Outsourcing manufacturing offers many benefits from access to manufacturing expertise to improvement in financial inventory turns and reduction in capital investment needs, especially when the electronics manufacturing services (EMS) provider can provide both manufacturing support and fulfillment to end market.
That said, products sold in mass installation settings have unique challenges. Shipment timing is driven by the end customer’s installation schedule which can be impacted by delays in other areas of that project. There may also be specialized configurations unique to each project or region. Typically, end customers want the exact quantity shipped to arrive when they are ready to install.
In selecting an EMS provider, it is important to evaluate not only engineering and manufacturing capabilities, but also these three areas:
- Systems capabilities
- Program management structure
- Manufacturing locations.
This whitepaper discusses the role of these three areas in a project for a customer in the renewable energy sector.
