McKinsey & Co. said today that although contract assemblers can leverage economies-of-scale and have generated tremendous value for their customers, "they have proved less adept at capturing value for themselves" and further restructuring awaits unless the sector adopts better habits.
In the McKinsey Quarterly, published today, the firm asserted, "Fierce competition, the economic downturn and an outdated pricing model have combined to produce razor-thin or nonexistent margins for most of the industry's top-tier players. The takeaway EMS players must learn to stand up to their powerful OEM customers, just as suppliers in the automotive industry have done. They can no longer afford to offer generous terms simply to fill up their factories.
"A bright future awaits these companies only if
they adopt a small-business mind-set by charging for every service they
provide on the OEMs' behalf and by closely monitoring their pricing and
collection processes," McKinsey wrote.
HONG KONG, Nov. 11 -- VTech Holdings Ltd. today announced higher revenues but lower profits for its fiscal 2005 first-half, ended Sept. 30. Revenue rose 13.1% to $457.1 million but profits fell 51.1% to $8.5 million, $3.3 million for a one-time settlement of indemnification claims.
VTech attributed the drop to underperformance in the North American telecommunication market.
VTech, which designs and builds consumer products and performs contract manufacturing, said business revenue from the North American market fell 10.7% to $251.4 million versus last year. Sales to businesses makes up 82.7% of VTech's telecom revenue. Overall telecom sales rose 1.7% to $304 million.
Sales of electronic learning products rebounded sharply, up 66.8% to $95.1 million. Sales in North America were up 129.4% to $31.2 million, while sales in Europe grew 40.3% to $56.1 million.
Revenues from EMS services were up 20.6% to $58 million. Profits were stable, despite pressure on margins from higher raw materials prices. Growth was especially strong in Europe and Japan, which accounted for 46.7% and 20%, respectively, of the firm's EMS services. North America's share declined slightly to 29.1%. Switching mode power supplies and professional audio equipment accounted for 32.2% and 26%, respectively, followed by home appliances at 18.3% and wireless products at 12.1%.
VTech guided for improved telecom sales in the second half, but lower year-on-year profits. "The second half of the financial year 2005 will remain challenging for VTech," said Allan Wong, chairman and group CEO.VTech said sales growth is expected in Europe, where it has gained a major new ODM customer.
Contract manufacturing services are expected to see further revenue growth and stable profitability as the worldwide EMS market continues to rebound. VTech said it will seek reduced costs through more local sources of supply.
NEWARK, NY -- IEC Electronics Corp. reported net income of $62,000 on revenue of $7.7 million for its fourth quarter ended Sept. 30. Both figures were down from last year, when IEC reported net income of $575,000 ($260,000 in non-operating income) on revenue of $9.1 million.
ALBUQUERQUE, NM, Nov. 19 -- Sparton Electronics today opened an EMS operation in Albuquerque in a building formerly owned by Honeywell.
The 110,000 sq. ft. facility, in which Honeywell built control products, is now center of operations for Sparton in the southwestern U.S.
As part of the move, Sparton closed and sold a smaller, older facility located in Rio Rancho, NM.
Indianapolis, IN, Nov.19, 2004 -- Specialty Coating Systems (SCS), a business unit of Cookson Electronics, recently opened SCS Shanghai, a full-service Parylene conformal coating facility in China.
The expansion into China comes as SCS has purchased the assets of their former service partner Cycad Specialty Coatings Technology Co. Ltd. The Shanghai staff includes 20 experienced employees led by China Business Manager, Lu Bo.
China Assembly, part of the Cycad group, will continue in their partnership with SCS as the distributor of SCS Parylene deposition systems in China.
Parylene is applied via a vapor deposition polymerization process, for ultra-thin, pinhole-free conformal coating. Applications include circuit boards, ferrite cores, electronic components, medical devices, medical device components and rubber parts in the electronics, automotive, military and medical device industries.
The DIN EN ISO 9001:2000-certified Shanghai facility joins SCS Singapore, Parylene Japan K.K. and Parylene Korea in providing Parylene coating services to Asia.
Clinton, NY -- GPS has become the newest distributor for Indium Corp. of America in the European market, covering Germany, Croatia and Slovenia.
GPS has many years of experience in the electronic assembly industry and will be responsible for selling Indium's line of solder pastes and wave solder fluxes.
According to Indium's European Sales Manager, Tony Howard, "GPS is a good match to our company and we are very pleased to be working with such a strong team. We look forward to growing our business together."
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