Industry Forum

Electronics

In 2012, the value of world trade in electrical and electronic goods was $1.83 trillion, making it the second largest trade category after fuels and oils. Electrical and electronics firms must overcome key challenges to make the most of global opportunities – identifying and conforming to global requirements in a changing regulatory environment, optimizing product development, assessing suppliers and auditing their factories, and monitoring quality throughout the supply chain.  Increasingly, it is the producer’s responsibility to see a product through to the end of its useful life.

Asia dominates the global electrical and electronic industry on both the supply and the demand side. However the rise of this region has been more at the expense of the USA than Europe, where the German sector is the largest with some 840,000 employees and around 80% of its output being capital goods. Prior to the 2008 recession, the Germany industry saw a long term growth rate of 3% per annum but with the recovery, the growth rate for 2012 and 2013 is estimated at 1.5% with growth in emerging markets compensating for problems in the Eurozone.

An innovative supply chain is the key to global competitiveness in this sector with suppliers capable of world class levels of QCD, capability in new product development and introduction and the ability to ramp up rapidly and reliably to high volumes.

Industry Forum’ electronics industry business consultants have over a decade of experience supporting blue chip organisations within this sector, both in the UK and Globally. Industry Forum has supported the development and introduction of global systems within clients, coached and developed internal resource to ensure sustainability and supported front line delivery of invasive lean or TPM programmes.

Examples of some of the techniques successfully deployed in client organisations within this Sector include:

Developing business policy deployment systems to ensure all improvement activities within the organisation support overall strategic objectives

Implementing robust data collection and analysis systems to identify business improvement opportunities relating to Safety, Quality, Cost, Delivery, Environment and Manpower (SQCDEM)

Driving daily management processes enabling first line leadership to control their processes, implementing local level problem solving and improvement

Application of robust problem solving methodologies to improve quality and prevent defect re-occurrence both internally and at customers

Developing the capability and autonomous ownership of workplace teams to identify and implement improvement opportunities using core Lean improvement tools such as waste elimination, workplace organisation, standardisation and visual management

Value stream mapping techniques to re-design the production process in order to identify and eliminate causes of in process waste and supply chain material loss

Optimisation of product changeovers and adjustments to reduce start-up and shut-down efficiency losses and increase flexibility to manufacture in smaller batch sizes

The implementation of Total Productive Maintenance (TPM) methods to drive improved Overall Equipment Effectiveness and reducing manufacturing costs per unit

The process to deliver these techniques is a collaborative one implemented through Industry Forum’s proven ‘Learn by Doing’ approach. The client’s team are initially led by IF Engineers through training and hands-on application of lean techniques through a series of workshops. They are then coached and mentored as they replicate the activities across their facility, leading their people in turn. 

This cascades the ‘know-how’ for delivering lean systems, grows ownership and embeds sustainability within the organisation.

 

Typical results achieved by clients working with our electronics industry business consultants include:

 

  • Improved safety, quality, delivery performance and cost effectiveness
  • Reduction in lead-time through the process
  • Reduced start-up losses for large projects and new product / process introduction
  • Increased knowledge transfer to support sustained performance improvement
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To find out more about how our electronics industry business consultants are successfully working in the Electronics Sector please contact Simon Carr, General Manager:

Email: [email protected]

Call: +44 (0)121 717 6600

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