed out that contract manufacturing is changing. With the original equipment manufacturers (OEM) increasingly outsourcing product design and development to electronic manufacturing services (EMS) partners, they can reduce the overall cost and convert fixed costs into variable costs, which is a key advantage in controlling manufacturing costs.

This trend brings opportunities for EMS partners, enabling them to expand new business and revenue opportunities, so we see more strategic partnerships. According to PWC, "many electronic manufacturing services (EMS) companies are expanding to provide new services with high margins.". They're offering new services. On the one hand, they provide more design services, whether they are components or finished products. On the other hand, they provide more testing services. The more services provided by EMS providers, the more likely they are to enter a new model of joint design manufacturing (JDM) and outsourced design and manufacturing (ODM).

7. Electronic manufacturers will pay more attention to the rapid delivery of logistics.

In 2014, EPS made several predictions for the next few years, including logistics to speed up delivery. "By 2017, 50% of manufacturers will explore the feasibility of micro logistics networks to achieve accelerated delivery of selected products and customers' commitment," EPS said.

It looks like speed will be the key to 2017 and beyond.
Although EPS made these predictions in 2014, logistics and agility is still the core areas of electronic manufacturers. These trends will become a key factor in the electronic manufacturing industry in 2017 and beyond. All of this is due to better services and more complex products, delivered at unprecedented speed and accuracy, while controlling costs and minimizing environmental impact. It's an evolving world, and electronics manufacturers are positioning themselves as agile solutions providers that are able to keep up with the rapid pace of change and stay in line with the right strategic partners, which will stand out in the coming year.