Report: India's Fast Growing Electronics Manufacturing Sector26 May 2006
Cambridge, UK (PRWEB) May 24, 2006 -- India is showing all the signs of becoming a significant electronics manufacturing location, despite the barriers that have to be overcome, says a report published today by Plan B Manufacturing Ltd, a manufacturing consultancy.
According to Frost & Sullivan, the Indian electronics market is forecast to grow from $28.2 bn in 2005 to a spectacular $363 bn in 2015, rising at 5.5 times the growth rate of global electronics equipment production during 2010 and 2015.
"If this kind of growth happens, then we are going to see a corresponding rapid growth in the Indian contract manufacturing scene", says Radha Mocherla, a Director of Plan B. "Demand has not always been met by local manufacturing. It has been cheaper to import. But we are beginning to see some real changes in that"
Plan B's India team consists of UK and India based senior executives with decades of experience in the Indian manufacturing sector. "This lets us delve deeper into the realities of Indian manufacturing", says Mocherla. " We find that very little gets published about Indian manufacturing capabilities that is immediately useful for executives comparing low-cost locations"
He points to an apparent pattern in reports about India by western consultants and columnists. "They always seem to have a combination of three elements: their barely concealed dismay at the state of Indian infrastructure from the moment they arrive, usually followed by interviews with leading names in business that are extremely positive about the future and finally a brief examination of what needs to be put right for India to become more attractive as a manufacturing destination."
Whilst infrastructure issues are difficult for anyone to ignore, and talking to the same old spokesmen for India is the obvious safe bet given the limited time these visitors spend in India, Mocherla argues that there is another story that needs to be told. "India has a largely invisible category of smaller manufacturers who are working hard to reach global standards and who merit attention."
"These companies have developed ways to minimize the impact of poor infrastructure, and are increasingly working with demanding global customers such as GE and Toyota. Getting quality right is a major concern for all but a handful of the companies we visit."
"Small batch manufacturing is where the immediate opportunity is for Western companies," says Krishna Mani, a manufacturing industry veteran with 44 years of experience in Indian manufacturing and India Head of the Practice. "Smaller Indian manufacturers tend to work with smaller batches, and know how to control costs in this environment. They also have access to low-cost engineering skills. This means that Western companies can look at offshoring small volume products that are difficult to manufacture at low cost and which might also need a lot of engineering support. This will help establish confidence before considering a bigger move"
The electronics sector survey report is based on face-to-face interviews and factory visits to manufacturers of all sizes.
Some of the findings are:
- Plenty of up-to-date manufacturing facilities of all sizes are coming on-stream
- India has a range of independent players from very small to medium size that are quality conscious and price-competitive.
- The growth in the capabilities of some companies has been driven by demand from pioneers such as GE. For their part, Indian companies have been eager to please and have quickly adopted manufacturing best practices with encouragement from such clients.
- Despite the short-term barriers to manufacturing growth, India's independent companies are well placed to undertake smaller volume, more complex work, especially if the designs require some through-hole assembly and 100% testing (in other words, labour-intensive tasks).
The report is available for download at www.planbmanufacturing.com
About Plan B Manufacturing
Plan B Manufacturing Ltd is a unique organization of senior manufacturing executives from Europe, US and Indian manufacturing groups focussed on assisting manufacturing companies improve their cashflow. Plan B team members have extensive experience of the entire range of offshoring and productivity improvement options and can get involved as much as or as little as needed in any given project.
Source: prweb
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