
Electronics Sourcing asks Texcel Technology’s sales director, Sarah McNamara, for the questions an OEM should ask when approaching a new contract manufacturer.
Q: What should be on a client’s shopping list when they are looking for a new or alternative CEM?
A: Always an interesting question and it very much depends on what aspects are most important to the OEM as you will not find a CEM that does everything. The list would include: annual volume; assembly variability; just PCBs v complex box builds; difficult stock sourcing issues; price; engineering support requirements; lead-times; prototype requirements; up-issues required; delivery needs; and special features like HV joints.
The OEM needs to select some of the most important of these, find a good match that will deliver on the must haves and consider if they can have an honest and good working relationship with the CEM.
An often-overlooked consideration is the amount of resource the OEM has available to support the CEM in starting to manufacture their product, as this can have a negative effect on the project.
Q: Moving forward, what are the bumps in the road (legislation, sustainability, lead times, etc) readers should be made aware of?
A: Long supply chains and increasing demand means we haven’t seen the end of component issues, especially as many parts are now being made obsolete. There are over 260 CEMs in the UK, with some having low or negative profitability. Couple this with wage increases and increases in service costs, we may see some not make the year. However, the biggest issue from recent experience comes from Donald Rumsfeld in terms of the unknown unknowns.