At 2am on Sunday 25 October, the clocks go back and everyone in the UK gets an hour for free. Electronics supply chains don’t hand out free hours. This autumn, they’re short of them.

Memory prices have climbed by as much as 400% in two years as AI data centres absorb capacity (Supply Chain Dive). Suppliers of PCB materials – copper-clad laminate, copper foil and drill bits – are planning expansions that run three to four years out, with the shortage expected to last beyond 2029 (DIGITIMES). And the largest buyers are moving from one-year supply agreements to three- and five-year deals, some with advance payments of up to 30%.

If you build medical devices, industrial controls, security systems or communications equipment, your boards use the same laminates and the same memory that the hyperscalers are queuing for.

1. Design for availability

Pick parts with more than one approved source and check lifecycle status before the layout is frozen. Approving an alternate at design stage takes an afternoon. Approving one in the middle of a shortage can mean weeks of requalification.

2. Test the supply chain at prototype

Use the prototype build to test your supply chain as well as your board. Which lines on the BOM were hard to find for 20 units? They will be harder for 2,000. Prototyping is the cheapest moment to find out.

3. Source at scale

Multi-year contracts and advance payments favour the biggest balance sheets. A contract electronics manufacturer pools demand across many customers and many factories, which gives a mid-sized OEM a seat at a table it couldn’t reach alone. NOTE’s sourcing colleagues work across a network of factories in Northern Europe and Asia, so a shortage in one market rarely means a dead end.

4. Share your forecast early

Share your forecast, even when you’re not sure of it. A rolling view of the next 12 to 18 months lets your manufacturing partner place long-lead orders early and agree buffer stock where it makes sense. A rough forecast shared in October is worth more than a perfect one in March.

5. Plan for end of life

Plan last-time buys and redesigns before the final order date, not after it. The products that run smoothly for 15 years are usually the ones where someone was watching the parts list in year three.

Why building closer to home helps

Across the industry, companies are moving production closer to the markets they serve. It shortens the final leg, cuts the number of borders a product crosses and makes it easier to respond when demand shifts. NOTE UK manufactures at six UK sites: Windsor, Haddenham, Basildon, Wolverhampton, Hook and Poynton.

Enjoy the extra hour

None of this needs a big programme. It needs the right conversations at the right stage, between engineers, buyers and the people building the product.

So enjoy the lie-in on Sunday. Then on Monday, open your BOM and ask which lines would keep you awake at night. That’s where the time is hiding.

If you’d like a second pair of eyes on it, our colleagues are here to help. Contact NOTE UK.

Frequently asked questions

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Key Takeaways

• Industrial products often stay in service for many years, so component choice, workmanship standards and test need to reflect that from the first build.
• Obsolescence is certain over that timescale. Agree how end-of-life notices, last-time buys and approved alternatives will be handled before production starts.
• Many industrial programmes are low volume and high mix, so look for a partner set up for frequent changeovers as well as volume runs.

A motor controller in a factory, a lift control board or a monitoring unit on a farm may run for many years before anyone thinks about replacing it. During that time it has to cope with heat, dust, vibration and electrical noise, and the parts inside it have to stay available for repairs and further builds.

This article looks at what UK OEMs should plan for when they outsource the manufacture of industrial electronics, and how NOTE in the UK supports these programmes across its six UK sites.

What counts as industrial electronics?

Industrial electronics covers the control, sensing and monitoring equipment that keeps buildings, factories, transport and infrastructure running. At NOTE in the UK that includes:

• Electric motor controls
• HVAC and building management systems
• GPS and geodetic equipment
• Thermal imaging cameras
• Wireless control systems
• Elevator and transport electronics
• Agricultural and mining equipment controls

These products look very different from one another, but they share long service lives, demanding environments and a need for reliable supply over many years.

What does a long field life mean for the build?

Long field lives start with the board. Industrial PCBAs often mix surface-mount and through-hole parts, combine power and control circuits, and need consistent soldering quality across every unit in every batch. We build industrial PCBAs to IPC-A-610 Class 2 workmanship standards, with functional test and environmental screening to the customer’s specification.

Design matters as much as the build. Our engineering team reviews every new design before first build as part of design for manufacture (DFM) and design for test (DFT), looking at component placement, soldering challenges, test access and cost. That reduces first-pass yield issues and shortens the path from prototype to volume. Our guide to PCB assembly explains more about how this works.

How do you plan for components going obsolete?

Over a long service life, some components will reach end-of-life. Microcontrollers, memory, displays and power devices are the usual ones to watch. What matters is hearing about it early enough to plan, rather than finding out when a build is already short.

Good obsolescence planning means monitoring component lifecycles, agreeing when to make last-time buys, approving alternatives in advance and managing changes through a controlled engineering change process. NOTE in the UK provides component obsolescence management and validated engineering change control as part of long-term programme support. Our post After the Launch covers how we handle obsolescence, repairs and spares once a product is in the field.

How should you handle low-volume, high-mix programmes?

Industrial programmes rarely look like consumer electronics. A customer might need a few hundred units of one product, a few dozen of another and a steady flow of spares, all from the same partner. That calls for short changeovers, accurate kitting and good programme management.

NOTE in the UK supports industrial programmes across the full volume range, from prototypes and new product introduction (NPI) builds through production ramp to high-volume serial manufacture, with structured ramp plans and dedicated programme management.

When should the whole product be built by your EMS partner?

Many industrial products combine high-power components, mixed-technology boards and ruggedised enclosures. Having your EMS partner build the complete unit, with cabling, sub-assemblies, final assembly and test, cuts handovers and puts responsibility for the finished product in one place.

Box build is led from our Haddenham site, and our box build and system integration capability covers motor controls, transportation systems, thermal imaging and automation equipment. There is more detail on our box build manufacturing page, and our post on self-service technology shows the same approach applied to kiosks and terminals.

Should you manufacture in the UK or further afield?

For many industrial OEMs, a UK partner means local programme management, shorter lead times and better supply chain visibility. Our six UK sites are Windsor, Haddenham, Basildon, Wolverhampton (Kasdon Electronics), Hook (STI) and Poynton (STI).

Where a programme needs European or global capacity, NOTE Group facilities in Sweden, Finland, Estonia, Bulgaria and China offer in-region manufacturing without changing manufacturing partner. Both routes are managed through a single point of contact, with the same quality and reporting standards.

Six questions to ask your EMS partner

1. What workmanship standard will my boards be built to? For most industrial products, IPC-A-610 Class 2 is the baseline to ask about.
2. How will you warn me about component end-of-life? Ask how lifecycles are monitored and how alternatives are approved.
3. Can you handle small batches and frequent changeovers? Check how the partner plans low-volume, high-mix work alongside volume runs.
4. Can you build and test the complete unit? Box build and functional test under one roof mean fewer handovers.
5. Which site will build my product, and what is it certified to? Check ISO 9001, ISO 14001 and ISO 45001 against the site doing the work.
6. Who is responsible for CE marking? Your manufacturer can apply labels to your instruction, but certification stays with you as the product owner.

How NOTE in the UK supports industrial programmes

We manufacture industrial electronics for UK and international OEMs, from motor controls and building management systems to thermal imaging, transport and agricultural equipment. All six UK sites are certified to ISO 9001, and our Windsor, Haddenham, Hook (STI) and Poynton (STI) sites also hold ISO 14001 and ISO 45001. NOTE in the UK applies CE marking labels under customer instruction, and customers keep responsibility for CE certification. You can read more on our industrial electronics manufacturing page, or talk to our team about your next programme.

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Key Takeaways

• High-power boards need thermal management and component derating considered at the design stage, before the first prototype is built.
• Hi-pot and insulation resistance testing should be agreed early: who supplies the test equipment, who writes the specification and who keeps the records.
• A charge point is a box build as much as a PCB assembly, so check that your partner can handle cable harnessing, power supply integration and final assembly under one roof.

An EV charge point has to switch high currents safely, talk to a back-end network and keep working outdoors for ten years or more, often in a car park with no shelter. Inside it are power conversion, control boards, metering, communications and a lot of cabling, all in an enclosure that has to be built the same way every time.

This article looks at what EV charging OEMs, and makers of energy storage and power control products, should plan for when they outsource manufacture, and how NOTE in the UK supports GreenTech programmes across its six UK sites.

What counts as GreenTech electronics?

In manufacturing terms, GreenTech covers the electronics that generate, store, convert and manage energy. At NOTE in the UK that includes:

• EV charge points and connected charging units
• Energy storage and battery management systems
• Smart power control and distribution systems
• Energy-efficient LED lighting controls
• Climate and heating management systems
• Renewable energy monitoring and control electronics

What these products share is high power, long field lives and a need for test evidence that supports the customer’s own certification.

What makes high-power electronics harder to build?

Higher voltages and currents change the build. Heat has to go somewhere, so copper weights, component spacing and the position of power devices on the board all matter. Components run closer to their limits, so derating needs checking against real operating conditions, including an enclosure that may sit in direct sun. Spacing between high-voltage conductors also has to survive assembly, which means tight process control around soldering, cleanliness and handling.

These issues are far cheaper to fix in design than on the production line. Our engineering team reviews thermal management and derating as part of design for manufacture (DFM) and design for test (DFT) support, from the first prototype. Our guide to PCB assembly explains how this fits into the wider build.

How should you plan testing for EV charging products?

Test is where many high-power programmes slip. Hi-pot and insulation resistance checks are standard for high-voltage assemblies, but the details vary by product and market, so they need agreeing before production starts.

Our test engineers have hi-pot testing experience for high-voltage assemblies. The way we work is simple: you supply the test equipment and specification, and we provide the process capability, documentation and test records to support your product certification. We confirm the specific test requirements at quotation stage, so there are no surprises at first article.

CE marking follows the same principle. NOTE in the UK applies CE labels under customer instruction, and the customer, as the product owner, keeps responsibility for certification.

Why is a charge point a box build project?

Open up a charge point and the PCB assemblies are only part of the story. There are power supplies, cable looms, connectors, displays and an enclosure built for outdoor use. The quality of the finished unit depends on how well all of those come together.

Our Haddenham site leads box build for NOTE in the UK, working from a 37,000 sq ft advanced manufacturing facility. For EV charging and connected infrastructure customers, the team handles electronics box build, cable and wire harnessing, power supply integration, electromechanical assembly, testing, packaging and fulfilment, for charge points, connected charging units and power and control systems. There is more detail on our box build manufacturing page and in our post on box build and mechanical integration.

How do you keep a ten-year product supplied?

Energy storage systems, charging infrastructure and smart power controls are usually designed for ten years or more in the field. Over that time, power semiconductors, communication modules and controllers will change or reach end-of-life. Planning for this from the start, with approved alternatives and a clear engineering change process, protects both supply and your certification.

We provide component obsolescence management, validated engineering change control and continued supply across the whole product lifecycle. Our post After the Launch covers how we handle obsolescence, repairs and spares once a product is in the field.

What about the environmental side of manufacturing?

GreenTech customers often want their manufacturing partner to share their environmental standards. NOTE in the UK manufactures to RoHS and REACH requirements as standard, and our Windsor, Haddenham, Hook (STI) and Poynton (STI) sites are certified to ISO 14001 for environmental management.

Six questions to ask your EMS partner

1. How do you review thermal management and derating at DFM? Ask to see what a DFM report covers for a high-power board.
2. Who supplies the hi-pot test equipment and specification, and who keeps the records? Agree this in writing before first article.
3. Can you build the complete unit as well as the boards? Cable harnessing, power supply integration and final assembly at one site mean fewer handovers.
4. Which site will build my product, and what is it certified to? Check ISO 9001 and ISO 14001 against the site doing the work.
5. How will you manage component obsolescence over ten years? Ask how early you will hear about end-of-life notices and how alternatives are approved.
6. Who is responsible for CE marking? Your manufacturer can apply labels to your instruction, but certification stays with you as the product owner.

How NOTE in the UK supports GreenTech programmes

We build electronics for EV charging, energy storage, smart power and control, lighting controls and climate management for UK and international OEMs, from six UK sites: Windsor, Haddenham, Basildon, Wolverhampton (Kasdon Electronics), Hook (STI) and Poynton (STI). You can read more on our GreenTech electronics manufacturing page, or talk to our team about your next programme.

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Key Takeaways

• Connected devices need careful PCB assembly: fine-pitch parts, BGAs and RF sections that are sensitive to placement, shielding and grounding.
• Radio modules, chipsets and memory can go end-of-life quickly, so obsolescence planning should start at design.
• For products that handle sensitive data, ask which site will build them and what that site is certified to.

An IoT or connected device is only as good as the board inside it. Most connected products combine fine-pitch components, a radio, an antenna and firmware in a small enclosure, and many are expected to work in the field for ten years or more. Choosing who builds them is a decision about signal performance, supply continuity and data security as much as price.

This article explains what UK OEMs should look for when they outsource the manufacture of IoT devices, network equipment and other communications electronics, and how NOTE in the UK supports these programmes across its six UK sites.

What counts as communications electronics?

Communications electronics covers any product whose main job is to send, receive or route data. In practice that includes:

• IoT devices and sensors
• Network products and switches
• Optical data transmission equipment
• Satellite-based systems
• RF and antenna technology
• Smart home and smart building products

These products have a few things in common that shape how they should be built: dense boards, radio performance that depends on how the board is assembled, long field lives and components that change quickly.

Why is PCB assembly harder for connected devices?

A typical IoT or network board packs fine-pitch SMT components, BGAs and mixed-technology parts into a small footprint. BGA joints sit underneath the package where no one can see them, so X-ray inspection is the only reliable way to check them. Automated optical inspection (AOI) covers the visible joints. At NOTE in the UK both are standard on this kind of work, with assembly to IPC-A-610.

Radio sections add another layer. Signal performance depends on component placement, grounding and shielding as well as on the layout itself. Your engineers own the RF design. What a manufacturer adds is a controlled process that builds that design the same way every time, including shielding integration and careful handling of controlled impedance boards.

The cheapest point to catch a problem is before the first build. A design for manufacture (DFM) review looks at component placement, test access and solderability while changes still cost very little. Our article on why design for manufacture decides product cost goes into this in more detail.

How do you plan for short component lifecycles?

Communications products live with a tension. Radio modules, chipsets and memory can go end-of-life within a few years, yet the product itself may be in the field for ten years or more. If no one is watching, the first sign of trouble is a part you can no longer buy.

The answer is to plan for it from the start: monitor lifecycle status on the bill of materials, agree approved alternative parts early, and make last-time buys from a forecast you trust. We cover this in After the Launch: obsolescence, repairs and spares.

What should you ask about data security in manufacturing?

Some connected products carry encryption keys, are provisioned during production or end up in secure environments. For these, ask how the production area is controlled, who has access and what build records are kept.

Within NOTE in the UK, ISO 27001 is held at STI Hook and STI Poynton, so programmes with formal information security requirements are usually placed at those sites.

It is also worth being clear on product compliance. NOTE in the UK applies CE labels under customer instruction, but certification responsibility stays with the customer as the product owner.

Can one partner take you from prototype to volume?

Changing manufacturer between prototype and production means re-qualifying, re-learning and often re-designing. Connected products move fast, and those delays cost launch dates.

NOTE in the UK supports communications programmes from NPI and prototyping through to volume production across six UK sites: Windsor, Haddenham, Basildon, Wolverhampton (Kasdon), STI Hook and STI Poynton. Where a product needs to ship as a finished unit, our box build work is led from Haddenham. For customers who need capacity in other regions, the wider NOTE Group has facilities in Sweden, Finland, Estonia, Bulgaria and China.

Six questions to ask your EMS partner

1. How do you inspect BGAs and fine-pitch joints? Look for X-ray and AOI as standard, not as an extra.
2. How will you handle the RF sections of my board? Ask about shielding, grounding and placement control.
3. Who monitors component lifecycles, and how far ahead? You want warning measured in months, not weeks.
4. Which site will build my product, and what does that site hold? Certifications are held by individual sites, not by groups.
5. Can you take me from prototype to volume and box build? Fewer handovers mean fewer surprises.
6. What happens when a unit comes back from the field? Repair, test and spares should be planned, not improvised.

How NOTE in the UK supports communications programmes

We build IoT devices, network products, optical and satellite-based systems, RF and antenna technology and smart building products for UK and international OEMs. You can read more on our communications electronics manufacturing page, or talk to our team about your next programme.

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Key Takeaways

• The later years of a product’s life involve repairs, spare parts management, and addressing component obsolescence.
• Component obsolescence management is essential as manufacturers may stop producing parts while products remain in service.
• Planning for obsolescence starts during design to keep options available when end-of-life notices arrive.
• After-sales support includes repair, sourcing spares, and maintaining continuity in team practices over time.
• Ask key questions about lifecycle status, spare stock, and failure response to ensure effective management of active products.

The evenings are drawing in properly now. It is the time of year when you stop thinking about the summer and start working out how long the winter will be.

Products go through something similar. Launching a new product gets the planning, the budget and the attention. Then the product goes into service, and for an industrial or medical product that service life can run to ten years or more. That is where most of its working life sits, and it is often the part with the least planning behind it.

What the later years involve

Once volume production settles down, the questions change. They are smaller and more frequent, and they tend to arrive without much warning.

A unit comes back from the field and needs repair. A customer needs spares for an installed base that is still growing. A component on the bill of materials receives an end-of-life notice from its manufacturer. A fault turns up in service and someone needs to know whether it is a one-off or the start of a pattern.

None of these make headlines. Each one decides whether the product keeps doing its job or starts costing its owner money.

Component obsolescence management

Of all the later-life issues, obsolescence is the one most likely to stop production outright.

Component manufacturers discontinue parts on their own timetable, and a product designed today will very likely outlive some of the parts inside it. When an end-of-life notice lands, there are usually three options: make a last-time buy sized against realistic future demand, qualify an alternative part, or plan a move to a revised design.

The earlier the notice is picked up, the more of those options are still open. A last-time buy needs a forecast you trust. A qualified alternative needs time for evaluation and, for regulated products, for the documentation that goes with it. A redesign needs the most time of all.

That is why obsolescence planning starts at design. The questions we raised in week three, about a part’s lifecycle position and whether it has a second source, are the same ones that make an end-of-life notice manageable years later.

Repairs, spares and field support

The rest of after-sales is steadier work, and it relies on the same discipline as production.

• Repair and return: fault diagnosis, repair and functional re-test, carried out to the same quality standards and documentation as the original build.
• Spare parts: holding or sourcing components and managing stock against service demand forecasts, so field replacements are there when they are needed.
• Scheduled inspection and maintenance: planned checks that extend product life and reduce unplanned downtime.
• Fault diagnosis and failure analysis: when something fails in the field, finding the cause so the answer can be acted on.

What ties these together is continuity. The team supporting a product in year eight should be working from the same build records, test specifications and quality system as the team that built it in year one.

Why the series finishes here

We started The Turn five weeks ago with the first design decision. Since then we have walked through prototyping, sourcing, manufacturing, and quality and test. It finishes here, at the far end of the product’s life, because that is the whole of the job.

Many of the products we build, from component sourcing onwards, are still in service long after the people who launched them have moved on to other projects. That work rarely gets photographed, but it is a large part of what a manufacturing partner is for.

Five questions worth asking before winter

If you have products in service, these are worth a few minutes:

1. Do you know the lifecycle status of every component on your active bills of materials?
2. If a key part went end of life tomorrow, would you make a last-time buy, qualify an alternative or redesign, and who would make that call?
3. Is your spares stock based on a current service forecast?
4. When a unit comes back from the field, does the failure information reach the people who can act on it?
5. Will your manufacturing partner still hold the build records and test specifications in five years’ time?

If any of those are harder to answer than they should be, we are happy to talk them through. Email info.note@note-ems.co.uk or read more about our after-sales and EOL services.

We make it work, for as long as it needs to work.

Seasons change. Product quality doesn’t.

The post After the Launch: Obsolescence, Repairs and Spares appeared first on NOTE.

Neil Owen, Vice President of NOTE in the UK, reflects on National Manufacturing Day, what we celebrated across our UK operations and why the people, skills and capabilities behind British manufacturing matter long after the day itself.

National Manufacturing Day gives our industry an opportunity to stop for a moment and celebrate something we probably don’t talk about enough – what we make here in the UK and the people who make it possible.

Across NOTE in the UK, today has been an opportunity to shine a light on our teams, our facilities and the breadth of manufacturing capability we now have across the country.

But as National Manufacturing Day draws to a close, I think the more interesting question is: what are we actually celebrating?

For me, it is much more than manufacturing equipment or production volumes.

It is people, knowledge, investment and the ability to turn an idea into a product that performs reliably in the real world.

Six UK sites. One manufacturing network.

NOTE’s UK manufacturing footprint now extends across Windsor, Haddenham, Basildon, Wolverhampton, Hook and Poynton.

Each operation brings different skills and capabilities to the wider NOTE network, allowing us to support customers across sectors including MedTech, industrial, communications, GreenTech, security and defence.

That breadth matters because what customers need from a manufacturing partner is changing.

Increasingly, they are looking for support across much more of the product lifecycle – not simply somebody to manufacture a PCB.

From an idea to a finished product

One of the things National Manufacturing Day allows us to demonstrate is just how much happens before and after a product reaches the production line.

Our involvement can start with design and development, followed by prototyping and sourcing, before moving into electronics manufacturing.

And it doesn’t necessarily stop with the electronics.

At sites such as Haddenham, our box build and complete product manufacturing capabilities allow us to bring together electronics, mechanical components, assembly and testing to deliver a finished product.

From there, support can extend into fulfilment, after-sales requirements and eventually end-of-life management.

It is a very different picture from the traditional perception of an electronics manufacturer.

The people behind the process

The machines inevitably attract attention on days like today.

But the technology only tells part of the story.

Behind it are engineers solving design challenges, purchasing teams navigating component availability, operators who understand their processes in extraordinary detail, quality teams ensuring standards are maintained and colleagues working together to solve the unexpected problems that inevitably arise in manufacturing.

That human expertise is one of UK manufacturing’s greatest strengths.

Technology and automation will continue to change what our factories look like and how we operate them. But the experience, judgement and problem-solving ability of the people working within them remain incredibly important.

Why UK manufacturing continues to matter

The past few years have also changed the conversation around where products are manufactured.

Supply-chain resilience, security of supply, lead times, traceability and proximity to customers have all become increasingly important considerations.

For some OEMs, having engineering and manufacturing capability closer to home can make collaboration easier and allow teams to respond more quickly when requirements change.

That doesn’t mean every component or manufacturing process suddenly becomes local. Electronics manufacturing is inherently global.

The opportunity is to combine strong UK electronics manufacturing capability with access to an international sourcing and manufacturing network.

That gives customers options.

So, what do we take away from National Manufacturing Day?

Perhaps the biggest takeaway is that modern manufacturing is far broader than many people realise.

It is engineering.

It is technology.

It is supply chains.

It is quality.

It is investment.

And, most importantly, it is people.

National Manufacturing Day gives us one day to put all of that in the spotlight.

Tomorrow, our factories will continue doing what they do every other day of the year – solving problems, building products and helping our customers bring their ideas to life.

And perhaps that’s the best way to wrap up National Manufacturing Day.

We’re proud of what we manufacture in the UK. But we’re even prouder of the people who make it possible.

Neil Owen
Vice President, NOTE in the UK

The post National Manufacturing Day 2026: A Wrap Up from NOTE in the UK appeared first on NOTE.

Key Takeaways

• Electronic component sourcing involves careful planning and decision-making to avoid supply risks.
• Reviewing the bill of materials (BOM) early helps identify potential issues with parts, like single sourcing or long lead times.
• Businesses should agree on approved alternative parts upfront to ensure quick changes if necessary, especially in regulated sectors.
• Accurate forecasts enable timely long-lead orders, but companies must also avoid excessive stock that ties up resources.
• Maintaining strong relationships with authorised distributors reduces the risk of counterfeit parts, ensuring quality in electronic component sourcing.

Take a walk through a park this month and you’ll see grey squirrels hard at work, burying nuts one at a time in dozens of different spots across their patch. It looks frantic, but there’s a system behind it. Every hiding place is a small bet on getting through a winter they can’t see yet, and spreading those bets means one raided cache doesn’t leave them hungry.

It’s a good picture of how component sourcing works in electronics manufacturing. The decisions that keep a production line running in January are made months earlier, and the businesses that come through supply shocks in good shape are usually the ones that planned for them before they arrived.

Sourcing starts on the drawing board

By the time a bill of materials reaches purchasing, most of the supply risk is already built in. A part chosen at design stage because it was familiar, cheap or already on the engineer’s bench can turn out to be single-sourced, on long lead times, or a year away from end of life.

That’s why we’d rather see a BOM early. When our engineering and purchasing teams review it during development, we ask:

• Is each part in active production, or is the manufacturer already signalling end of life?
• How many manufacturers make it, or something that could replace it?
• What are current lead times, and how have they moved over the past year?
• Has the part been on allocation before when demand spiked?

Swapping a part on a schematic costs very little. Swapping it after a board has been through qualification in a regulated sector can cost months.

Don’t bury everything in one place

A squirrel that hid its whole winter supply in one spot would be taking a big gamble. So is a BOM with critical single-source parts and no agreed alternatives.

Where the design allows, we work with customers to agree approved alternates up front, qualified and signed off before they’re needed. In MedTech and Security & Defence, any component change has to go through the customer’s own approval process, so agreeing those options early makes the difference between a quick switch and a production stop.

Plan for the winter you can’t see yet

Good forecasts make good sourcing. When we understand a customer’s likely volumes for the year ahead, and not only the next order, we can place long-lead orders in good time, agree scheduled deliveries with suppliers, and talk through where buffer stock of critical parts makes sense.

That doesn’t mean buying everything in advance. Too much stock ties up cash and space, and parts can go out of revision sitting on a shelf. The skill is in knowing which handful of parts would stop a line if they went missing, and looking after those properly.

Know where every part came from

Squirrels don’t have to worry about counterfeits. Electronics manufacturers do. When parts are scarce the grey market fills quickly, and a counterfeit or badly stored component can pass every check on the line and then fail in the field.

Our starting point is authorised distribution and direct manufacturer relationships. Where a part genuinely can’t be found through those channels, it needs proper inspection and a clear paper trail before it goes anywhere near a customer’s product. For defence and medical work especially, knowing where a part came from is part of the product.

Seeing the whole market

Being part of NOTE Group, with manufacturing across Northern Europe and Asia, gives our purchasing teams a wider view of pricing, availability and lead times than a single site working alone. When a part tightens in one region, that view helps us spot it sooner and look for options earlier.

For UK customers, that means one NOTE in the UK team to deal with, with the reach of the Group behind it.

What grows from good sourcing

Squirrels don’t find every nut they bury. The ones they miss grow into the oaks and beeches that feed the next generation. Good sourcing decisions made early in a product’s life work the same way. They keep paying back long after anyone remembers making them, in steady builds, predictable costs and products that keep doing their job.

Seasons change. Product quality doesn’t. And quality starts with the right parts, from the right sources, arriving when they’re needed.

If you’re planning a new product or reviewing a BOM for next year, talk to our team at info.note@note-ems.co.uk.

The post What a September squirrel knows about component sourcing appeared first on NOTE.

CEM stands for contract electronics manufacturer. EMS stands for electronics manufacturing services. The two terms are used interchangeably across most of the industry, and in day-to-day conversation they usually mean the same thing. Where they differ is scope.

CEM describes the company: a manufacturer building electronics to someone else’s design. EMS describes the range of services wrapped around that build, from design and development support and component sourcing through to test, box build, aftersales and end-of-life management.

If you are putting a supplier list together, the label on the company matters far less than what sits behind it. A business calling itself a CEM may offer a full service chain. A business calling itself an EMS provider may in practice only do assembly. The questions further down this page are the ones that tell them apart.

What is a CEM (contract electronics manufacturer)?

A contract electronics manufacturer builds electronic assemblies to a customer’s design and specification. The customer owns the design and the intellectual property. The manufacturer owns the build.

The term dates from the point at which original equipment manufacturers began outsourcing printed circuit board assembly rather than running their own lines. A CEM’score work typically covers:

• Printed circuit board assembly, surface mount and through-hole
• Inspection and test, including automated optical inspection and X-ray where fine-pitch or hidden joints are involved
• Conformal coating and potting where the operating environment demands it
• Sub-assembly work against a supplied bill of materials

In its narrowest form, the customer supplies a finished design and often a kitted bill of materials, and the manufacturer supplies labour, process control and capacity.

What is EMS (electronics manufacturing services)?

Electronics manufacturing services covers everything a CEM does, plus the services either side of the assembly line. An EMS provider is engaged across the life of a product rather than for a single build. For a fuller definition, see What is EMS?

A full EMS scope usually includes:

• Design and development support, including design for manufacture and design for test reviews
• Prototyping and new product introduction
• Component sourcing, procurement, obsolescence monitoring and supply chain risk management
• Printed circuit board assembly and functional test
• Box build and systems integration, from enclosure assembly through to fully finished units
• Aftersales, repair, spares and end-of-life planning

CEM vs EMS at a glance

The row that matters most is the last one. Buying assembly is a transaction. Buying manufacturing services is a relationship that has to hold up through component shortages, design revisions and a product life that may run well past a decade.

Why the terminology shifted

Outsourced electronics manufacturing started as an assembly business. Capacity was the product. Over time, the harder problems moved to the manufacturer: securing components, managing obsolescence, proving traceability to a regulator, taking a design from a working prototype to something that can be built repeatably at volume.

EMS became the common term because it described that wider job more honestly. Plenty of well-established manufacturers still use CEM, and there is nothing dated about it. Read the capability, not the acronym.

Which one do you need? Six questions to ask

1. Is your design finished and proven? If it is, a straightforward assembly scope may be all you need. If it is still moving, you want a partner who will run design for manufacture and design for test reviews before anything is committed to a line.
2. Who carries the component risk? Kitting parts yourself keeps control, but it puts lead times, allocation and obsolescence on your desk. Ask what the manufacturer monitors, how far ahead, and what they do when a part goes end of life.
3. What happens after PCB assembly? If your product ships as a finished unit rather than a bare board, you need box build and systems integration under the same roof, or you are managing a second supplier and a second set of handovers.
4. What are your volumes and your mix? High-volume, low-mix work and low-to-medium-volume, high-mix work are different manufacturing disciplines. Ask which one the site is actually set up for.
5. Which certifications apply, and at which site? Certifications are held by individual sites, not by groups. A supplier may hold ISO 13485 at one facility and not another. Always ask which site your product would be built at and what that site holds.
6. What happens in year five? Spares, repair, obsolescence management and a planned end of life are the services people forget to ask about at supplier selection and need most later.

Where NOTE in the UK sits

NOTE is an electronics manufacturing services provider. The service chain runs from development and prototyping, through sourcing and manufacturing, to aftersales and end-of-life support, so a product can be picked up at concept stage or brought in as an established build.

NOTE UK operates six sites: Windsor, Haddenham, Basildon, Wolverhampton (Kasdon), Hook (STI) and Poynton (STI). All six are ISO 9001 certified. Certification beyond that is scoped by site: ISO 13485 for medical device manufacture is held at Basildon and Wolverhampton, and AS9100 and ISO 27001 are held at the STI sites, Hook and Poynton. Box build is delivered across the UK sites, with Haddenham as the lead facility.

The sectors served are MedTech, Communications, Industrial, Security and Defence, and GreenTech. Security and Defence work is delivered through STI. Where CE marking applies, NOTE UK applies labels under customer instruction; responsibility for product certification remains with the customer.

If you are weighing up whether you need assembly capacity or a manufacturing partner, the practical next step is a conversation about the product rather than the acronym. Get in touch at info.note@note-ems.co.uk.

Frequently Asked Questions

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Key Takeaways

• September prompts reflection in electronics manufacturing; it’s a time to assess, prepare, and make crucial decisions.
• Successful products arise from numerous small decisions made throughout their lifecycle, not just one great decision.
• Early involvement of contract electronics manufacturing expertise can prevent significant issues later in production.
• Prototyping is crucial as it reveals real-world functionality; issues found at this stage are easier to address than those found post-production.
• Good lifecycle management means planning for component obsolescence, redesigning products when necessary, and ensuring smooth transitions at end of life.

Neil Owen, Vice President, NOTE in the UK

There is something about September that I have always liked.

Perhaps it is because I am a golfer. The courses change, the light changes and there is a freshness to the mornings that was not there a few weeks ago.

But more than that, autumn feels like a natural point to look ahead.

Not in the slightly artificial way we tend to do on 1 January, with resolutions and predictions, but with a little more perspective. What worked? What needs attention? What is coming next? And are we ready for it?

I have been thinking about that in the context of electronics manufacturing.

Earlier this summer, I wrote about what sport can teach us about building electronics – preparation, teamwork, resilience and the work that happens long before anyone sees the result.

Autumn feels like the natural continuation of that thought.

Because if there is one thing I have learned from years in this industry, it is that successful products rarely happen because of one brilliant decision.

They happen because hundreds of good decisions are made at the right time.

And those decisions stretch across the entire life of a product.

Development – where the biggest decisions are often the smallest

By the time a product reaches a manufacturing line, much of what determines its cost, reliability and manufacturability has already been decided.

Component choices. Board layout. Test access. Enclosure tolerances. Assembly methods.

Individually, they can look like relatively small engineering decisions.

Collectively, they determine how successfully that product will make the transition from an idea into something that can be built reliably, repeatedly and commercially.

That is why I am such a strong believer in involving manufacturing expertise early.

A ten-minute conversation during development can prevent a ten-week problem later.

Prototyping – where assumptions meet reality

I like prototypes because they are honest.

A design can look perfect on a screen. A prototype tells you what actually happens when you build it.

Can it be assembled as intended? Can it be tested properly? Are the tolerances realistic? Does the component selection work in practice as well as it does on paper?

This is the point where you want to discover things.

Finding a problem during prototyping is not failure.

Finding it after you have committed to volume production is considerably more painful.

The best prototype builds do more than prove that a product works.

They teach you how to build it better.

Sourcing – thinking beyond today’s availability

Over the last few years, the electronics industry has learned some fairly uncomfortable lessons about supply chains.

Availability today does not guarantee availability tomorrow.

A technically perfect component can become commercially impossible if its lifecycle, lead time or supply base has not been considered.

So sourcing has to start much earlier than the purchase order.

We need to understand lifecycle. We need visibility of availability. We need to think about second sources, obsolescence and what happens if circumstances change.

The question is not simply, “Can we buy it?”

It is, “Can we keep building with it?”

That is a very different question.

Manufacturing – where all those earlier decisions show up

Manufacturing is often the most visible part of what we do.

The equipment is running. Boards are moving through the line. Products are being assembled and tested.

But what happens on that line is the result of everything that came before it.

A product designed for manufacture behaves differently in production.

The build is repeatable. Test is considered. Assembly makes sense. Problems have been designed out rather than managed around.

Of course, manufacturing itself still demands continuous improvement.

Processes change. Volumes change. Technology changes. We learn from every build.

But good manufacturing should not be about fighting the product.

It should be about building it better.

End of Life – because good product management does not stop at production

End of life is perhaps the least glamorous part of the product journey.

It is also one of the most important.

Components become obsolete. Technology moves on. Customer requirements change. Products that have been manufactured successfully for years eventually need to evolve, be redesigned or retire.

The worst time to start thinking about that is when the end-of-life notice lands in your inbox.

Good lifecycle management means watching what is changing while there is still time to respond.

Sometimes that means securing last-time buys. Sometimes it means finding alternatives. Sometimes it means redesigning.

And sometimes it means recognising that a product has reached the end of its journey and helping a customer manage that transition properly.

Looking ahead

Perhaps that is what I like about this time of year.

Autumn is change, but it is also preparation.

It is a reminder to look at where you are, understand what is coming and make the decisions now that will matter later.

Electronics manufacturing is no different.

Development influences prototyping.

Prototyping influences sourcing.

Sourcing influences manufacturing.

Manufacturing gives you the information you need to manage a product throughout its life.

And eventually, how you manage end of life determines how successfully you move on to whatever comes next.

None of those stages really stands alone.

One of our five values at NOTE is being quality focused. Internally, we express that very simply:

Get it right from the start.

I would probably add one thing.

Keep getting it right all the way through.

Because building a successful product is not just about getting it into production.

It is about making good decisions throughout its entire life.

Seasons change. Good decisions endure.

The post The Turn: Decisions That Last in Electronics Manufacturing appeared first on NOTE.

Key Takeaways

• September marks the time when key product decisions are made, locking in most costs for years.
• The earliest design decisions can be the most expensive, often related to components and manufacturing processes.
• Design for manufacture (DFM) emphasizes early collaboration with manufacturing partners to avoid costly changes later.
• Involve your electronics manufacturing partner before finalizing designs to address potential issues proactively.
• DFM helps ensure reliable, repeatable, and economical product builds by focusing on component selection, assembly layout, and testing strategies.

September always feels like the real start of the year. It is also when a great many electronics products get quietly decided.

Everyone is back, the diaries fill up, and the plans that were vague in July suddenly need numbers against them. Somewhere in that fortnight, next year’s product stops being an idea and starts being a specification.

Not launched. Decided. The board layout, the component choices, the enclosure, the test strategy. All of it gets locked in over the next few weeks, and most of the cost of that product for the next five years gets locked in with it.

The most expensive design decisions are made the earliest

By the time a design reaches a contract electronics manufacturer as a finished drawing with a fixed launch date, the expensive decisions have already been taken. Not the obviously expensive ones. The quiet ones.

• A connector chosen for its footprint that turns out to be awkward to place reliably on the line
• A component with a lead time that will not survive the launch date it was specified for
• A test strategy that looks complete on paper and costs yield in practice
• An enclosure decision that adds minutes to every build, multiplied by every unit for the life of the product

None of these are design errors. They are the ordinary consequence of designing without a view of how the thing will actually be made.

What design for manufacture actually looks like

Design for manufacture, or DFM, is not a review stage at the end. It is a conversation that starts while the design can still change.

Component selection and lifecycle

Availability, lifecycle status and qualified alternatives assessed at design stage rather than at the second build. Obsolescence is a present problem, not a future one, and it moves faster in some component families than most design teams expect.

Layout and assembly

Where the board design helps or hinders automated assembly, test access and rework. Small placement decisions compound across every unit built.

Test strategy

Functional and in-circuit test developed alongside the build rather than bolted on afterwards, so coverage is designed in and yield is protected.

Enclosure and build time

How mechanical decisions affect build time, repeatability and cost per unit across the product’s whole production life.

When to involve your electronics manufacturing partner

Earlier than feels necessary. The conversations that go well are the ones that start while the design is still moving. The ones that go badly start with a finished drawing and a fixed date.

Early supplier involvement costs nothing at the point it is most useful, and it is the only stage at which the advice can still change the outcome.

Get it right from the start

It is one of our values. It is also, straightforwardly, the cheapest thing on this list.

Frequently asked questions

What is design for manufacture in electronics?

Design for manufacture is the practice of designing a product so that it can be built reliably, repeatably and economically. In electronics it covers component selection and availability, board layout and placement, test access and coverage, and mechanical assembly.

When should a contract electronics manufacturer be involved in a design?

Before the design is finished. Once a drawing is complete and a launch date is fixed, most of the cost and risk has already been committed, and the manufacturer can only work around decisions rather than improve them.

How does DFM affect the cost of an electronics product?

Most of a product’s lifetime cost is determined at design stage through component choices, build time per unit and test yield. Changes made during design are inexpensive. The same changes made after qualification are not.

Talk to us before the design is finished.

NOTE in the UK provides end-to-end electronics manufacturing services across six UK sites, covering development, prototyping, sourcing, manufacturing, and after-sales and end of life support. We are certified to ISO 9001, ISO 13485, ISO 14001, ISO 45001, ISO 27001 and AS9100 across our UK sites.

info.note@note-ems.co.uk

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