HOW EMS FIRMS CAN SCALE UP To Box Build And Make More Profits

It is no longer enough to play it safe. EMS firms that step up to full product builds will own the future—one box at a time. The choice is clear: stay stuck, or scale smart.

- S.A. SRINIVASA MOORTHY

With the era of electronics manufacturing migrating to India, a new opportunity is fast emerging. However, we see many small and medium electronic manufacturing services (EMS) firms struggling due to pricing issues and shying away from full product builds.

Here are a few ideas that can help you, as the leader of an EMS firm, grow both revenue and margins:

The key shift required is letting go of the low-risk mindset, where customers supply the components and your firm sticks to assembly. This model yields only arbitrage margins, with no manufacturing value add. That said, a hybrid approach may be practical for builds involving high-cost components (such as FPGAs).