Collaborative Software Needs for Contract Manufacturers

The supply chains in the Electronics industry have gone through some major changes over the last decades. Today’s Electronics landscape is highly competitive, with short product lifecycles, and unpredictable demands. Many specialized players have appeared in the industry. There is a growing need for collaboration between the different parties in this industry, which can be supported by software solutions. This paper identifies what collaborative software solutions Electronics Manufacturing Services (EMS) companies are seeking, how these solutions depend upon the chosen value discipline, and how their needs are prioritized. A framework for collaboration for Electronics Manufacturing Services providers combines collaborative functions with value discipline thinking. Four areas arise as highly interesting, namely collaborative design for optimal products, collaborative fulfillment planning, collaborative customer service, and collaborative design for innovative products. Different value disciplines lead to different collaborative solutions.