The vast majority of the consumer electronics we use daily are made with different sets of technologies. As these devices continue to get smaller and more complex, electronic assembly and miniaturization demand for testing services by original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) has increased. Now more than ever OEMs rely on electronics manufacturing services (EMS) providers to ensure product quality because it allows the manufacturer to concentrate on creating the product. A new analysis by Frost & Sullivan titled, “Test & Measurement in the Global Electronics Manufacturing Services Market,” forecasts the market for EMS to reach $3.99 billion in 2020.
Companies that provide EMS save manufacturers the cost of performing the test in house by outsourcing it, which results in faster time to market for the products they manufacture. The EMS test services covered in the report include defect analysis, in-circuit testing, inspection with image processing, functional testing, automatic optical inspection, burn-in and X-ray inspection.
A growing field in consumer electronics is the amount of printed circuit boards (PCBs) that are part of televisions, computers, satellite receivers, refrigerators and more. The increased circuit board densities, decreased space between holes and the growing requirement of PCBs to perform across different environments has created demand for complex testing solutions. While manufacturers could potentially perform these tests, costs to OEMs will increase the final cost of the product, which in many cases could price out the products the company is producing.
While in the past OEMs would have been leery to outsource the testing of the products they manufacture, today's EMS vendors have standards of quality that have been developed with new generation of testing products delivering higher frequencies, embedded passives, greater densities, and finer lines.
The reliance of EMS by original equipment manufacturers also includes the ability to manufacture, sub-assemble and assemble cost-effective PCBs at a faster time-to-market.
According to Frost &Sullivan, the price for in-circuit test cost per pin for high performance PCBs have remained stable. The new demand for increased speeds, greater accuracy, more timing tests and improved vector memory has been responsible for escalating capital costs for high-performance test and measurement equipment, which presents considerable challenges for EMS providers as the market moves forward.
Edited by Alisen Downey
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