IPC APEX Expo 2016: A Recap
ControlTek’s V.P. of Marketing and Human Resources Stacey Smith returned home last week from the 2016 IPC APEX Expo flush with new ideas and loads of great new information about new trends expected within the EMS industry in the next few years. We checked in with Stacey to get her Top 5 takeaways from this year’s event:
- Medical and Industrial will be the major growth areas in coming years. While cell phone, PC and tablet sales are expected to level out or even lag coming into 2020 as markets become saturated. The same will NOT be true for Medical and Industrial markets, which are expected to show the largest value growth in the U.S.
- For Medical, that means portable. Portable, hand-held and tablet-based products are expected to be major drivers of growth heading into 2020.
- Adding value is a top priority. Whether that’s finding new ways to reduce costs and improve manufacturability through engineering or making improvements to the development cycle itself, the understanding that we are here to help our customers succeed is widespread.
- Robotics. Are we all really doomed? The jury is still out but there are concerns throughout the industry that, while robotics offer amazing new possibilities for manufacturing, there are also potential issues connected to industrial jobs.
- The Internet of Things is here. The IoT has been on its way for some time; and it brings new opportunities for innovation, both in products and manufacturing processes.
We are excited to see what’s coming for our OEM customers in 2016, and to finding new ways to support their efforts to release innovative new products to the market.
