“One of the biggest challenges that this development presents is the ability for offshore suppliers to measure up when it comes to quality and technology. This is not a new rendition of the ‘UK or US is best’ argument, but a more sophisticated word of caution based on our own experience, spanning over fifteen years of helping OEMs to outsource electronics in other sectors."

“To understand more about the challenges that the aerospace industry faces, we need to appreciate how the global electronics sector has developed in recent years. Our business has achieved its growth by adopting the model whereby high technology PCBs are manufactured at low volumes in the UK, close to the customer’s development facilities. This allows greater communication and true DFM (design for manufacture) and enables quick turn manufacturing to take place, accommodating several revisions to the critical board component before final sign off."

“Conversely, Our sister division – Exception VAR which specialises in outsourcing  work with a number of well established offshore suppliers that provide our clients with less sophisticated PCBs in high volume, this typically seen within the automotive sector. The aerospace industry is changing tack as it wants the best of both worlds – highly sophisticated, complex boards at low volume from a low cost source."

“More specifically, while low cost economies would typically look to manufacture single lamination, multilayer PCBs in large batch runs, they are now being asked to produce complex HDI (high density interconnect) boards, incorporating blind, buried and microvias (tiny laser drilled holes), requiring upwards of three lamination cycles in small batches. This is cutting edge stuff that may well push the capabilities of some suppliers too far, especially as maintaining high yields at low costs are crucial to Asian fabricators success."