Can quality and service create the light at the end of the tunnel?Can quality and service create the light at the end of the tunnel?

Exception, now the UK’s largest outsourced electronics provider, believes that the area of fast turn and reduced time-to-market solutions could provide the industry with much needed respite from the global recession.

Sales and marketing director of Exception’s PCB business Garry Myatt, is quietly confident that more OEMs are turning to reliable and proven outsource partners to support them, especially in areas of new product introduction and urgent operational requirements (UORs), as they are known in the defence sector.

He said: “As the global downturn really begins to bite into the margins of electronics OEMs, we are predicting a trend towards more outsourcing, whereby engineering departments are looking for trusted partners to de-risk the critical time to market delivery of small batch components."

“More often, we are seeing in-house engineering teams focusing on cost reduction and achieving manufacturing efficiencies for their cash cow products. With their focus now on this key element of the plant – ensuring lean principles are working and costs contained – companies like Exception are seeing more work coming from the area of NPI. The last thing engineers need right now is the added hassle and uncertainty of sourcing materials, managing supply chains and collating bills of materials when overseeing new product development programmes. If they can outsource this area to a tried and trusted third party, this makes a great deal of sense.”