The Principals of Charlie Barnhart & Associates LLC (CBA) have been involved in the electronics manufacturing industry almost since its inception. We watched as one end market after another sold off its manufacturing capability and migrated to an outsourced solution. We watched as C-level executives jumped on the Wall Street band wagon as it traveled from one ‘low labor cost’ geography to another. We watched companies flirt with off-shoring, on-shoring, vertical integration, the ‘virtual’ supply chain, lean manufacturing and a host of other business models, fads, and initiatives, some successful, some not. We have lived through boom cycles and bursting bubbles. We thought we had seen everything. We were wrong.
Our most recent OEM survey results revealed a level of dissatisfaction among OEMs toward their EMS providers that shocked even us. Dissatisfaction that went beyond what is normal between vendors and customers, i.e. temporary grousing arising from missed deadlines, occasional poor quality and other normal snafus. What we saw was an almost universal level of dissatisfaction being displayed; everyone was dissatisfied about everything!
Knowing that everyone being dissatisfied about everything really isn’t possible, we sat down to figure out what we could do to help sort out this mess and you know what we came up with? Big surprise coming here… the ONLY POSSIBLE SOLUTION is to once and for all address the core elements of disconnect – the myths, misconceptions and financial gamesmanship that have plagued this industry for the past two decades.
We are not joking, either we collectively decide to do something about this or this industry will ultimately fail. Not a pleasant thought for EMS, OEM or anyone else involved or invested in this multi-billion dollar global enterprise.
Our approach (as puny as it may seem compared to the challenge) is the formation of an Outsourcing Navigator Council, a community where Outsourcing Professionals can get real answers from the industry’s leading consultancy on the cross-enterprise cost and pricing of global outsourcing. Accurate, applicable and timely data presented in a venue where rationality reigns supreme and electronics manufacturing gets down to the tough business of business!
Bottom-line, if you are an OEM and really are dissatisfied then it is time to become part of the solution!
We hope you join us in this enterprise and look forward to your help in bringing the EMS industry to its next level of evolution. To learn more about the Outsourcing Navigator Council go to http://charliebarnhart.com/outsourcing-navigator-council/ or contact Jennifer Read at 623-293-6985 ,jennifer@charliebarnhart.com.
Surely you jest. You infer that outsourcing is the viable solution as long as it is controlled. Good luck. We have no control over our offshore friends and they know it. As much as we might dislike it, they have us by the throat. We’ve lost our manufacturing capability and they know we have no alternative but to keep crawling back to them. The only real solution is to bring manufacturing back to the good ‘ole USA where we control our own destiny. To do this we’ll have to deal with corporate greed first. The almighty dollar is the real cause of this mess. This is just a reflection of the current economy. Short term gains outweigh the desire for long term profitability. Based on the title of your council it sounds like you are part of the problem. Count me out.
Mike,
Thanks for your comment, but we don’t necessarily recommend offshoring. In fact, our research shows that a regional approach is most cost effective: build products close to end markets. These are two issues of the many issues that the Council is designed to address.
Thanks,
CBA