On the rim of my wife´s PC monitor sticks a little note, saying: „So what? Carry on!“ Could be very helpful in times like these when nothing seems to work out and the clock is ticking quickly by. But how do I explain this to someone who is not only a good friend, but also a great automotive engineer and design team leader, when half of his team has been laid off? The young engineers that he had trained to the job’s highest requirements have all gone on to find some very prolific employment with some of his competitors. They have diversified into aerospace or medical fields much earlier than his company. You can imagine the amount to disappointment my friend must be feeling. All that training lost to his competitors who now can succeed with simple sidesteps.
Sidesteps is the strategy many providers of electronics manufacturing equipment now rely on, as well: While EMS is in a downshift, photovoltaic booms. Not every expertise in the processes of an assembly line can be copied to PV – and, though the production of solar cells is less complex, the cycle times are much lower. Currently it is 2.7 seconds, while to undercut the 10 second limit needs high technological efforts in electronics assembly. So if you did not build up PV-expertise within the last eight month or more, you have to leave this sidestep to these, who did. Even if you find some good trained engineers.
Now you may ask „when does he come up with the dead horse joke?“ Well, I don’t think I need to go there. But I will tell you this much; both the role-model American and the Native American have a saying. „So What? Carry On!“ One of them is saving a bullet. To save this bullet when the horse is all but perished, is even more clever! Leaving Apex I heard the role model say „We need a new location!“ IPC and Las Vegas have a contract for another two shows. The horse is not even lame – only the road is rough right now. So save this bullet for a later date, and for now, let’s keep on ridin up and down that bumpy road!
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