Addressing the Unique Needs of Clean Energy Customers

Outsourcing manufacturing offers many benefits from access to manufacturing expertise to improvement in financial inventory turns and reduction in capital investment needs. This can be particularly true when the electronics manufacturing services (EMS) provider is able to provide both manufacturing support and fulfillment to end market.

That said, products that are sold in mass installation settings have unique challenges. Shipment timing is often driven by the end customer’s installation schedule which can be impacted by delays in other areas of that project. There may also be specialized configurations unique to each project or region. Typically, end customers want the exact quantity shipped to arrive when they are ready to install. Storage space is often limited and a late shipment can delay other phases of the installation that occur after the product is installed. Neither an EMS provider nor their original equipment manufacturer (OEM) customer want excess raw materials or finished goods inventory building up should the end customer’s schedule push out. Similarly, enough raw materials and correctly configured finished goods inventory must be in place to ship as installation projects need the products.

SigmaTron is able to provide a tailored solution for its customers that can be as limited as PCBA manufacturing and as complex as system integration, fulfillment to end market and repair depot support. The Company also has engineering resources able to support product development activities.

In selecting an EMS provider capable of supporting this total solution approach, it is important to evaluate not only engineering and manufacturing capabilities, but also these three areas:

• Systems capabilities
• Program management structure
• Manufacturing locations.

In this whitepaper, we look at the role of these three areas in a project for a customer in the clean energy sector. The products manufactured are control systems used in mass installation settings, with demand dictated by end customers’ installation schedules.

Read the full whitepaper here.

Systems Strategy and Market Challenges

In a stable market, project status visibility among a contract manufacturer, OEM customer and supply chain is critical to ensuring adequate inventories are in place. In the current environment of imbalance between supply and demand, project status is critical to understanding the options available when a key variable changes. When the business environment begins to normalize, project status visibility will be essential in reducing inventories in a timely enough manner to avoid excess material.

Systems strategy is a priority and a strength at SigmaTron International. This whitepaper looks at three areas where systems strategy is integral in addressing current market challenges and optimizing efficiency.

• Supply chain management
• Project status visibility
• Efficiency improvements.

Read the full whitepaper here.