Connecting the World:
A Short History of the Globalization of Connector Engineering and Manufacturing
By John MacWilliams, Bishop & Associates Inc.

Key Points

• Connector engineering has gone from regional electro-mechanical to 24/7 global electronic design with a high degree of modeling, simulation, and design software.

• Now, design centers around the world, depending on the size of the company, specialize in regional—and global—product development, with access to corporate design databases via fast Internet. The U.S. may fall behind in this area due to its fragmented, slower Internet services. At least 10Gb/s, heading toward 100Gb/s, is needed to be competitive in the future.

• Globalization has opened up new markets and applications, while the number of key OEMs in many market segments has declined due to industry consolidation. This makes product development dialog with the leaders even more important.

• Standardization via standards bodies, consortia, and users groups has greatly increased their importance in early-involvement engineering dialog; but the eventual design product is often license-free public property.

• U.S., EU, Japan, and Taiwan have experienced varying levels of stress and change in their engineering communities. This is the result of the global redeployment of engineering resources and the transfer of manufacturing lines to China. At one point, it was said that Taiwan had 10,000 engineers involved in such transfers.

• Manufacturing has also changed. OEM outsourcing has lead to low-cost assembly operations in Asia, followed by connector suppliers with bench-type assembly operations. This has resulted in significant home-market supply-chain infrastructure issues, including manufacturing equipment and facilitation—and the redirection of engineering personnel toward the remaining domestic markets.

History
Connector manufacturing and engineering has been a part of North America’s landscape since the 1930s. However, the science began to grow and expand during World War II, when innovations were called for to support the war effort. Since then, the industry began to rapidly evolve, leading to modern electronics.

Early connectors had soldered wire terminals and brass contacts. Envision this: There were no printed circuit boards, so most everything was interconnected with wires. Engineering was basic. An early challenge was learning how to transcend soldered terminal designs to develop more cost-effective crimp/insulation displacement wire connections. AMP Incorporated, now Tyco Electronics, pioneered insulation displacement connections (IDC) technology.

Another challenge was learning contact physics. This involved an understanding of metallurgy, intermetallics, fretting corrosion, and other parameters that affect connector reliability. It is interesting to note that these basic findings are still vitally important in today’s electronic connections, even though connector designs and industry technology are light years ahead of the early connector industry.

Much of the art and science of contact physics has not been taught to many younger engineers in the globalized and developing world connector industry. Nor is it taught at the OEM level. Experts, such as connNtext associates, Contact Research, Timron, or APEX Electrical Connector Consultants, have this knowledge and are available to assist today’s engineers. Understanding the evolution of electronics is key to guiding it forward.

As the electronics industry began to grow with the advent of IC technology, so did the number and variety of connectors. Contacts were plated, and then selective plating began to take hold with rising gold prices. The number of contacts grew exponentially. Plastic molded housings entered the scene, as did multilayer printed circuits. European manufacturers, emanating from Swiss and German industrial sewing machines, developed high-speed stamping equipment to support the growing volume of contacts. The industry grew with constant innovations in the semiconductor industry, and the advent of modern telecom and computer technology. Ever-higher electronic signal performance began to surpass mechanical characteristics in connector design.

What’s ahead?
Fast forward to 2010, past the decade of 2000, when the connector industry went global to support growing EMS and ODM subcontract manufacturers of electronic equipment. Design centera are now connected viia the web, with centers of engineering excellence based on market applications in North America, Europe, Japan, and Asia-Pacific. Regions of the world have thus settled into roles that most closely match regional market strengths and the sophistication of their engineering capabilities.

In China, it is a mix of domestic applications with a large amount of export business. In Europe, regional, often “Euro-Centric” applications are present. In the U.S., support of foreign operations dominates the business, with a scramble to dominate remaining U.S. markets, and those that are emerging with new technology, including alternative energy applications. Generally speaking, we see the following new realities, applicable to the larger global connector companies: 

• Globalization of engineering

• An intense engineering environment brought on by both new technology and reduced staffing levels

• Regional design centers in the US, Japan, Singapore, Europe, Taiwan and Korea

• 24/7 communications between design centers on joint engineering projects

• Central repositories of engineering/design tools, Spice models, etc., available to customers

• R&D curtailed due to cost pressures, but still exist in corporate centers

• R&D is more dedicated to core competencies and technical support, less basic research

• Advent of modeling and simulation design tools for connector design/signal integrity

• Use of rapid prototyping in model shops, using an array of new prototyping tools

North America: R&D, development, product, and some tool & die (T&D) engineering. R&D has been downgraded in recent years due to cost pressures and is now focused primarily on revenue-generating projects. There is strong engineering coordination with regional design centers and manufacturing in Mexico, China, and other low-cost venues. Creative engineering is being employed in new markets, (alternative energy, lighting, medical devices, etc.), as many traditional applications and their engineering support have moved to Asia. T&D expertise is being lost due to retirements of key T&D engineers, and transfer of most T&D work to China.

Europe: R&D, development, product and manufacturing engineering continues in areas where Europe has strength and can maintain domestic manufacturing: automotive, industrial, appliances, medical, instrumentation, and high-end consumer. The European market has adjusted to globalization and is now focused more on those industries that support local content. Headquarters for FCI, Phoenix Contact, Huber & Suhner, Lumberg, Stocko, and many other experienced product line focused connector companies remain strong in Europe.

Japan: Development, product and manufacturing engineering in areas where Japan has strength: automotive, consumer electronics, and globalization of manufacturing resources. JST, Yazaki, Hirose, JAE, Yamaichi, and others headquarter here.

Asia-Pacific: Product and manufacturing engineering focused on computer, peripheral, telecom/datacom, consumer electronics, and handheld devices. Manufacturing engineering is in support of reliance on mainland China manufacturing. Taiwan alone is said to have employed thousands of engineers in the transfer of manufacturing/assembly of motherboards, notebook computers, and other devices to China. Headquarters to Foxconn and many smaller connector companies.

China: Manufacturing engineering focused on high-volume/low-cost assembly of consumer electronics, personal computers, mobile phones, etc. Center for large manufacturing campuses and low-cost T&D work. Expect to see substantial growth in engineering infrastructure to support growing domestic demand. China is quickly becoming the major center for electronics manufacturing. Its graduation rate of engineers and scientists dwarfs that of the West, portending a major engineering presence in the near future. Headquarters to many small connector companies.

To give you a snapshot of the global leaders in connector engineering and manufacturing, see Table 1, below:

2008 Revenues by Company and Region

In our current roadmapping activities with iNEMI.org, we are trying to capsulate regional manufacturing and engineering trends. Shown below in Tables 2 and 3 are draft North American and Asia-Pacific (Taiwan) trends:

Asia Pacific and China Engineering and Manufacturing Roadmap 1990-2021

North American Engineering and Manufacturing Roadmap 1990-2020

To learn more about the Roadmap project, visit www.inemi.org and www.electronicsindustry.org. We encourage you to share your thoughts via our blog.

John MacWilliams Senior Consultant and Analyst, Bishop & Associates Inc. John MacWiIliams has been in the electronics industry for over 40 years. His main areas of experience have included: U.S. competitiveness programs, market research studies, authored articles, field sales and management, product marketing management, strategic marketing, new product planning, venture development, advertising and media relations, direct sales, manufacturers representative, distribution sales management, and international marketing. MacWilliams has worked with AMP, Diceon Electronics, TRW, and IRC in marketing management positions. Prior to joining Bishop & Associates, MacWilliams served as the group director of marketing and new product planning for AMP. MacWilliams graduated from Lehigh University with degrees in business management and engineering.