This Week in Review: From the Editor’s Desk

As EMSNOW’s new editor, I’d first like to welcome you to EMSNOW Rev. 2 that’s been progressing nicely since Eric Miscoll signed on as Publisher. You hopefully noticed the redesign of the website, and the new logo as well as other changes and improvements to the look and feel of this 15-year old publication.

As promised, we’ve also begun to introduce new original content and columnists. I’d like to take a moment to review some of the material we’ve published recently: it’s worth a second look in case you missed an issue or two.

First, I’ll call your attention to the interview last Friday with Nat Mani, CEO of Bestronics. We’ve begun a series of in-depth EMS executive interviews to explore these amazing companies that have done most of the heavy lifting bringing all the fantastic electronic hardware to the world since OEMs began the outsourcing trend a few decades ago. These companies are often expected to work miracles with their customers’ products:  smaller, faster, lighter –and most challenging — 10% cheaper every quarter.

One of our new columnists, Dieter Weiss, debuted last week as well: in his contrarian view of the European EMS industry, he offers a different, and in his opinion, more accurate ranking of these companies, which I am sure is of interest to readers following Europe. Let us know what you think of his approach to the analysis.

This week, we published a piece by Mark Northrup on testing for risk management. Many in the industry are wrestling with the issue of counterfeit parts being introduced into electronic products – especially medical and aerospace where failure is catastrophic. I admit to worrying a bit about this on long flights and in doctors’ waiting rooms. Mark offers one solution, and provides some case studies to illustrate his approach.

We also added an original piece by a self-described industry curmudgeon, Phil Zarrow. He reminisces about changing global manufacturing strategies, and the constant search for the lowest labor cost, which has thankfully become less of a mantra for companies, as they do a more thorough total cost analysis of manufacturing in far away places.

We continue to publish insightful articles from Jabil’s executive team, including this one by Joanne Moretti, which reports on a revealing survey of tech and business executives, regarding their attitudes toward digital transformation within their companies. There is a clear increase of awareness of the necessity of bringing these capabilities into their organizations – and doing it in an integrated and coordinated way — in order to stay ahead of the innovation curve.

We will be adding other interesting postings from around the web. And watch for more EMS Executive Interviews, and postings from columnists from around the globe.

And if you are going to APEX at the end of the month, please stop by EMSNOW’s booth #2851 with feedback on EMSNOW 2.0. Or email me at jread@emsnow.com