Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/757488
16 SMT Magazine • December 2016 manufacturers? The coming of the millennial generation into the workforce as well as digital transformation creates new challenges for con- tract manufacturers. After interviewing sever- al sales and marketing professionals at various contract manufacturers, I found that the fol- lowing seem to be the leading challenges (not- prioritized): • Margins • Getting noticed—online presence driving leads (SEO) • B2B enabling • Accelerate RFP/RFQ to quote, accurately • Customers wanting more transparency and visibility • More self-help to understand capabilities • Ensuring their capabilities are "future proof" Although not a very scientific survey (with only a dozen or so phone interviews), these is- sues seem to cross multiple-sized organizations. Increasing proficiencies and efficiencies within contract manufacturing organization would address the continuous drive for main- taining margins. Investing in an online pres- ence, with a website that has strong search op- timization capabilities is ideal. These tools drive marketing interactions to the site, and inquiries turn into leads. In a competitive environment, volume drives opportunities. However, a good internal contact management system needs to be in place to leverage a strong online presence. One of the biggest struggles is the time to produce a quote from an initial RFP/RFQ. Sales engineering teams can review bill of material (BOM) files for cost estimations, obsolescence risk, RoHS and environmental compliance, and lead time. This can be done with integrated so- lutions that connect the DFM tool or quote tool to various component database aggrega- tors such as IHS Caps Universe SiliconExpert, or the sales team can get the information from di- rect Google searches. However, yield and pro- cess risk must be done by process or manufac- turing engineering groups who take the design files (eCADs/Gerbers) and BOMs and run auto- mated DFM tools (such as Valor) or semi-auto- mated DFM checks to ensure it can be built with the required quality levels. Sometimes customers may require a Class 3 quality product, but the design data won't sup- port it for various reasons. Effects of multiple thermal cycles, distribution of component types and board side, surface finish type, and metal- lurgy of the lead types all have dramatic effect on the producibility of the product. This needs to be identified, up front, as quickly as possible, so customers can be consulted. In many cas- es, the DFM tools have been further automat- ed to accelerate this function, and key statistics are extracted and identified quickly based on predefined risk models. Finding that out dur- ing production has detrimental effects on cus- tomer's confidence, future orders, and costs, be- cause it would be too late. The challenges of visibility as well as fu- ture proofing are related. In the age of analyt- ics, cloud enablement, and access to informa- tion, most OEMs prefer some visibility to their product manufacturing. Providing this capabil- ity is a great differentiator. For example, a con- tract manufacturer in the San Jose, California, area provides the ability for their customers to log into a secured site and have immediate in- formation for KPIs such as running final yield, units produced, and units in production with quantities at each operation. They also offer a custom mobile app, so access is further per- sonalized. These are add-on services that many OEMs are happy to pay for. The equipment that enable these services needs to be future-proof so that standardizations of machine-to-machine communication and machine-to-human com- munication (such as with the Open Manufac- turing Language) can communicate to analyt- SALES AND MARKETING IN A DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION REALITY " Investing in an online presence, with a website that has strong search optimization capabilities is ideal. "