SAN JOSE -- Call it EMS Harmony. EMS consulting group Charlie Barnhart & Associates has launched an online program said to enable OEMs to identify appropriate electronics manufacturing services partners.

The program includes a CBA endorsement of selected industry suppliers, a sponsorship program that includes custom webcasts and communications activities, and a searchable "EMS Index" to help OEMs find specific services.

The program also comes with CBA's Leading Indicators index, which encompasses global labor rates, a novel geographic risk factors algorithm, capacity utilization rates, and other data.

“My methodologies are founded on GAAP-standards, and in case after case, we are seeing proof that  many of the assumptions about electronics outsourcing in operation today among OEMs are dead wrong,” Barnhart said in a press release. “When we conduct our workshops, OEMs are invariably stunned at the benchmark data we are able to show them about their own total costs of outsourcing. That’s why we decided to offer these data to the broader community at no charge. We want more OEMs to execute better, more rational outsourcing strategies, using the EMS companies we know operate with the kinds of efficiencies and economies that can make the industry viable again.”

CBA plans a webcast about the new service for July 27.