Thinking back, it’s quite staggering how much the world of electronics manufacturing has changed since I first came into the industry in 1979. In those days, large companies dominated. Names such as GEC, Marconi, Ferranti, ICL and Plessey dominated our database and in almost every factory I visited, there were row upon row of assembly operators, manually inserting components. Many were still hand soldering and hand cutting leads.

Our Cropmatic machine was one of the first items of automated equipment. Along with a wave soldering machine, it eliminated the drudgery of manually working on the underside of boards, and left the operator free to concentrate on inserting the components.

Fast forward 28 years, believe me, it has gone as quick as a flash, and the industry today bears little relation to those days of labour intensive hand assembly. Today’s product range is heavily biased towards smt placement machines, inspection and rework equipment and AOI.

High volume and low technology PCB assembly has moved offshore, but in the West we are left with a residue of high quality, low volume, high mix, technically excellent products, which need to be manufactured with precision production tools and equipment.

It isn’t enough to be a supplier today. You have to be a supplier, a supporter, a trainer, a consultant and a backup service, all rolled into one.

The move offshore has taken place, and we should not lose much more manufacturing. I think that we can now look forward to a period of stability, where efficient CEM’s and well managed suppliers who offer excellent customer service will continue to thrive and prosper.