Electronic Contract Manufacturing or ECM refers to those companies that provide manufacturing, testing, distribution, and repair services for electronic components to OEMs (Original Equipment Manufacturers). These services are also called as Electronics Manufacturing Services (EMS), and the providers of such services are called Contract Manufacturers (CMs). In this article, I talk about the possible future of mobile devices and how it will depend on Electronic Contract Manufacturing.
Mobile Device Innovation is Evolving with Electronic Contract Manufacturing
In a span of just a few years, we have seen that mobile industry has evolved exponentially. This is partly due to innovations in technology, and partly due to the increase in sophistication of electronics manufacturing methods. The consumers are moving on quickly from one device to another, forcing us to wonder, “What’s next?”
This is also something that the electronics manufacturing services providers have to constantly think about so that they can keep up with the changing industry trends. Following are some of the main trends I think are going to affect mobile device innovation in the coming few years:
- Cross-over devices will lead the way
iPads are struggling to retain their top spot, thanks to cross-over devices like phablets. Such newer devices are going to remain in demand, and in order to create differentiation in their newer models and retain a competitive edge in the market, product developers will have to outsource their production by reply heavily on third party electronic contract manufacturing services.
- Better, cheaper products will be developed
The driving force behind this will of course by the innovations in mobile technology; however, manufacturing processes will also play a big part in this due to advances in electronic contract manufacturing. This is because contract manufacturers will become even closer partners to OEMs, providing them with monitoring tools, advanced design capabilities, forecasting abilities, etc. Aside from these, the contract manufacturers will also bring savings in components and various other costs, which would then be utilized on improving supply chain and logistics processes. Thus, overall we are going to see that mobile innovation getting better support from electronic design and manufacturing technologies, and the cost benefits of which will ultimately be passed on to the consumers.
- Electronics manufacturing services will evolve
To keep up with innovative designs and technologies, the electronics manufacturing services will have to evolve as well. Big machinery will get replaced by smaller and more efficient models, and manual and semi-automatic assembly will give way to fully automatic processes. Also, by evolving and changing to adapt to new demands by OEMs, electronic contract manufacturing will play a bigger role in helping OEMs deal with the evolving regulatory concerns.
Thus, we see that the evolution of the electronics manufacturing industry will have a direct impact on the future of mobile device innovations as well. And the hardware startups and OEMs will be better able to face challenges concerning pricing, pipeline management, response time, and global competition with the help from electronic contract manufacturing.
