Europe critical in global economy

A successful global electronics manufacturing strategy must be based on a thorough understanding of our colleagues across the pond. The economy of Europe comprises more than 831 million people in 48 different states. The European Union (EU) itself has over 500 million citizens in 27 member states. In 2009, according to the IMF, if the EU was taken as a single country, it would be the world's largest economy. Europe is a major market for goods sold, and cannot be ignored by OEMs building electronic products. As OEMs in North America return to a regional approach to manufacturing based on a proper Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) analysis, Europe can be a competitive solution for electronics outsourced manufacturing. It is home to many world class manufacturing facilities offering the benefits of geographic proximity to Europe's complex and demanding consumers. The European EMS market comprises both indigenous and global companies. The vast majority of EMS companies in Europe are small companies with a long history of serving primarily one main local OEM customer. There are then dozens of medium sized companies, and a few large companies. In 2009, 14 of the 50 largest global EMS companies were headquartered in Europe. Generally speaking, the value provided by the EMS industry in Western European countries is through specialized services and support of market‐specific developing business sectors (i.e., Automotive, Industrial, Aerospace, Industrial, Medical and Green Energy). The value provided by Eastern European EMS is low labor cost manufacturing in close proximity to Western European economies. ---- Author: Eric Miscoll at Charlie Barnhart & Associates LLC (The report is available free of charge here to qualifying OEMs.)