What the electrical and electronics industry currently deals with

Excerpt

1. Electrical and electronics industry
   With 888,000 employees (2019) and total sales of €191 billion (2019), the electrical and electronics industry is the second-largest industrial sector in Germany, behind mechanical engineering and even ahead of the automotive industry (bmWi, 2021). The Federal Ministry of Germany describes it as a „solutions industry“ that makes a significant contribution to the future viability of the world. Among other things, the companies drive innovations in automation, medical technology, signaling technology, cybersecurity, semiconductors, cable assembly, electrical components and battery manufacturing. With the rapid growth in the technology sector, the fast pace of change and the increasing deployment of...
    
2. Optimization of complex supply chains
   The days when a product was manufactured in-house from start to finish are long gone. Most companies in the electronics industry outsource at least part of their operations to be efficient and economical. While outsourcing offers many benefits, it also creates a complex supply chain. In the process, information may be lost, compliance requirements may not be met, or other problems may arise. In addition, in this age of intense global competition, manufacturing companies are looking more than ever for innovative strategies to stand out from the crowd. Properly designed supply chain systems can improve product quality, enhance customer satisfaction and increase efficiency. Each step adds value to the process, which begs the question of the most important fundamental areas of supply chain management for electronics manufacturing. In this context, it is advisable to...
    
3. Maintaining quality management
   The same complex supply chain also has the potential for quality control and management issues. When components and processes are performed in-house, quality is easy to monitor. When outsourcing, on the other hand, it is more difficult to keep an eye on exactly how each step of the process is performed. Nevertheless, the primary manufacturer is accountable to the customer for the quality of the products. Therefore, it is in the producer‘s interest to control all processes (including outsourced ones) appropriately, regardless of how complex the supply chain is. For this purpose, a QM manual should be available so that errors can be avoided and a high quality standard can be ensured at the same time. It is the company‘s responsibility to assure that detailed...
    
4. Predicting customer demand / short product life cycles
   Every manufacturing-related industry is tied to customer demand, but the electronics industry is particularly difficult to predict. Customers expect new, high-value technology as soon as it is possible to manufacture it. However, companies must carefully balance supply and demand and operate leanly to meet customer needs without overstocking or understocking. Short product life cycles and, more importantly, trends present an even greater challenge. For example, it is quite possible that demand for a particular product is so high at the beginning that the entire inventory is completely used up on the day of launch. After a few weeks, however, the product may be completely uninteresting and generate hardly any demand at all. As such trends come and go, there can be large fluctuations in production. The challenge is thus to...