Redefining the Value Chain

Why are laptop manufacturers, for example, willing to spend several hundred man years on design, yet only consider the issue of connecting the screen to the laptop well into the design process? By contrast those organisations that have embraced signal interconnect expertise early in the process have not only been able to deliver significant performance improvements through the use of highly innovative technologies that are designed in tandem with the core product values, but also reduce environmental impact and improve product safety. Critically, they have achieved a better design with fewer iterations, with less cost and faster time to market...

As Jeff Bierman, Senior VP, Volex Group, insists, component manufacturers can deliver so much more than ‘just in time’ delivery; embedding their expertise and experience in the core design can enable manufacturers to transform product performance and deliver the innovation required to achieve real market differentiation.

Embedded Expertise

Integrated, end-to-end supply chains are a fundamental component of modern manufacturing processes. With products increasingly built to order at locations around the globe, no manufacturer of electronic equipment would embark upon a relationship with a component supplier that could not offer ‘just in time’ manufacture or local support in multiple global locations.

Manufacturers must also consider the expertise of any potential component providers in the specific context of their operational market. Each industry has unique demands and any potential supplier should have the expertise to understand and deliver on these specifications. The industrial market, for example, requires cable assemblies with a rugged design for the outdoor environment, whereas the consumer market requires a more aesthetically-pleasing product. So just where should the end-to-end supply chain start? From day one of product manufacture or during the design phase? Growing numbers of manufacturers are now looking to leverage the expertise and experience of component providers not just in delivering slick logistics but also underpinning product design expertise.

Apple, for example, actually embeds interconnect experts in its design team in California to ensure the key issue of cable assembly technologies are considered from day one of product design. With this approach the company knows that every aspect of the power cable product is created to match Apple’s stringent and innovative design criteria; ensuring components are the right size, shape, style and quality.

But just how cost effective would this approach be for other manufacturers with a less design-conscious approach to product specification? In fact, this strategy is not just about delivering the most innovative design and a better performing end product – although that is certainly a core outcome; it is also about minimising design iterations to drive down costs. Producing the exceptional data-rates and signal quality required to show high definition (HD) movies on a laptop, for example, requires acute attention to the interconnect cable to the screen. Failure to incorporate an interconnect capable of this specification will not only compromise product performance, but incur heavy costs for late redesign and even replacement of malfunctioned units which could have been otherwise avoided.

Planning Ahead

Considering the design implications of signal interconnects and cable assemblies early in the process is proving to be increasingly essential across a range of products from MRI scanners to laptops and mobile base-station equipment. This is a complex marketplace and one that offers significant challenges for product design teams. New ISO standards are continually being developed, whilst environmental regulations, which vary from country to country, have a growing influence on the design process.

Too often companies are developing amazing, innovative new products with an assumption that interconnects cable assemblies are just standard components that can be simply plugged in. As a result, issues from signal integrity to safety concerns and environmental demands leave the manufacturer either facing an expensive custom design from a component supplier or a significant redesign of the core product.

This piecemeal design strategy results in a significant business cost, both in additional design work and the lost opportunities associated with a delay in getting the product to market.

Differentiation Opportunity

By failing to effectively pre-empt these issues as part of the core design process, manufacturers are also failing to maximise the available technology. For example, the right signal cable and/or interconnect will minimise resistance and hence use less power. Leveraging this technology within the core design will enable a laptop manufacturer to advertise a greater battery life to customers; while organisations running large data centres can minimise the cost of cooling systems and meet CSR objectives; and financial institutions can reduce latency to further improve time-sensitive deal-making.

Obviously this technology is available at any time. Any manufacturer can decide to incorporate halogen-free cables, for example, to support consumer-led initiatives for greener technology; or ensure technology that may be used by children does not include any carcinogenic materials. But at what cost in both additional design requirements and slower time to market?

It is by considering the opportunities presented early in the design phase; by enabling product designers to consult component experts as part of the day to day design process that a manufacturer can maximise these differentiation opportunities, minimise product iterations and get new, innovative solutions to market earlier and at a lower overall cost to design...

Extended Chain

Furthermore, by engaging component suppliers early in the design process manufacturers also have an opportunity to further improve supply chain processes. Component suppliers can provide insight into product costing and time to market. They also have the chance to ensure production facilities with local expertise and cultural understanding are in place to support the manufacturer’s global strategy, and deliver the agility demanded by manufacturers continually striving to improve performance and drive down costs.

And this is key: whilst organisations are looking to improve safety, meet environmental regulations and deliver design innovation, cost will always be the fundamental consideration. It is by extending the supply chain to include component suppliers at the very beginning of the design process that manufacturers can exploit technologies to maximise product differentiation, achieve even more agile manufacturing processes and deliver products to market faster and at a lower cost than ever before.