So, you are an Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) seeking an electronics manufacturing service (EMS) company to assembleyour:
Printed circuit boards
Wire/cable harnessing
Box builds
It’s not always easy to find and select an EMS company that’s right for your outsourcing projects. Are quality and on-time delivery of high importance to you? Maybe engineering design and quick-turn prototype services top your list? Or perhaps you are more interested in capacity and VIP attention to your projects?
ADVERTISEMENT
If you’re like most OEMs, you want all of these and more. This article will examine the benefits of Product Lifecycle Management (PLM), as well as several other traits that are often overlooked, but vital for an OEM/EMS long-term partnership.
PLM Skills
EMS suppliers operate within an OEM’s product lifecycle. Whether an OEM offers one product line or many, suppliers need to understand and be fully in-tune with where the product resides in the lifecycle stage. If they’re not, engineering changes could take longer and cost more. Product improvements may never be addressed or suggested and safety stock programs may not receive the attention they deserve. These situations suggest that there are numerous benefits to a systematic and organized PLM focus.
First and most important is Design For Manufacturability (DFM). This concept can occur at any point within the product lifecycle, however, it has more value in the design and concept stage. Just as it sounds, DFM is a forward-thinking methodology of designing or redesigning a printed circuit board or wire harness for best-practice manufacturing. The focus is on efficient throughput, cost management and product reliability.
For example, an EMS electronics engineer, in the design stage, can select components for a wire harness using fully-automated equipment verses components where only semi-automated equipment is available. This helps reduce cost. Another example is a PCB design that needs to adhere to the products’ housing specifications or dimensions for a box enclosure.
Some products have parameters or restrictions on overall size, weight and shape. Here again, an EMS engineer can assist in DFM input to meet proper clearance and space, all the while focusing on cost management.
Once a design is completed, the EMS supplier can build several prototypes for validation and research. The OEM engineer performs tests for functionality, reliability and durability. If there are any design modifications, engineers discuss these changes using DFM and, once again, prototypes are assembled to validate the changes. This process may repeat numerous times before moving the project into the pilot or production stage — depending on the OEM’s strategy.
The second benefit to a PLM focus resides in the pilot stage. This is an OEM’s program to test the product’s acceptance in a defined and selected marketplace. For example, 200 units of a diagnostic instrument for automotive repair technicians might be launched and delivered in the Midwest. After a specific time period, product managers will visit with the technicians to gather feedback on the product’s performance. This data is relayed to the OEM’s engineers and to the EMS company. Since the EMS engineer has been involved throughout this project, any adjustments, to the circuit board for instance, are quicker, more accurate and more cost effective.
The growth stage is where full attention is turned to advertising strategy and marketing research. The third benefit of a PLM focus accounts for cost reductions in both materials and labor for manufacturing. When an OEM’s product has been launched, accepted and operated with success in the marketplace, the sales team will forecast demand, usually on an annual basis. This EAU volume forecast is given to the procurement or purchasing manager, which in turn, works with the EMS.
For example, the diagnostic instrument has a forecast of 2,500, 5,000, 7,500, and 10,000. Once the EMS has this data, they will work with their material suppliers for cost reductions, as well as their own production model to reach economies of scale based on per unit volumes.
Finally, an OEM’s product reaches market saturation and sales start to decline. This normally begins to surface in the maturity stage. The decision to extend the life of a product by adding or reducing features will most likely change the design and function of the printed circuit board. Again, an OEM can turn to the EMS for input on cost analysis and assembly design. The fact and beauty that the EMS supplier has been in-tune and involved throughout the initial stages of the PLM makes this stage easier to manage.
More than ever, OEMs seek and require EMS suppliers to have the ability to repeat and sustain quality, delivery and service. When evaluating a new EMS supplier, these performance metrics do not fully reveal themselves until after the sale — which can be too late.
Reducing costs is a constant theme. That’s why it’s very important to have the ability, at a certain level, to predict the outcome with a new EMS supplier. Seek a supplier that has the knowledge and experience to operate within your product lifecycle stages, and if their focus is on PLM, performance metrics of quality, delivery, engineering and customer service should have a high-value and be consistent.
For more information visit www.etimfg.com