IEN: What are the major concerns facing providers of assembly technology and related products and services in the next few years? How can they be addressed?

Boyd: The predominant concerns in our industry have been increased competition and the customers moving manufacturing offshore. New competitors are popping up almost every year, thereby putting increased pricing pressures on all of the suppliers. Many customers continue to close down facilities because the manufacturing has been moved either to Mexico or China. Heavier competition with fewer customers is difficult to work with.

Low-volume or very technical manufacturing remains in the U.S. Therefore, suppliers need to cater to these new demands. Machine changeover times will become more important and machines will need to be made simpler to operate. Machines need to be designed so that almost anyone can walk up to them and operate the machine with minimal training.

IEN: Will wireless become more prevalent in assembly? How about the Internet?

Boyd: It largely depends on the company and the market they serve. For companies that have multiple facilities, the Internet and intranets have been key in keeping control of materials and production schedules. This is especially true for a U.S. company with their manufacturing in China where the time difference is up to 12 hours.

IEN: Will collaborative manufacturing play a role?

Boyd: By collaborative, I am assuming you mean between the customer and vendor. Anything that can be used to reduce manufacturing time, time-to-market, and material costs, all of which reduce overall cost, will need to play more of a role.

IEN: What are the challenges of right sizing?

Boyd: Does anyone really know how to do it right?