Month: August 2019

EMS in the 2020s: the changing face of outsourced electronics manufacturing

by
Electronic circuit board

The future has already happened.

Or, at least the seeds of future change have already been sown.

They’ve been planted by an electronic manufacturing environment where a changing global landscape, shifting customer demands and technological advances are already remoulding the role, processes and capabilities of EMS providers.

As a new decade dawns in 2020, many EMS providers have already sprung from their starting blocks as they race toward the potential rewards of ‘big data’, the benefits of automation, the connectivity efficiencies of Industry 4.0 and other ways to make manufacturing and the supply chain ‘smart’.

Here’s what we think will define the next ten years for electronic manufacturing – and radically alter the ways that EMS partners can make an impact for their customers.

A quick snapshot of electronic manufacturing on the brink of a new decade

The global electronics contract manufacturing and design services market is growing at a very healthy rate.

  • In 2018 it was valued at $391 billion
  • It is predicted to grow at a CAGR of 7.9% from 2019 to 2025

At a time when OEMs look to gain agility and responsiveness by avoiding the need to maintain large-scale industrial operations, this growth is being driven by quality EMS providers providing the following.

  • Economies of scale in services
  • Industrial design expertise
  • Specialist supply chain management
  • Reduced time-to-volume and reduced time-to-market production
  • Investment in the latest (connected) technology

Added to this is a whole range of value-added services, such as design, engineering, warranties, repairs and returns handling. These services allow for vendor consolidation- managing vast networks of disparate suppliers is neither effective, efficient nor sustainable.

In terms of the sectors that will drive this EMS growth, it’s worth first considering the current state of play:

global-electronic-contract-manufacturing-design-services-market

Source

The dominance of IT & Telecom is largely the result of the proliferation of tablets and smartphones – but growth is not expected from this quarter (or, more accurately, nearly half).

Key growth areas expected to steal market share include:

  • Medical (wearables, tomography scanner assemblies, blood analysers, ultrasound imaging systems and blood glucose meters)
  • Automotive (hybrid and electric vehicles)
  • Aerospace and defence – sectors also harnessing new technology to create possibilities

Let’s just quickly review medical.

New technology is opening out a brave new world of devices, such as medical wearables and even invisible hardware. Add to this the trend for patients to be more in control of their care and it’s clear why we are seeing an increased demand for advances in this field.

As the manufacture of these devices calls for sophisticated technology and strict regulatory compliance, outsourcing manufacturing enables OEMs to accelerate R&D and reduce the cost of devices in order to gain competitive advantage.

But it’s not just about manufacturing. It’s about design and a whole lot more. OEMs are increasingly using EMS providers to develop and manufacture medical wearables that require expertise in:

  • Design
  • Advanced battery technology
  • Connectivity
  • Wireless technology
  • Flexibility and comfort for users
  • Personalisation
  • Hygiene
  • Safety
  • Aesthetics
  • Testing and documentation for compliance

Related to this is a predicted (and significant) shift from the EMS sector being characterised by manufacturing – currently 40% of its revenue – to the rise of design and engineering services as OEMs are inclined to focus increasingly on marketing and sales, rather than R&D, prototyping, design and NPI.

Four electronic manufacturing trends to look out for over the next decade

As we said the future is already here, but there are certainly more developments to come. Let’s explore what some of these may be.

  1. Investment in technology and Industry 4.0 will be winning factors

Without a doubt, the willingness to invest in new manufacturing technologies will determine which UK EMS providers win new clients. But, there’s more to this than just new tech.

Increasingly Industry 4.0 and even Industry 5.0 will offer competitive advantages to those who add advances in communication and connectivity to their tech.

Digitisation allows EMS providers to respond more effectively and efficiently to customer needs because it adds the capabilities of automation and connected data to the manufacturing processes.

In the 2020s quality EMS partners will widely adopt automated equipment and use smart technologies to provide greater productivity, more efficient use of resources, faster time to ramp and improved quality control.

  1. Supply chain management will remain critical

Much will change in the next few years, but some things will stay the same.

Take the components shortage that has affected the supply to the UK of semiconductor and passive components. The instigation of product allocation and product obsolescence are still going to be major factors that push OEMs to rely on the supply chain knowledge and expertise of EMS partners.

  1. Agile, additive and personalised 

The consumer market has already embraced personalised goods – and the industrial electronics sector will soon follow.

This means that OEMs will increasingly demand different material finishes, branding options, software configurations, add-ons, plug-ins, ancillary items and language options.

And they will expect them made to order and delivered the next day.

Connected, data-driven tech will be crucial to meet this demand, but so too will an agile supply chain. Orders triggered by client demand will be automatically sent to suppliers and delivered within the hour. In addition, the EMS provider will no longer process, re-pack and re-locate large orders of stock. Instead the supply chain partners will take responsibility for this service and deliver smaller batches more frequently.

We expect (and will need) just-in-time supply.  Additive manufacturing will also aid such personalisation. It will be deployed throughout the assembly and test processes to produce jigs on-demand, along with any bespoke tools needed.

  1. Smart tracking

Data and dashboard technology will not only connect the production process but also procurement operations. In fact, it will connect everything from prototyping to the entire life cycle of a product.

  • Smart tracking and barcoding will allow deliveries to be monitored in real-time
  • Any unexpected delays will allow customers to be instantly informed and operation teams to redeploy resources
  • On arrival orders will be scanned and booked in for (automated) inspection
  • Printed circuit boards (PCB) will carry accessible information such as their part number and revision level
  • They will also carry all the build information required for their assembly
  • As the PCB moves to each production stage, operators can access the relevant set of instructions they need
  • And, when the job is finished, the PCB will carry within it every detail of the manufacturing steps, operators responsible and component traceability records. These can be stored in the cloud, accessible to anyone with permission should the information be needed later on   

The future is already happening at Chemigraphic

It’s going to be an exciting decade.

And at Chemigraphic we already have much of what is to come in place – and firm plans to implement the rest.

If you are looking for an electronic manufacturer who can handle design, NPI, impeccable supply chain management and connected tech, why not give us a call.

We think you’ll like our forward thinking. Get in touch on 01293 543517 to find out more and book a site visit.

Less haste, more speed: the fine balance of delivering on time in medical electronics

by
Medical electronic manufacturing

Barney Sheppard, Sales Operations Manager, Chemigraphic

Electronic medical devices are big business

And they are set to get bigger. Recent estimates suggest that the global medical electronics market will reach $4.41 billion USD by 2022, achieving a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 5.4%.

Devices which monitor various measurements and activity will likely grow at the highest rate, including:

  • Wearables
  • eskins
  • Blood glucose meters
  • Tomography (imaging) scanner assemblies
  • Blood analysers
  • Mobile monitoring devices
  • And apps for fitness and health

These new devices are smaller, smarter, safer… and strictly regulated.

In many senses the race to reach the market with the latest innovative technology is very much on – and the traditional big players are being challenged by a rash of agile, lean start-ups.

But in this sector – arguably more than in any other – the ability to deliver on time is seriously constrained by the necessity to deliver to spec.

Quality EMS partners are perfectly positioned to help

It looks likely that the past decade’s top earners for the EMS sector – tablets and smartphones – will lose market share to medical devices, which will be a major driver of growth.

Start-ups rely on the knowledge, design, manufacturing and understanding of the meticulous documentation required to achieve approval that EMS providers offer to get their concepts to ramp.

Meanwhile, many of the bigger players are increasingly relying on the investment in advanced technology, design for manufacture expertise and strict regulatory compliance that EMS outsourcing enables. Through this, OEMs can accelerate R&D, reduce the cost of devices and help them gain competitive advantage.

What’s driving the growth of electronic medical devices?

A cluster of factors is causing an ideal alignment of the stars for medical device growth.

These include:

  • New technology
  • New materials
  • New battery (or alternative sources of power) capabilities
  • Additive manufacture for R&D
  • The ability to produce smaller and smaller devices
  • The capabilities of the Internet of Things to share data and allow remote control and machine learning

And all of this has coincided with moves in the medical sector to:

  • Involve patients more actively in their own care
  • Be more transparent in sharing patient data
  • Move treatment from institutions to become more community or home-based
  • The need to find solutions that can reduce long-term costs and administrative burden
  • A greater focus on patient comfort and convenience

What’s threatening electronic medical device success?

At exactly the same time that the horizons broaden and opportunity knocks loudly on the medical electronic device sector’s door, there are a whole new range of obstacles that must be hurdled to enter the market.

The race may be on but in very few fields are there stricter rules and regulations to pass the finish line than in the medical sector.

Risk control has been placed squarely at the heart of a device manufacture by the European Medical Devices Regulations (MDR). This not only calls for more detailed technical documentation and auditing, but it also requires stricter demands for clinical evaluation and post-market clinical follow-up, with better traceability of devices throughout the supply chain.

The updated ISO13485 similarly focusses on better risk control, better supplier management and more detailed proof of design and development.

The complex rules of CE marking will also need to be followed if you are selling in Europe. There are a number of hoops to jump through to obtain this, including:

  • Identifying applicable directive(s) and standards and checking the essential requirements for your product
  • Ascertaining if your product needs a third-party conformity assessment
  • Testing the product and checking its conformity if third-party assessment is not required
  • Creating and maintaining technical documentation
  • Affixing the CE mark to the product according to specific rules

How EMS partners can help

Partnering with the right outsourced manufacturer can help OEMS in a multitude of ways.

We understand the regulations and can support you from day one with key steps such as document creation and core technologies. It is those who partner with a team that is fully up to speed with regulatory processes who are the ones who will be able to develop these devices most efficiently and effectively.

While time to market is critical – and our NPI experience and testing capabilities help move things along the line at a great pace – in the medical sector it can be gaining approval that causes the biggest delays. There’s no point trying to rush a product to market as fast as possible if the steps you skip, or corners you cut, mean you do not comply with all the necessary standards and regulations.

We believe that ultimately, the key to medical device quality assurance is having a correct quality plan in place and documenting everything you need. For this, you must understand from the get-go exactly what proof you need to demonstrate you have followed your quality management system activities as you planned.

But we’re not just here to keep records for you!

In the past OEMs used EMS partners because their manufacturing technology and experience helped drive down costs. But, how times have changed.

Now, EMS partners can enter the process early on in order to help you optimise your product, at every stage from concept to ramp. With specialist design teams, NPI divisions, research and engineering functions, we help our customers to expedite time to market and ensure that they don’t need to implement costly changes later down the line, due to manufacturing or sourcing issues.

Finally, it’s no longer all about electronics.

As the opportunities offered by the IOT take centre stage new skills are called for. While medical device companies understand medicine and science, they may not have the same depth of knowledge in the networking, wireless, computer, and data communication technologies that are being incorporated into leading-edge medical electronics.

As a quick example, here are just some of the areas we support our medical OEMs with:

  • Advanced battery technology
  • Connectivity and wireless technology
  • Flexibility and comfort for user
  • Hygiene
  • Safety
  • Aesthetics
  • Personalised design

Tortoise and the hare

The folk tale about the tortoise and hare race may seem a strange analogy to make here. But, like all cautionary tales it contains a grain of truth. Racing to ramp may seem like the best option in a competitive and demanding marketplace. But taking time and partnering with the best experts to ensure all processes are in place and operating smoothly is always worth the additional time and effort.

We can offer you quick, cost-effective manufacturing processes and a robust, traceable supply chain.

However, what’s equally if not more important, is that we can combine this with design, R&D and a thorough understanding of those regulations that always seem to trip the hare up, just as it thinks it’s going to be the first to market.

Testing times – electronic product launch fails and how to avoid them

by

A desperate bid to save the smartphone: Samsung Galaxy Fold

The smartphone may be reaching the end of the road.

Speaking after the less-than-successful pre-launch of the Samsung Fold, CEO DJ Koh predicted that:

‘Once 5G and the internet of things are available together, we must think rather than smartphones, we must think smart devices. Smartphones may decline but new devices will emerge.’

Elaborating on this, Head of Design Kang Yun-Je, added:

‘Smartphone design has hit a limit, that’s why we designed a folding phone. But we’re also focusing on other devices that are beginning to make a wider impact on the market, like smart earphones and smart watches. In five years or so, people will not even realise they are wearing screens. It will be seamless.’

 

Source

And yet, the foldable phone was supposed to be the next big thing that would help Samsung breathe fresh life into the design and manufacturing initiatives that had flatlined to minor updates of cameras and tweaks to screen resolutions.

But it wasn’t alone in developing a phone that folds: Huawei and Xiaomi had announced their own plans.

The pressure was on, and Samsung’s rush to market may have won them the race but it left them with egg on their face.

Screen malfunctions caused the Galaxy Fold sent to reviewers to cause the company to fold the planned launch just days before it’s official launch date.

Samsung CEO DJ Koh admitted:

‘It was embarrassing. I pushed it through before it was ready, I do admit I missed something, but we are in the process of recovery. At the moment, more than 2,000 devices are being tested right now in all aspects. We defined all the issues. Some issues we didn’t even think about, but thanks to our Samsung Fold reviewers, mass volume testing is ongoing.’

Or, to paraphrase, we’re shutting the stable door after the horse has bolted.

Testing is not ongoing after a launch. It takes place at the earliest stage of a product’s development and throughout its manufacturing. When your product hits the ramp you need 100% confidence in it.

We’ll come back to this, but first a few more product launches that have failed disastrously due to lack of testing.  

Other epic fails caused by lack of testing

Samsung Note 7

In actual fact, the Galaxy Fold fiasco was nowhere near as damaging to Samsung as the issues that emerged with its Note 7 in 2016.

Having been launched onto the market reports started filtering – and then flooding – through of batteries spontaneously catching fire and exploding or overheating and burning users.

The brand issued a voluntary recall of the devices, during which they recalled 2.5 million units, according to Time magazine.

To make matters worse, Samsung replaced the Notes with new devices, but the problem persisted. It is estimated that it lost $14.3 billion in investments, but the cost to its reputation and brand are incalculable.

What went wrong?

The problem proved to be improper product development and QC testing:  One mistake was committed by Samsung themselves, in regards to battery size. The other was incorrect welding of batteries by a third-party manufacturer.

Fitbit Charge HR & Surge

After the Pulse, Fitbit continued to experience issues with their fitness monitors. The Fitbit Pulse was recalled because it caused some users to have allergic reactions. After that, the Fitbit Charge HR and Fitbit Surge fitness monitors were met with a class-action lawsuit in 2016 from users claiming the devices provided false reports.

 

Source

What went wrong?

Here the issue lies both with selection and testing of materials and rigorous testing that the device performs under all conditions.

Hoverboards

Another product badly burned by lack of testing was the Hoverboard, the self-balancing scooters that created a craze 2015. But it wasn’t long before they were creating a blaze, many of the fires started while the boards were charging but others occurred while users where riding them.

By July 2016, the U.S. CPSC (Consumer Product Safety Commission) had recalled half a million units in the U.S. It was determined that the root cause of the fires was overheating lithium-ion batteries.

What went wrong?

Top retailers like Amazon and Target had ensured that each individual component passed a safety test – but issues with the whole product are often more than the separate sum of its parts.

Hoverboard was at pains to point out that there were no safety guidelines for the manufacture of its products. But, if you’re manufacturing something with no safety guidelines, you need to personally take it upon yourself to run thorough tests.

Why design-test-launch is not enough

OEMs need early engagement with EMS partners to ensure that testing strategies are implemented at every stage of a product’s development, from design to supply chain to each phase of manufacturing.

And we specifically call them strategies because there isn’t a fixed set of tests to run – you must let the product’s development, its profile of risks and the characteristics of each component guide you.

This is why OEMs need an EMS partner with a variety of testing capabilities and a track record of ensuring integrity in products far beyond the ramp and into the product’s full life-cycle in market.

Any test process that relies solely on design engineers testing for design validation is inadequate.

It is not operationally efficient and may not even be appropriate, within a manufacturing environment.

For manufacture the key objectives for testing are:

  • To ensure the test captures the actual profile of risks likely at a given stage, such as construction and assembly, components and workmanship, rather than design.
    (Remember the Note 7’s welding?)
  • The ideal manufacturing test is a quick go/no-go, pass/fail test that any operator can perform. It shouldn’t require any complex software setup or interpretation of results.
  • Single tests are not enough. Investing in an expensive fully automated, high-speed test solution is possible, but if a number of more modest setups can be run concurrently, then the overall throughput and cost-per-test can be better.

At Chemigraphic, we offer comprehensive quality control programmes and test services that ensure you have complete confidence in your products before they go to ramp.

Our testing capabilities include:

  • Inline automatic optical inspection on all SMD lines
  • Endoscope for defect analysis
  • ‘Bed of Nails’ ATE for MDA, or where appropriate, combinatorial testing
  • JTAG – boundary scan
  • Device programming
  • Numerous bespoke functional test rigs
  • On-board programming of electronically programmable devices (EPDs)
  • Safety testing
  • X-ray technology on site

And our services don’t end when your product goes to ramp – we test for its full lifecycle after launch.

To find out more about how early engagement with our team can identify faults early and ensure your launch runs smoothly, call us on 01293 543517

Keeping a close watch: key considerations when designing and manufacturing surveillance and security devices

by
Drones surveillance devices

In 1880 the first movie cameras were developed by Thomas Edison and William Dickson. The seed for video surveillance had been planted.

During World War 2, miniature portable cameras appeared, making covert surveillance possible for the military.

Shortly after, Closed Circuit Television (CCTV) was first used in Germany to monitor the launch of V2 rockets.

And the rest, as they say, is history.

But the history of surveillance is far from over.

Surveillance today is much more than just CCTV. It now includes things like police body-worn cameras and the use of drones.

New developments are appearing on the scene that have the capabilities to take the use of surveillance by the military or for security to a whole new level.

The future of surveillance

Robotics

The UK Ministry of Defence recently pledged funding of £66m to fast-track the development of military robotics for use on the battlefield. The funding will be used to develop technology such as small unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) for greater situational awareness, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance.

A senior military figure, Colonel Peter J Rowell, commented that ‘robotic and autonomous systems make our troops more effective; seeing more, understanding more, covering a greater area and being more lethal.’

Small UAVs can provide aerial surveillance and reconnaissance at a smaller cost and lower risk to human life than manned options, such as helicopters. However, it’s not just their size that makes them more discreet: helicopters flying at 500ft can make noise of around 80-90dB.

A drone barely buzzes.

3D printing and additive manufacture

The potential for additive manufacturing is continually being assessed by manufacturers, defence organisations and military end-users. This potential lies in decreased costs, pace of development, and a strengthened supply chain resilience.

Of particular interest, in relation to surveillance, is the ability to produce components and parts for unique situations or locations.

But problems still remain, as one study noted:

‘Even the most well-known and developed of the current [additive manufacturing] technologies are not suitable for applications requiring very precise and fixed tolerances.’

UVs

Unmanned vehicles and the surveillance opportunities they open up require a manufacture who understands exactly how to create electronics that can withstand hazardous – or, at best – challenging environments.

  • UGVs must handle the knocks and bumps of rugged terrain
  • USVs must withstand intense atmospheric pressure and the corrosive force of salt water
  • Surf zone mine sweepers face the risk of explosions and the pounding force of the waves as they prepare the way for troops
  • UAVS must be able to withstand the extreme wind force and changes in pressure

To design UVs and surveillance equipment that can withstand such situations calls for an in-depth understanding of suitable casings and the ability to pack a lot of functions into a very small space.

System integration is vital for designing efficient, effective and robust surveillance UVs. It takes a specialist EMS partner to skilfully design and integrate custom PCB assembly with sub-assemblies and modules, enclosure design, fabrication, cabling and wiring.

And rugged exteriorsand interior casings must protect these incredibly complex and intricate electronics.

Artificial intelligence, the IoT and Big Data

AI, the IoT and Big Data are joining forces to transform surveillance from being passive recording devices into having digital brains and communication connections to match their eyes.

Surveillance devices can increasingly analyse and understand what they record, and respond accordingly.

Devices already on the market act as Google for CCTV. They are instantly searchable and capable of  recognising hundreds of thousands of natural language queries, to search without having somebody physically sit and review hours of footage.

And face recognition looms very close on the horizon, further enhancing the specificity of surveillance footage searches.

What’s more, AI is being developed that will recognise likely situations, providing pre-emptive notifications of a possible fight, for instance.

In its survey of the future of surveillance, the European Commission identified that:

‘Surveillance will increasingly be deployed for pre-emptive purposes by governments and companies. This is driven by an increase in computing capacity, miniaturisation of devices and improvements in performance, together with increased public use of digital media.’

But it’s not all about cameras: remotely readable RFID tags are increasingly attached to consumer goods and access control cards. This is just one example of how the IoT can make some aspects of the physical world as trackable as internet activity.

In the near future we will see these sensors and tags become ubiquitous, dramatically smaller and much more capable through the application of nanotechnology.

Increasingly, it’s not just about surveillance devices but connected intelligence. The defence sector is discovering how the ability to analyse Big Data will make it more efficient and more effective. And during live combat the ability to assess, assimilate and act on the insights big data can provide can save lives.

Sensors for telemetry (the automatic measurement and wireless transmission of data from remote sources), drones and other military and airborne surveillance and connected surveillance tools can help the military generate vast amounts of data. If this can be intelligently and automatically linked it will play a massively important role in improving how and where people and assets are deployed.  In modern combat and counter-terrorism, data analytics is now emerging as one of the defence industry’s most effective weapons.   

As specialist sensor devices become smaller, higher resolution and less expensive, surveillance equipment is becoming increasingly more sophisticated. Merging multiple measureable inputs such as video, audio, temperature, accelerometers, vibration, ultrasonics and lidar (laser surveying) allows incredibly accurate situational measurement in a range of circumstances and conditions.

Then overlaying this into interactive infrastructure mapping and database resources allows a high degree of context and spatial analytics, enabling vast amounts of data to be filtered to identify that one critical circumstance of interest. Millions of people will pass through an international airport in a day, so why is that one passenger or package worthy of attention? These devices can help to make that distinction.

Why Chemigraphic?

We specialise in the sophisticated assembly of surveillance products. Through early engagement and design for manufacture services we can support your engineering teams to generate and validate designs equipped for the latest, emerging technology.

To discuss your requirements, call our team today on 01293 543517.