Manufacturing

Although Frost & Sullivan’s report estimates Indian SMT market to be around Rs 44.15 billion in 2012, with telecom and automotive being two major sectors driving demand for SMT equipment, the year 2011 was not as exciting for the Indian SMT industry, as was expected. The volatility in the financial markets, the European crisis, the still recovering economy of the US, the weakening rupee, high domestic interest rates, and the strengthening Japanese Yen added to the woes of the domestic electronics manufacturing sector. And, in turn, these economic problems had a profound impact on the SMT equipment market as well. As the fate of the SMT equipment market is closely intertwined with the electronics manufacturing industry, it directly influenced the sale of SMT equipment, narrowing down its growth rate. However, if the draft National Manufacturing Policy is implemented, the SMT industry hopes that 2012 will see some investments coming through in lighting, metering, and automobile industry, and hopefully, in mobile manufacturing as well. This, in turn, may bring some growth to the SMT equipment market. In this issue, Electronics Bazaar attempted to list out the top SMT players in India. In the process, we were faced with a number of difficulties. The editorial team could not procure revenue of majority of the SMT companies from any of the sources. Also, most of the companies in this segment being MNCs, could not share their India revenue with us. Hence, we had no option but to just list out the SMT companies in alphabetical order. While this survey is by no means comprehensive, it does provide a glimpse into many of India’s key SMT players in the market.

The use of SMT in electronics manufacturing is evolving in India, leading to new benchmarks in markets for PCBs, in the tools and equipment used, and eventually in manufacturing processes

India has the potential to lead the global market in PCB manufacturing. Should it imitate the growth in China to become a market leader?

With the demand from the Indian electronics market becoming significant, local manufacturing of electronic components would make sense

The Indian electronics manufacturing market has been continually and steadily growing over the last ten years. Industry reports indicate that the growth will continue and the manufacturing segment will show tremendous potential in the years to come. This contributes to the rising demand for SMT equipment and the need for technologically advanced soldering systems. With the government’s plan to announce a national manufacturing policy, the demand for SMT equipment is likely to surge ahead as the fate of the SMT equipment market is closely intertwined with the electronics manufacturing industry, especially EMS. The increasing use of electronic products in different sectors like telecom, automotive, consumer electronics and lighting are also adding to the widely use of SMT machines. Two prominent industries—automobile and telecom, will continue to create huge demand for SMT equipment. In addition, growing sophistication and shrinking size of electronic gadgets is also fuelling demand for SMT equipment.

Upkeep of SMT machines is a critical issue for manufacturers to enhance their profitability. But it is important for them to know their options well before they opt for a particular type of maintenance service

By the end of 2015, the medical equipment electronics market is estimated to grow at a CAGR of 17 per cent to reach around US$ 2 billion from US$ 0.8 billion in 2009. Hence, it holds immense business and manufacturing opportunities

Building a robust industry needs planning for long term. This is where a healthy interface between the government and the industry will ensure that the solar business scales up rapidly across the country

With increase in indigenous production of telecom, automotive electronics, consumer electronics and LED products, demand for SMT machines—new and used—is expected to accelerate soon

Going by industry estimates, SMT equipment market is growing at a rate of about 30 per cent

With continuous evolution of electronics manufacturing processes, SMT equipment vendors are upgrading their products and offering cost effective high technology solutions while providing value added services to their customers. Let’s peep into the SMT machine market in India to see what’s hot and happening today

India already has key ingredients for manufacture of telecom products and a large domestic market. The industry’s focus should now be on creating Indian products in which R&D, intellectual property creation and product design are done in India, and thus, benefit the Indian economy