Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/568901
28 The PCB Design Magazine • September 2015 cesses were recorded, which was also mandato- ry as part of the standardization requirements. There was little room for automotive electronics suppliers to maneuver, little opportunity to find creative methods for performance improve- ment, use of advanced engineering, and quality management as seen in other electronic manu- facturing sectors. Meanwhile, progress marched on at a rap- id pace in the rest of the electronics industry, as performance radically improved in the late 1980s with the introduction of SMT. Quality levels generally improved by orders of magni- tude as processes became more automated, with more operational information management and improved process management. Machine capabilities and reliability improved. Materials quality also increased significantly. Less effort was needed to manufacture a higher quality product. Despite these strides, improvements were adopted far less rapidly in the automotive industry, due to the limitations of their qualifi- cation processes. For traceability however, au- tomotive had been one of the first industry sec- tors to adopt it, but in turning the technology around to benefit manufacturing all the way through the supply chain, automotive appears to be last to benefit. Automotive manufacturers, like other sec- tors in the industry, are now also however fac- ing the challenges of more rapidly changing customer demands. A while ago, automotive companies decided to allow customers to per- sonalize their cars with luxury and performance items, rather than simply choosing from a lim- ited range of models or configurations. Quite often, added optional extras are technological in nature, thus creating a variable demand for non-standard accessories. And now, the contri- bution of electronics cost and value is increas- ing as a ratio with other manufacturing costs. Price competitiveness in automotive electron- ics can only increase, as will the expectation from the consumer to have a desired configu- ration available with an ever-shortening lead- time. key Ingredients for Competitiveness— Now and in the Future Now is the time for manufacturers in the au- tomotive electronics industry to consider their future. Any company today that is already in- BEING CoMPETITIvE IN AuToMoTIvE ElECTRoNICS MANuFACTuRING Figure 1: Automobile electronics suppliers can be more competitive by having automated and fully integrated control over their entire manufacturing operation. feature