Market changes

There are a lot of factors affecting the ever changing Pcb market, globally and in the UK.

The decreasing volume in the UK market not only changes the shape and size of the UK Pcb manufacturers but it changes the supply base. From over 450 Pcb fab houses some 20 years ago to around 45 in 2019 – the World is a different place.

Embrace the change is the mantra! Get out there and mould your business to the ever changing landscape and with that will come the fruits of a dynamic market. It sounds easy when written in a glib sound bite but UK Plc hasn’t always been the quickest to adapt and I believe this is for a number of key reasons.

The Politics of today seems to me to be a more self serving system with career politicians of all parties vying for their 4-5 years in the spotlight, sometimes at any cost. This short termist approach is affecting industry and society in a big way. Industry needs stability and the certainty to invest and the confidence to grow. When the goal-posts change with every election a coherent vision cannot be formed.

Briefly I will mention the dreaded Brexit. We are happy to take on the challenges of a world market, as an indepent UK or as part of the EU, but please let us have either. I can’t even ask for “sooner or later” as “sooner” has already passed, leaving us all in a wilderness of frustration and bewilderment. Get it done, before we all perish in the uncertainty.

At Minnitron Ltd our average length of service is some 18 years. This protects us to a great extent from employment issues that could arise from changes in migration. It also gives us some stability in an unstable world. Our nucleus of skilled staff are finely tuned to the demands of today’s market which translates into super fast deliveries – we can now produce boards in around 6 hours from start to finish which affords our customer base a huge advantage over the competition.

We also offer a web based service at Pcbpanel which provides a cut price offering for single or multiple panel orders with a standard delivery of 5 working days, but also down to 24 hours for the time sensitive orders. This has proven to be a very effective and relevant offering which reflects today’s market at the same time introducing the skills of the Minnitron Ltd manufacturing team to a new market.

We will continue to evolve and adapt to bring the changes of the world to our customers, as business is about relationships, it is about mutual benefit and so ultimately we can all prosper together.