<?xml version="1.0" ?><rss version="0.91"><channel><title>Articles from New Venture Research</title><link>http://newventure.dfdemo.com</link><description>Articles from New Venture Research</description><copyright>New Venture Research</copyright><managingEditor>webmaster@newventureresearch.com</managingEditor><pubDate>Sat, 17 May 2008 02:08:18 GMT</pubDate><lastBuildDate>Sat, 17 May 2008 02:08:18 GMT</lastBuildDate><item><title>Printed Electronics Will Disrupt the Industry</title><description><![CDATA[The market for printed electronics is just beginning to emerge. As in the semiconductor market that preceded it, specific applications are legitimizing its acceptance and driving its demand. In some cases, the market applications are near term and dynamic, while others are more long range and evolving. The most ubiquitous and immediate applications concern RFID and OLED displays, which are manufactured using OTFT (organic thin film transistor) technology. These technologies are penetrating a wide number of customer applications, and as costs decline and performance improves, will justify customer switching and, in many cases, implementation of entirely new design solutions.

It can safely be said that the printed electronics industry is disruptive in the sense that it is creating new and original markets not seen since the advent of MP3 players, PDAs, or handheld video games. Moreover, it replaces many established products and may provide better functionality and performance at a lower cost. In some cases, as with RFID, printed electronics will drive new demand and consumption by providing more comprehensive accountability, data accuracy, and logistical knowledge than exist todaya kind of new super bar-code technology solution. In other situations, such as with new emissive and nonemissive displays powered by organic logic, memory, and sensor input, printed electronics will provide a more original solution than exists with legacy technology.

As each individual market begins to mature, it will evolve into much more predictable and measurable segments with regard to behavior and rate of growth. Embryonic markets are initially difficult to size or accurately forecast because of the absence of end user and supplier information. Consequently, ETP expects that future reports will restate some of the market sizes, shares, and pricing as better information is obtained.

Radio Frequency Identification
Far and away the biggest opportunity for printed electronics is in the radio frequency identification (RFID) market, which grew by more than 50 percent in revenues from 2005 to 2006. The number of field trials within industries such as financial services, airlines, hospitals, and postal/government increased substantially in 2006 and is projected to expand by as much as 50 percent in 2007. Printed electronics is helping drive manufacturing costs down. OTFT technology is being applied to produce low-cost RFID tags consisting of as many as 4,000 transistors, although the majority of tags continue to be manufactured using traditional silicon technology.

Displays
The market for OTFT displays is expected to experience dynamic growth similar to that of RFID because of the inherent advantages that printed electronics offers in display technology. OTFT will face very little competition when it comes to manufacturing flexible display devices. OTFT technology will also emerge as a significant replacement to TFT-LCD technology in certain price-sensitive applications. By the end of the ten-year forecast period, printed organic display electronics is expected to dominate the OLED display technology field in terms of cost and performance.

Smart Labels and Intelligent Packaging
The market for smart or intelligent labels and packaging is one of the largest potential markets for printed electronics in the industry, if the remarkable potential can only be realized. The total available market size vastly exceeds any other potential market, including OLEDs, RFID, semiconductors, and photovoltaics, except that the penetration is expected to be significantly less, given the cost obstacles to be overcome. As a result, the percent of penetration of the total available market will remain relatively low, although the total printed electronics market for smart labels and intelligent packaging is expected to be the second largest printed electronics market in 2016 given the scale of the overall packaging market.

Memory, Logic, Sensors
One of the pivotal elements to the success of the printed electronics industry will be advances in low-cost logic, memory, and related optoelectronic sensing devices utilizing OTFT circuitry. If the silicon semiconductor industry is a valid analogy, then innovation should proceed rapidly, possibly exceeding ETPs estimates, which are based only on contemporary information. It is of interest that AMD purportedly controls about 80 percent of the patents for printable, thin film electronics, and the Japanese have moved into overdrive in registering new patents relevant to printed transistors in the last year.

Photovoltaics
Over the next ten years, demand for photovoltaic (PV) technology will grow rapidly as the cost for conventional energy increases and becomes less affordable to end users. Moreover, as the cost for PV modules drops, largely due to innovations from printed electronics, consumption of new kinds of PV modules, batteries, rechargeable batteries, solar cells, fuel cells, supercapacitors, and related power generating devices will take off. More importantly, the efficiency of solar conversion devices (which in 2006 had reached approximately 20 percent) will increase and likely double or more, making printed PV an extremely attractive power source solution. Printed electronics will mainly serve to lower the production costs of PV devices, thus driving significant growth and stimulating demand for cost-sensitive applications such as residential power generation, recreation, security, and transportation.

Printed Electronics Market Summary
The market for OTFT/printed electronics is realistically expected to explode over the next ten years. Though hardly measurable at the time of the writing of this report, the emerging market is expected to rise to almost $45 billion by 2016. The markets in order of size in 2016 will be RFID, followed by smart labels and intelligent packaging, IC logic/memory and sensors, OLED technology, and finally PV market applications (mostly battery power storage). 

The printed electronics market has an extraordinary upside when compared with traditional market growth opportunities. For the first few years, overall penetration will only be in the single digits, and market evolution will hardly be noticed. This will change quickly as the market potential becomes apparent. Though the printed electronics industry hardly seems viable today, it could well become one of the most exciting and astonishing markets to unfold in the last 40 years.
]]></description><link>http://newventure.dfdemo.com/docshow.php?docu=26</link></item><item><title>Test</title><description><![CDATA[]]></description><link>http://newventure.dfdemo.com/docshow.php?docu=27</link></item><item><title>Test</title><description><![CDATA[]]></description><link>http://newventure.dfdemo.com/docshow.php?docu=28</link></item><item><title>EMS Manufacturers Come to the Rescue of Solar</title><description><![CDATA[A study performed by NVR in January, 2008 concludes that EMS (electronic manufacturing service) suppliers will be key to the success of the solar panel manufacturing industry. After more than a century of research, the photovoltaic (PV)commonly referred to as solar market for electrical power production is experiencing explosive growth that should continue for many years into the future. However, as with any exciting and high-growth market, there is much speculation and many exaggerated estimates about the impact and size of the market over time. 

Electronic Trend Publications (ETP) in its new report, The Worldwide Solar Panel Assembly Market, uses data from a wide variety of sources to present the most realistic picture available regarding the present and future of this market. The analysis and forecasts are provided in a variety of measures. Application and regional markets are defined in megawatts. Technology markets are defined in megawatts, modules (i.e. panels), cost per module, and cost of goods sold (COGS). 

This report also forecasts the likely move by PV cell and module manufacturers to begin outsourcing production to companies in the electronics manufacturing services (EMS) market. The outsourcing forecast is also defined in megawatts, modules, cost per module, and COGS. COGSthe total manufacturing cost to produce PV cells and finished modulesis forecast instead of revenue for two reasons. First, it is much easier to predict manufacturing cost than revenue. In a capital intensive industry such as PV cell manufacturing, revenue often swings wildly as supply and demand move in and out of balance. Second, COGS is the key value for EMS providers who wish to enter the market. 

This report is organized into six chapters. Chapter 1, Introduction, outlines the scope, organization, and methodology for the report. Chapter 2, Executive Summary, presents top-level data from throughout the report. 

Chapter 3, Technical Trends, examines the basis for PV electronics and considers the fundamental materials science behind basic PV cells as well as some of the emerging PV technologies. This chapter also contains a brief compendium of recent news articles about the industry. 

Chapter 4, Market Analysis, 2007, defines the leading technologies, applications, and regions for PV electronics. The chapter quantifiesinsofar as is possiblethe current market in terms of megawattshipped, modules shipped, average cost per module, and cost of goods sold. 

Chapter 5, Market Forecast, 20082022 examines how the market for PV electronics is expected to grow by leading application area. As in Chapter 4, this chapter defines the leading technologies, applications, and regions. This chapter also forecasts how the EMS industry is expected to play an expanding role in the production of PV modules. 

Chapter 6, Company Profiles, examines the leading industry PV cell and module manufacturers, along with a sampling of material and production equipment providers. The profiles review these companies strategies and products.]]></description><link>http://newventure.dfdemo.com/docshow.php?docu=24</link></item><item><title>Printed Electronics Set to Disrupt the Electronics Industry</title><description><![CDATA[The market for printed electronics is just beginning to emerge. As in the semiconductor market that preceded it, specific applications are legitimizing its acceptance and driving its demand. In some cases, the market applications are near term and dynamic, while others are more long range and evolving. The most ubiquitous and immediate applications concern RFID and OLED displays, which are manufactured using OTFT (organic thin film transistor) technology. These technologies are penetrating a wide number of customer applications, and as costs decline and performance improves, will justify customer switching and, in many cases, implementation of entirely new design solutions.

It can safely be said that the printed electronics industry is disruptive in the sense that it is creating new and original markets not seen since the advent of MP3 players, PDAs, or handheld video games. Moreover, it replaces many established products and may provide better functionality and performance at a lower cost. In some cases, as with RFID, printed electronics will drive new demand and consumption by providing more comprehensive accountability, data accuracy, and logistical knowledge than exist todaya kind of new super bar-code technology solution. In other situations, such as with new emissive and nonemissive displays powered by organic logic, memory, and sensor input, printed electronics will provide a more original solution than exists with legacy technology.

As each individual market begins to mature, it will evolve into much more predictable and measurable segments with regard to behavior and rate of growth. Embryonic markets are initially difficult to size or accurately forecast because of the absence of end user and supplier information. Consequently, ETP expects that future reports will restate some of the market sizes, shares, and pricing as better information is obtained.

Far and away the biggest opportunity for printed electronics is in the radio frequency identification (RFID) market, which grew by more than 50 percent in revenues from 2005 to 2006. The number of field trials within industries such as financial services, airlines, hospitals, and postal/government increased substantially in 2006 and is projected to expand by as much as 50 percent in 2007. Printed electronics is helping drive manufacturing costs down. OTFT technology is being applied to produce low-cost RFID tags consisting of as many as 4,000 transistors, although the majority of tags continue to be manufactured using traditional silicon technology.

The market for OTFT displays is expected to experience dynamic growth similar to that of RFID because of the inherent advantages that printed electronics offers in display technology. OTFT will face very little competition when it comes to manufacturing flexible display devices. OTFT technology will also emerge as a significant replacement to TFT-LCD technology in certain price-sensitive applications. By the end of the ten-year forecast period, printed organic display electronics is expected to dominate the OLED display technology field in terms of cost and performance.

The market for smart or intelligent labels and packaging is one of the largest potential markets for printed electronics in the industry, if the remarkable potential can only be realized. The total available market size vastly exceeds any other potential market, including OLEDs, RFID, semiconductors, and photovoltaics, except that the penetration is expected to be significantly less, given the cost obstacles to be overcome. As a result, the percent of penetration of the total available market will remain relatively low, although the total printed electronics market for smart labels and intelligent packaging is expected to be the second largest printed electronics market in 2016 given the scale of the overall packaging market.

One of the pivotal elements to the success of the printed electronics industry will be advances in low-cost logic, memory, and related optoelectronic sensing devices utilizing OTFT circuitry. If the silicon semiconductor industry is a valid analogy, then innovation should proceed rapidly, possibly exceeding ETPs estimates, which are based only on contemporary information. It is of interest that AMD purportedly controls about 80 percent of the patents for printable, thin film electronics, and the Japanese have moved into overdrive in registering new patents relevant to printed transistors in the last year.

Over the next ten years, demand for photovoltaic (PV) technology will grow rapidly as the cost for conventional energy increases and becomes less affordable to end users. Moreover, as the cost for PV modules drops, largely due to innovations from printed electronics, consumption of new kinds of PV modules, batteries, rechargeable batteries, solar cells, fuel cells, supercapacitors, and related power generating devices will take off. More importantly, the efficiency of solar conversion devices (which in 2006 had reached approximately 20 percent) will increase and likely double or more, making printed PV an extremely attractive power source solution. Printed electronics will mainly serve to lower the production costs of PV devices, thus driving significant growth and stimulating demand for cost-sensitive applications such as residential power generation, recreation, security, and transportation.

The market for OTFT/printed electronics is realistically expected to explode over the next ten years. Though hardly measurable at the time of the writing of this report, the emerging market is expected to rise to almost $45 billion by 2016. The markets in order of size in 2016 will be RFID, followed by smart labels and intelligent packaging, IC logic/memory and sensors, OLED technology, and finally PV market applications (mostly battery power storage). 

The printed electronics market has an extraordinary upside when compared with traditional market growth opportunities. For the first few years, overall penetration will only be in the single digits, and market evolution will hardly be noticed. This will change quickly as the market potential becomes apparent. Though the printed electronics industry hardly seems viable today, it could well become one of the most exciting and astonishing markets to unfold in the last 40 years.
]]></description><link>http://newventure.dfdemo.com/docshow.php?docu=25</link></item><item><title>test</title><description><![CDATA[]]></description><link>http://newventure.dfdemo.com/docshow.php?docu=21</link></item><item><title>test</title><description><![CDATA[test 2]]></description><link>http://newventure.dfdemo.com/docshow.php?docu=22</link></item><item><title>test</title><description><![CDATA[test 2]]></description><link>http://newventure.dfdemo.com/docshow.php?docu=23</link></item><item><title>The Worldwide EMS Market for 2006</title><description><![CDATA[]]></description><link>http://newventure.dfdemo.com/docshow.php?docu=14</link></item><item><title>Electronics Manufacturing in China</title><description><![CDATA[What is the future of electronics manufacturing in China? Electronic Trend Publications has followed the worldwide electronics manufacturing industry for over a decade and is pleased to present, Electronics Manufacturing in China, Fourth Editiona comprehensive research report focusing on this key country. By our estimates, the cost of goods sold for electronics products manufactured in China was about $174 billion in 2004. This market will grow to $385 billion in 2009.

The term electronics manufacturer will refer simultaneously to original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), as well as electronics manufacturing service (EMS) providerscontract manufacturers (CMs) and  original design manufacturers (ODMs).  Chinese manufacturers do not necessarily make any careful distinction between these types of electronics manufacturing. In many situations, they start by manufacturing products for other companies, and then use this experience to create imitation products of their own, which they make and sell domestically.

The report begins with a look at China\'s basic economics and demographics, and gives special consideration to analyzing corporate structure and ownership in China. Next, the three major electronics industry segments (computer, communications, and consumer) are discussed in depth, along with shorter reviews of smaller, less developed segments such as automotive, industrial, medical, and defense. Leading electronics companies in the major market segments are identified, along with an analysis of production by domestic consumption versus export. Following this discussion, several key production benchmarks of electronics companies in China are presented.

The report then presents an analysis of the rate of growth of domestic consumption and exports from 2005 to 2009. This section presents cost of goods sold data by industry segment, as well as by export versus domestic use.

The report concludes with condensed profiles of selected electronics manufacturers in China. These profiles were based on direct interviews with the companies and focus on each company\'s manufacturing capabilities, products made, and financial data. The intent of these profiles is not to serve as a directory of electronics manufacturers in China, but rather as an indicator of current industry focus.]]></description><link>http://newventure.dfdemo.com/docshow.php?docu=11</link></item><item><title>The Flaws and Obsolescence of Product Forecasting</title><description><![CDATA[Supply chain management (SCM) tools are supposed to reduce the complexity of the supply network and streamline the process of procurement, assembly and product distribution.  When erroneous forecasts occur or market conditions change, organizations can theoretically react instantly to redistribute materials and eliminate excess product.  While this has great appeal as a concept, it rarely is the case in practice.  This is because the ones who purportedly manage the supply chains, CMs and more recently CDMs (contract design manufacturers  sometimes called original design manufacturers), do not always have the ability to manufacture on a real-time demand basis.  Most suppliers organize their operations to manufacture and procure parts in a batch-modebuying parts direct so they can gain cost advantage and then producing all of the finished goods as fast as they can.  Running an operation on this basis requires weeks of advanced forecasts and schedule planning with no changes allowed.  If there are substantial variances to the forecast or spend, penalties are charged to the OEM for the change, unless the CM has purchased inventory independently as Solectron did in 2000 in anticipation of a continued upside.  This later resulted in significant inventory write-offs and SCM tools only exacerbated the problem. 

Its probably true to say that the problem of bad forecasts will never go away since it is inherent to the current manufacturing paradigm.  There are simply too many custom and specialized parts that are difficult to acquire without getting in line through forecast allocation.  The majority of CMs cannot structure their operations to work without them, requiring 4-8 week lead times to obtain materials and to produce products.   The best guess approach to predicting product demand and procuring/scheduling/manufacturing has ultimately established a level playing field for the EMS industry with CMs/CDMs vying for the slightest competitive edge in operational efficiency.  It has also exposed many of these firms to tremendous risks in the long lead times on Work In Process and finished goods inventory as well as liability on obsolescence and quality issues.  One might ask, Has anything fundamentally changed from the days of OEM manufacturing besides CMs perfecting the technique of 23-hour equipment utilization and high velocity manufacturing?

A Singularly Unusual Company
One very remarkable CM has emerged out of this industry that avoids the pitfalls of forecasts by producing only real-time product orders on a daily and weekly basis (i.e., no firm production scheduling).  They can do this because their manufacturing operation is able to scale in resources (labor and materials) in real-time and their supply chain management system can deliver materials almost instantly.  (Such an environment provides the biggest advantages for products that are low-to-medium volume and high mix.)  Thus forecasts are practically obsolete since every days production schedule is met and shipped independent of the variances.  This naturally suggests a very dynamic environment which requires special cooperation and organization of suppliers, manpower and manufacturing equipment.  Yet once in place, it yields extraordinary results in production metrics not found in most manufacturing operations.  For example, inventory turns average approximately 12 a year whereas most CMs in the industry average 4-6 turns, and only 8 in special situations (inventory turns are a highly misquoted metric within the EMS industry).  Since product assembly doesnt occur until consumption generates actual demand, the obsolescence risk is greatly mitigated.  Product cycle time usually occurs in just one day and on-time delivery by the company exceeds 98 percent.

Electronic Product Integration Company (EPIC) is headquartered in Rochester Hills, Michigan and has plants in Norwalk, Ohio and Juarez, Mexico (distribution and final assembly in El Paso, Texas).  The company has developed a manufacturing process technology that runs without advanced forecasts (only daily/weekly schedules) yet provides its customers with what is wanted when it is actually needed.  EPIC does this with an end-to-end lean manufacturing system  that achieves a new benchmark in terms of flexibility, productivity and turnaround time.  And it has achieved this for nearly all of their customers who give them high marks for their quality, speed and cost-competitiveness.  How is this done?  

The first step was to develop a pull system within the EMS operations.  EPIC had to conduct extensive layout changes to establish a cellular-based flow to improve capacity utilization and increase equipment and process flexibility.  Through these changes, the company increased component placement activity by 3X without adding additional equipment.  Ultimately, EPIC developed and implemented a revolutionary approach combining Synchronous Flow Manufacturing with a Lean Operating System.  According to Jochen Lipp, V.P. of Operations, some of the breakthroughs included:
	A significant reduction in set-up/change-over times of 15 minutes average versus greater than two hours normally.  This enables the company to conduct multiple product change-overs per shift with very small transfer quantities.
	Increased first-pass yield at in-circuit test and functional test through the transfer of very small quantities which permits real-time feedback versus large batch processes. 
	Reduce the average production cycle times from 4-5 days to less than one shift in a high-mix environment (e.g. producing 25-50 assemblies simultaneously in each work cell), with work-in-process of less than one shift within the system.  This has the added benefit of reducing obsolescence risk associated with engineering changes.

The next step was to get cooperation from EPICs materials suppliersprincipally distributors such as Avnet, Arrow, Future and TTIto provide components through an in-plant warehouse store that is replenished on a weekly basis.  Standard EDI interfaces are used to order materials and since the company only requires what it needs for the week ahead, so there is virtually no scrap or obsolescence.  This flexibility saves money because it eliminates inventory and bulk procurement costs.  As one of EPICs distributors puts it, It is inflexibility that is expensive in the electronics manufacturing business, meaning that long lead times in procurement and product turnaround cycles have many hidden costs.  Karl Keller of Future Electronics works with EPIC by providing materials on a consignment basis which allows them to pull materials in real-time. EPIC has used their BTO system to great success when people want quick turn manufacturing.  They can finish a product in a day whereas the competition will take weeks.  

The biggest hurdle by far is on the operations side which required a complete restructuring.  Wally Johnson, Vice President of Supply Chain Management at EPIC put it this way: Going to China is the easy choice for most OEMs seeking cost reductions.  We had to create a new and dynamic organization that was fast, flexible and competitive.  A lot of people talk about lean manufacturing but most stop short of a full lean program.  The difference in our system is with our execution.   To facilitate this new model, EPIC has perfected a Kanban  system in its operations.  Cooperative distributors are pivotal to providing the necessary component response time for their factories to execute and give its comparative cost advantage.  Because the model lacks the overhead associated with traditional materials resource planner systems and production scheduling, EPIC is frequently able to offer a cheaper total solution to its customerseven when competing against much larger 1st and 2nd tier EMS companies. 

All of this requires a dedicated and highly trained work force.  Most EMS operations have people coming in on fixed shifts and completing specific, task-oriented production schedules.  At EPIC, what makes this situation unusual is that everyone is trained to operate any piece of machinery and for any task on the floor.  This creates a situation where the entire work force is a fully independent and mobile asset available to tackle any given problem.  As such, people flow to the area of most urgent need such as when demand increases or when replenishment is needed.  A simple but straight-forward colored coded card system alerts workers to daily production requirements (green indicates business as usual  produce the next pull quantity; yellow indicates a higher priority such as an upside order, and; red cards are the highest priority, such as two bins are empty).  Manufacturing equipment is streamlined and made flexible so that it can handle any assembly needed, making utilization high and the cost per assembly low.  This includes utilizing state-of-the-art soldering machines and vapor phase reflow ovens from EPM in Switzerland, which enables very rapid changeovers on-the-fly.

A Satisfied Customer Base
How well does EPIC\'s manufacturing service work in practice?  EPIC has done an outstanding job in meeting our lean manufacturing initiatives and helping to support our Kanban system to meet customer demand states Travis Cline, Electronics Commodity Manager at Respironics, Inc., based in Murrysville, Pennsylvania.  The company sought out suppliers that would achieve its lean internal manufacturing goals and selected EPIC on a number of performance criteria. As a company, we only want to keep minimum inventory, and as a bin goes empty, they get it replenished very quickly.  This is all part of our Demand Flow Technology manufacturing setup. notes Cline.  Respironics uses EPIC\'s Norwalk, Ohio and Juarez, Mexico facilities for production and finds that these sites allow for a faster response than off-shore options.

Another customer, Ingersoll-Rand, runs a lean procurement operation in which EPIC maintains a minimum stocking level but responds to actual demand with replenishment planning. Michelle Stark, Supply Chain Manager, calls this program SOMI (Supplier Owned and Managed Inventory) whereby the inventory is owned by EPIC until the point of disbursement to the factory from the SOMI warehouse.  EPIC closely monitors Ingersoll-Rand\'s disbursement rate to get a true sense of demand and feeds their replenishment accordingly to maintain the minimum stocking level.  The SOMI program gives our operations a lot of flexibility states Stark.  Ingersoll-Rand no longer has exposure to expediting fees or inventory liability but the supplier gets quicker payment terms in exchange for the reduced liability and improved inventory turns she continues. Payments are processed weekly from a disbursement record.  The process is paperless because we don\'t provide a purchase order and the supplier doesn\'t provide an invoice.  EPIC has maintained a very high on-time delivery performance for Ingersoll-Rand through the implementation of this program while substantially increasing inventory turns. 

Attention to detail has emerged as one of the key success factors for EPIC and in its ability to execute at such a high level.  Just take a look at our cash conversion cycle which is probably the lowest in the industry  states John Sammut, President and CEO of EPIC.  Most CMs typically are in the 50s to 60s days whereas we are in the low 30s.  This means that we are giving our customers a level of flexibility and performance that tier ones and twos cant even begin to match.  This performance has translated into phenomenal growth over the last several years in a period when the overall EMS is contracting and consolidating.  Revenue for EPIC grew at a greater than 25% compounded annually over the past four years, and the company has business on the books to sustain this rate into 2004 according to EPICs Director of Business Development, Todd Baggett.  Moreover, the company has achieved a return on invested capital that most CMs in the industry can only dream about thereby bucking the trend that EMS is only an anemic, low-margin business that cannot be competitive in North America. 

What conclusions can we draw from this?  First, that innovation and profitability are not dead in the EMS business.  EPICs customers are obviously getting good value from its lean manufacturing service offering, otherwise, they would do it themselves or go to another supplier.  EPIC has found a way to give its customers superior performance, quicker turnaround time and a lower cost product offeringyet still make an attractive return on its sales.  Secondly, EMS production does not need to go off-shore or into China to be competitive.  This is a zero sum game in which suppliers are engaged in a feeding frenzy for fractional pennies.  The winners will be the ones that can survive on the lowest margin and there are many ambitious Chinese CDMs willing to play this game to the death.  A solution in North America has come from people willing to break away from the old paradigm of batch-oriented manufacturing and purchasing.  EPIC has defined a new model that gives them and maybe others a way to compete against low-cost, off-shore suppliers by being more efficient in all aspects of production.  While EPICs model may not suit every customer and every product situation, it is heartening to find at least one company in the industry that has found a unique way and methodology to succeed.  Necessity has once again shown to be the mother of all invention.



Abstract
The forecasting of product demand and the impact that it has for manufacturing is profound.  Yet forecasting is replete with false and unrealistic assumptions since people must \'guess\' demand based on estimated or real patterns of consumption.  The exercise of forecasting introduces unnatural and emotional hedges that get multiplied throughout the vendor supply chain.  What if forecasting could be eliminated and replaced with a \'real-time\' demand system that gave customers (and manufacturers) just what they wanted, when they wanted it?  Is it possible to develop a frictionless supply and manufacturing system that works in this way?  Apparently so, and there is at least one EMS supplier who has many happy customers to prove it.  This story is how one company is changing the face of electronics manufacturing and making forecasting on all levels of the supply chain, obsolete.
me.]]></description><link>http://newventure.dfdemo.com/docshow.php?docu=10</link></item><item><title>The Worldwide Electronic Manufacturing Services Market, 5th Edition</title><description><![CDATA[The report begins with a forecast of worldwide electronics assembly value (cost of goods sold). This forecast is developed by looking at over 40 product segments. ETP estimates that total electronics assembly value was $810 billion in 2005 and will grow to $1.1 trillion in 2010. Fueled by this huge market, ETP believes that the EMS industry will grow from $190 billion in 2005 to $328 billion in 2010.

To support this conclusion, the report analyzes the EMS industry from several viewpoints. First, the report reviews the total market for electronics assembly. Second, the report examines details of the EMS industry, including a breakdown of the industry by company size. Third, the regional distribution of the EMS industry is presented. While this industry largely began in North America, Asia has become the dominant region. Finally, the report details the EMS industry by the key application markets that it serves.

After the industry analysis, the report focuses on EMS financial performance. The report compares companies on a variety of standard financial metrics. These metrics are combined into a weighted ranking which gives ETPs view of the relative performance of these companies.

The report concludes with profiles of selected CMs and ODMs from all parts of the world. These reviews summarize the market focus of each company and also present each company\'s financial performance statistics. The intent of these profiles is not to serve as a global directory, but rather as an indicator of current industry focus.]]></description><link>http://newventure.dfdemo.com/docshow.php?docu=8</link></item><item><title>The Worldwide Communications Equipment Assembly Market</title><description><![CDATA[The report begins with an analysis of the 2005 communications equipment revenue of the world\'s top communications OEMs. The revenues for each OEM are detailed in a matrix of nine product segments and three regions. Regional revenue is presented on a where sold basis.

This OEM analysis then switches to an analysis of global communications equipment production in 2005. COGS for the top OEMs are detailed by the same nine product categories and three regions as provided for revenue. Regional COGS is given on a where assembled basis. The COGS data also includes a breakdown between outsourced and in-house manufacturing by OEM, product, and region.

Using the 2005 analysis as the baseline, the report next presents COGS forecasts for 2006 through 2010 by product segment, region, and outsourced versus in-house manufacturing. As the fortunes of individual companies are much too complex to predict, forecasts are not provided for individual OEMs.

Finally, the report presents profiles of the 49 OEMs used in the analysis. Each profile contains a brief qualitative analysis of the companys operations, accompanied by a table containing the quantitative data.]]></description><link>http://newventure.dfdemo.com/docshow.php?docu=9</link></item><item><title>Nanotechnology Markets and Trends</title><description><![CDATA[As with any exciting topic, there is a lot of speculation and exaggerated estimates about the impact of nanotechnology over time. To help you evaluate the future directions of nanotechnology, Electronic Trend Publications is pleased to present, Nanotechnology Markets and Trends, a comprehensive worldwide market study on the trends, issues, and leading companies in nanotechnology.

This report is organized into seven chapters. Chapter 1, Introduction, outlines the scope, organization, and methodology for the report. Chapter 2, Executive Summary, presents top-level data from throughout the report.

Chapter 3, Worldwide Nanotechnology Funding, looks at government support and funding of nanotechnology research initiatives by country.

Chapter 4, Nanotechnology Materials, examines the basic building block elements and components that are used to construct integrated circuits, sensors, displays, and energy devices.  The chapter also quantifies and forecasts the total growth in nanotechnology materials spending over the next fifteen years.

Chapter 5, Nanotechnology and Electronics, examines how nanotechnology will impact leading industry segments such as integrated circuits, sensors, and display technology.  The chapter  quantifies and forecasts the total growth of nanotechnology in these key electronics markets over the next fifteen years.

Chapter 6, Nanotechnology and Energy, examines how nanotechnology will impact areas such as energy storage, generation, transmission, and conversion.

Chapter 7, Nanotechnology Metrology, looks at the leading tools and instruments used to develop nanotechnology materials and products.  The chapter also quantifies and forecasts the total growth in nanotechnology metrology over the next fifteen years.

Profiles of leading nanotechnology suppliers are provided in Chapters 47. These profiles provide a snap-shot of leading nanotechnology companies directions and products.]]></description><link>http://newventure.dfdemo.com/docshow.php?docu=13</link></item></channel></rss>