面对强敌中国，美欧制造业者抱团抵抗

美国和欧洲的EMS供货商已经意识到，藉由彼此合作，将可共同抵抗中国电子制造业的强大力量。 今年三月，瑞士电子制造服务(EMS)公司 Escatec 宣布，与一家小规模的新兴合约制造商 Surface Mount Technology Corp (SMT) 缔结合作关系。在电子产业中，这件事并不会掀起什么波澜。然而，从另一个角度来看，Escatec和SMT的合约，某种程度上也强调了高科技制造业所能带来的职缺，己成为振兴美欧经济的关键要素。 这二家公司确实有理由合作，因为Escatec一直寻找北美的制造伙伴，希望获得在北美的立足点，同时也希望拓展其马来西亚槟城的量产制造业务。 Escatec业务开发总监Martin Kingdon 表示，透过这项合作，Escatec这家来自瑞士的EMS将能为北美客户提供更多研发和设计服务，进而扩展价值链。 SMT则是一家专门为小型企业提供小量或中量级合约制造服务的公司，藉由此次合作，该公司未来将能透过Escatec的马来西亚业务提供更大量的合约制造服务。

SMT的车间后方是临时搭建起来的墙壁，为的是随时能因应产能扩展而扩大生产规模。
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稍早前，我们造访了美国中西部的制造业枢纽(在1960年代，福克斯河流域(Fox River Valley)曾汇聚数十家造纸厂)，参访这个制造基地的目的，是察看当地是否能具备成为电子供应链的潜力。我们也希望找到能证实电子制造业重回美国的证 明。最终我们发现，像LED模块这类电子零组件，目前就如同SMT公司，在当地重新激活设计和制造业务。 另一个好消息是一家 名为Wisconsin的公司已开始规划专用于设计、开发原型和制造的厂房，该公司目前有140名员工，预计未来还会快速扩展。在我们抵达该公司的当天， 偌大的员工停车场几乎没有空位，该公司主管表示，目前他们的工作情况是每周六天轮三班制，以因应来自85家客户的订单。 本文授权编译自EE Times，版权所有，谢绝转载 本文下一页：离开中国？

相关阅读：
• 你的供应链准备好接受挑战了吗？
• 美国人眼中的中国速度VS中国品质
• 从富士康的三年百万机器人说开来ZALesmc

{pagination} 离开中国？ SMT销售暨行销副总裁Paul Vander Maazen表示，该公司的策略是侧重于早期产品设计，以降低生产成本并提高产品品质。他接着解释道，该公司是将工程师从当前劳力密集的制程工作中解放出来。 因此，面对传统的难题：透过灵活的设计和制程来与中国制造商竞争，最终会导致美国高科技制造业就业人数减少吗？或许。但尽管如此，Vander Maazen表示，SMT一直在招募、收购，而且不断扩大。 “你不能让公司停下来，”这也是SMT和Escatec合作的最主要原因之一，Vander Maazen强调。 SMT的设计工程师们也为飞思卡尔半导体、Microchip和德州仪器等重量级的客户提供咨询服务。该公司目前进行中的一项项目，是设计一种可编程的触控屏幕，将用来控制麦当劳的奶昔机，也能用在Kohler卫浴设备中，作为高阶淋浴间的控制面板。 SMT声称，该公司是在美国设计零件，之后才由中国制造产品。 SMT总工程师Greg Burneske表示，最好的例子，是已经准备好可量产的LED模块，这些模块主要是供给警察和消防队的高阶手电筒使用，这种手电筒发光效率更高，但产生的热更少，每个约80美元。

SMT的总工程师Greg Burneske拿着中国生产的LED模块。
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Kingdon表示，Escatec正在协助一些想离开中国的西方公司，尽管事实上这些西方企业的关键文件和制造产品的主要规格都掌握在他们的中国合作伙伴手中。“为了离开中国，一些企业愿意付钱来重新开发产品规格和支付其它的惩罚，”Kingdon说。 虽然美国和欧洲的EMS供货商可能无法单独与中国强大的电子制造业竞争，但像Escatec和SMT这类的结盟，在面对全球电子制造市场的激烈竞争时，似乎是一个可行途径。 编译： Joy Teng 本文授权编译自EE Times，版权所有，谢绝转载 本文下一页：参考英文原文：U.S., European manufacturers join forces to compete with China ，by George Leopold

相关阅读：
• 你的供应链准备好接受挑战了吗？
• 美国人眼中的中国速度VS中国品质
• 从富士康的三年百万机器人说开来ZALesmc

{pagination} U.S., European manufacturers join forces to compete with China George Leopold APPLETON, Wis. – In March, the Swiss electronics manufacturing services company Escatec announced a partnership with a small, up-and-coming contract manufacturer here called Surface Mount Technology Corp. By itself, the deal was merely one of many announced each month in the electronics industry. Viewed from another angle, however, the Escatec-SMT deal underscores the global nature of electronics production at a time when competitiveness along with high-tech manufacturing jobs have become key issues in reviving the tightly linked U.S. and European economies. The deal made sense since Escatec was looking for a North American manufacturing partner to gain a foothold in the region while gaining another “gateway” to its high-volume manufacturing operations in Penang, Malaysia. Martin Kingdon, Escatec’s director of business development, added that it also allowed the Swiss EMS to move up the value chain by providing R&D and design services closer to its North American customers. SMT, which specializes in low- to medium-volume contract manufacturing for underserved smaller companies, expanded its customer base through the deal and gained the ability to offer higher-volume contract manufacturing through Escatec’s Malaysia operation. What is significant in this picture of Surface Mount Technology's shop floor is the fact that the back wall is temporary, allowing for quick expansion when more work comes in. We visited this upper Midwestern manufacturing hub (in the 1960s, the “Fox River Valley” was home to nearly a dozen paper mills) to get a closer look at the forces shaping the electronics supply chain. We also wanted to find out whether anecdotal reports about electronics manufacturing returning to the U.S. are true. To a limited extent, we found, electronic components like LED modules are now being redesigned and manufactured again at places like Surface Mount Technology. The other piece of good news is that the Wisconsin company has laid out its design, prototyping and manufacturing facility that currently employs 140 workers with a temporary wall to allow for quick expansion. The employee parking lot was full on the day we visited, and company executives said they are currently running three shifts six days a week to keep up with orders from its current roster of 85 customers. Leaving China? SMT’s strategy revolves around early-stage product design aimed at reducing manufacturing costs and boosting product quality, said Paul Vander Maazen, SMT’s sales and marketing vice president. Company engineers are “designing the labor out” of what are currently labor-intensive manufacturing processes, he explained. Hence, the old conundrum: Does the adoption of flexible design and manufacturing processes as a way of competing with Chinese manufacturers ultimately reduce the number of U.S. high-tech manufacturing jobs? Probably. Still, Vander Maazen said SMT is hiring, acquiring and always looking to expand. “You can’t be a stagnant company,” a philosophy that the Escatec deal illustrates, Vander Maazen stressed. While catering to smaller customers that larger EMS providers tend to overlook, SMT’s design engineering arm offers consulting services for such heavy hitters as Freescale Semiconductor, Microchip and Texas Instruments. Among the company’s current projects are designs for the programmable touch screens used to control a McDonald’s smoothie machine and Kohler bathroom fixtures like controls panels for high-end shower stalls. SMT also claims it has brought back to the U.S. designs for components and products previously made in China. Greg Burneske, SMT’s chief engineer, said the best (and brightest) example is a production-ready LED module for high-end flashlights used by police and firefighters. The assemblies produce more light and less heat than previous versions, and the flashlights themselves cost about $80 each. SMT chief engineer Greg Burneske holds LED modules that used to be made in China. For its part, Kingdon said Escatec is helping several western companies that want to leave China despite the fact that Chinese partners will retain documentation and other specs for making their products. “Some are willing to pay the price of redoing their specs” and other penalties in order to leave China, Kingdon noted. While U.S. and European EMS providers probably can’t by themselves compete with the Chinese electronics manufacturing juggernaut, partnerships between contract manufacturers like Escatec and Surface Mount Technology appear to be one viable option for competing in the global electronics manufacturing market.