Employment concerns among 471 respondents of electronics supply chain

SAN JOSE, USA: Venture Outsource LLC recently published findings from its 2011 fall survey of electronics supply chain decision makers. The survey, Electronics Supply Chain Business Outlook Survey, sourced respondents from different levels within electronics industry organizations to achieve a balanced view of the supply chain. Leading electronics components distributor, Digi-Key Corp., sponsored the survey.

The fall survey gathered opinions from 471 executives from different market segments of the supply chain, including 229 key decision makers and a further 179 participants involved in the decision-making process of their organizations. Key decision makers accounted for over 49 percent of respondents in the fall 2011 survey, up from previous surveys.

The survey drilled deep into the organizations where opinions are formed and decisions are made.

* 64 percent of survey respondents indicated they were answering for their entire company.
* More than half of the respondents worked for OEMs (52 percent) and 8 percent for EMS/ODM companies.
* Nearly half of respondents identified as being part of the industrial electronics (15 percent), military electronics/aeronautics/avionics (13 percent), medical electronics (11 percent) or automotive electronics sectors (9 percent).
* Semiconductor firms made up the second largest group of respondents with 17 percent of the sample.
* 10 percent of respondents identified themselves as working for components manufacturers.
* Electronics equipment manufacturers generated 8 percent of responses.
* Nearly one in five survey respondents said they worked in the computer PC industry. (PC manufacturing is dominated by outsourced manufacturing and PCs make up the largest single revenue opportunity for EMS/ODMs).
* The consumer electronics sector accounted for 10 percent of respondents, and the networking (3 percent), telecommunications (6 percent), server (6 percent), and the other segments (7 percent) round out the list.

With 87 percent of respondents responsible for (or participating in) purchasing, sales, and operational decision making, VentureOutsource.com believes the survey results presented in this most recent supply chain analysis report accurately represent attitudes and could help to predict, in the short-term, activity in the electronics market place.

EMS/ODM companies had a much higher percentage of respondents answering for the whole company, 82 percent. Based on details outlined in the report, VentureOutsource.com believes EMS/ODM respondents are likely worried of the order volatility they have seen and this likely concerns most EMS/ODM executives. EMS firms are also seeing greater competition from ODMs in market segments where they have traditionally enjoyed success. This perspective is especially worrisome, given the profile of EMS/ODM survey respondents – key decision makers with a view of their whole company.

The report reveals the outlook for the electronics supply chain has become pessimistic and it does not see much improvement over the next two quarters. Responses on all three indexes came in approximately 10 percent below the average responses from the previous survey.