Electronic Manufacturing Services Industry Research Articles

Enablers for Adopting Restriction of Hazardous Substances Directives by Electronic Manufacturing Service Providers

The Electronic Manufacturing Service (EMS) industry contributes significantly to toxic waste generation due to its fabrication processes. Notably, adherence to the Restriction of Hazardous Substances (RoHS) Directive varies amongst EMS providers, despite its aim to reduce electronic waste. This study explores the factors influencing EMS providers’ decision to adopt the RoHS directive, utilizing the technology–organization–environment (TOE) and the human–organization–technology (HOT) fit, or the TOE-HOT fit framework. We validated our framework using partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM), based on responses from 379 questionnaires from major EMS providers. The results demonstrated that expert resources, adequate resources, perceived industrial pressure, institutional pressure, and costs were positively associated with RoHS adoption. However, innovation, relative advantage, and verification ability were identified as significant barriers. In particular, innovation in the human dimension was the key determinant for RoHS adoption. Therefore, clear policy instruments and regulations may enhance RoHS adoption by EMS providers. These findings can guide environmental policy definitions in governmental laws and strategies, encouraging EMS providers and other firms to adopt RoHS standards.

Fully Connected Convolutional Neural Network in PCB Soldering Point Inspection

In Electronics Manufacturing Services (EMS) industry, Printed Circuit Board (PCB) inspection is tricky and hard, especially for soldering point inspection due to the extremely tiny size and inconsistent appearance for uneven heating in reflow soldering process. Conventional computer vision technique based on OpenCV or Halcon usually cause false positive call for originally good soldering point on PCB because OpenCV or Halcon use the pre-defined threshold in color proportion for deciding whether the specific soldering point is OK or NG (not good). However, soldering point forms are various after heating in reflow soldering process. This paper puts forward a VGG structure deep convolutional neural network, which is named SolderNet for processing soldering point after reflow heating process to effectively inspect soldering point status, reduce omission rate and error rate, and increase first pass rate. SolderNet consists of 11 hidden convolution layers and 3 densely connected layers. Accuracy reports are divided into OK point recognition and NG point recognition. For OK soldering point recognition, 92% is achieved. For NG soldering point recognition, 99% is achieved. The dataset is collected from KAGA Co. Ltd Plant in Suzhou. First pass rate at KAGA plant is increased from 25% to 80% in general.

The mediating role of psychological capital between occupational stress and suicidal ideation

Objective: To analyze the mediating effect of psychological capital (PsyCap) between occupational stress and suicidal ideation. Methods: In September 2017, stratified-cluster sampling method was adopted to select employees of an electronic manufacturing service industry as respondents for a questionnaire survey in Jiangsu province. The demographic characteristics of employees were collected. A total of 2 465 employees were investigated, and 2 216 valid questionnaires were collected. The level of occupational stress and PsyCap was assessed by the Effort-Reward Imbalance Scale(ERI)and PsyCap Questionnaire. Results: The age of 2 216 employees was (28.70±5.26) years old, including 1 230 males (55.5%). The scores of occupational stress on effort, reward and over-commitment were (3.08±0.63), (3.73±0.60) and (2.51±0.68), respectively. The average ERI index (ratio of effort to return) was (0.88±0.39). The total score of PsyCap was (86.62±15.23). The detection rate of suicidal ideation within two weeks was 13.9% (309/2 216). The average score of effort and over-commitment and the ERI index were positively correlated with the number of suicidal ideation detected within two weeks, with correlation coefficients about 0.081, 0.141 and 0.164, respectively. The average score of reward and total score of PsyCap were negatively correlated with the number of suicidal ideation detected within two weeks, with correlation coefficients about -0.206 and -0.228, respectively. The mediating effect results showed that PsyCap had mediating effect on the effort, reward, over-commitment and suicidal ideation of occupational stress respectively, with mediating effect values of -0.087 (95%CI: -0.018,-0.019), -0.299 (95%CI: -0.428,-0.200) and 0.096 (95%CI: 0.0394, -0.170). The mediating effect percentages were 9.43%, 17.92%, and 9.54%, respectively. Conclusion: PsyCap has a mediating effect between effort, reward, over-commitment of occupational stress and suicidal ideation.

The Impact of e-Supply Chain Management Systems on Procurement Operations and Cost Reduction in the Electronics Manufacturing Services Industry

The article examines the effect of e-supply chain management systems in the operations and business models in the North American electronics manufacturing services (EMS) industry. A causal and descriptive research study was conducted based on a survey applied to thirty-six individuals in EMS firms in order to determine the impact of e-SCM on their key supply chain operations and business models. Results of the research revealed that e-SCM had a positive effect in the operations and business models of the EMS industry as these showed that the profits of the firm increased and internal communications was improved due to the implementation of e-SCM. The research also showed that e-SCMs have many technical issues such as problems with process automation and transmission of supply chain data, e-procurement effectiveness, integration with existing systems and the monitoring of inventory systems and the purchasing process. The research also shows how social media and the internet has affected the business models of the EMS by improving communications and operations in the overall supply chain.

Occupational Stress and Risk Factors Among Workers from Electronic Manufacturing Service Companies in China

What is already known about this topic? Occupational stress and workplace health have become issues of significant concern for both employees and employers. The workers from electronic manufacturing services (EMS) industry in China are exposed to increasing occupational hazards and injuries. Despite the fact that it is a known health risk for psychological and medical disorders, only few studies have investigate the prevalence of occupational stress and risk factors among EMS workers. What is added by this report? Analysis of data from the EMS industry of Occupational Stress Surveillance Program with a sample of 21,362 participants from 20 EMS companies. Results show that the prevalence of high strain and effort-reward imbalance were 19.5% and 15.8%, respectively, which are significantly differed by selected socio-demographic and job characteristics. Participants who are migrant, or working in the assembly-line position or in shift are exposed to higher stress level. What are the implications for public health practice? EMS workers are liable to be at risk for occupational stress and for developing psychological disorders and diseases. The findings of this study contribute to an evidence-base which inform the development and implementation of strategies aimed at reducing occupational stress of EMS workers should be at organizational and individual level.

A framework with revised rough-DEMATEL to capture and evaluate requirements for smart industrial product-service system of systems

Smart industrial product-service system of systems (SiP-S3) is a new extension of industrial PSS via smart technology and SoS (system of systems) engineering. A framework with revised rough-DEMATEL method is proposed to capture and evaluate requirements for SiP-S3. From the various interactions in value stream mapping of SiP-S3, business, functional and non-functional requirements can be captured and converged into SiP-S3 requirements. Due to the interrelation between requirements of SiP-S3 and uncertainty of expert judgments, rough-DEMATEL is adopted but is revised in two aspects. Generally, SiP-S3 requirement items are plentiful, a set of programming code for rough set approximation is firstly given to reduce manual calculation burden. Moreover, compared to multiple operators of modified-CFCS (converting fuzzy values into crisp scores) plus SVL (single vector-length), a feasible and simpler operator of AVL (average vector-length) on rough-prominence and rough-relation is firstly devised to prioritise requirements. As such, roughness can be remained till at the end of calculation procedure to avoid uncertain assessment information loss. Surface mount technology (SMT) is not trivial in electronic manufacturing service industry, an illustrative case study of SMTE-S3 (SMT equipment-service system of systems) is demonstrated to verify feasibility and potential of proposal methodological framework.

Mediating role of over-commitment in the relationship between effort, reward and burnout

Objective: To explore the mediating role of over-commitment in the relationship between occupational stressors and job burnout, and to offer more specificevidence-based information in exploring the work related health effects of over-commitment. Methods: A total of 1994 samples from electronic manufacturing service industry were collected in Guangdong province based on self-rated questionnaire after written consent from June to July, 2015. The Effort-Reward Imbalance questionnaire and Maslach Burnout Invertory-General Survey were used for the measurement of occupational stress and job burnout. And hierarchical regression and Bootstrap test were conducted for data analysis. Results: High effort (0.28, 0.24-0.33) and low reward (-0.37, -0.42--0.33) were significantly associated with high over-commitment when gender, age and position had been controlled. Standardizedregression coefficient of effort to emotional exhaustion, depersonalization and personal accomplishment were 0.63 (95%CI: 0.54-0.71) 、0.18 (95%CI: 0.10-0.26) 、0.32 (95%CI: 0.21-0.43) , P<0.05; and standardized regression coefficient of reward to emotional exhaustion, depersonalization and personal accomplishment were-0.60 (95%CI: -0.68--0.52) 、-0.93 (95%CI: -1.01--0.86) 、-0.46 (95%CI: -0.35--0.58) , P<0.05. Bootstrap test indicated the mediation of over-commitment were statistically significant, and mediating effect ranges from 0.093 to 0.218 (P<0.05) . Conclusion: Over-commitment can mediate the relationship between occupational stressors (job effort and reward) and burnout, and the effect varies from different workingconditions.

Evaluating and forecasting performance using past data of an industry: An analysis of electronic manufacturing services industry

Evaluating and forecasting performance using past data of an industry: An analysis of electronic manufacturing services industry

Using the Job Burden-Capital Model of Occupational Stress to Predict Depression and Well-Being among Electronic Manufacturing Service Employees in China.

Background: This study aimed to identify the association between occupational stress and depression-well-being by proposing a comprehensive and flexible job burden-capital model with its corresponding hypotheses. Methods: For this research, 1618 valid samples were gathered from the electronic manufacturing service industry in Hunan Province, China; self-rated questionnaires were administered to participants for data collection after obtaining their written consent. The proposed model was fitted and tested through structural equation model analysis. Results: Single-factor correlation analysis results indicated that coefficients between all items and dimensions had statistical significance. The final model demonstrated satisfactory global goodness of fit (CMIN/DF = 5.37, AGFI = 0.915, NNFI = 0.945, IFI = 0.952, RMSEA = 0.052). Both the measurement and structural models showed acceptable path loadings. Job burden and capital were directly associated with depression and well-being or indirectly related to them through personality. Multi-group structural equation model analyses indicated general applicability of the proposed model to basic features of such a population. Gender, marriage and education led to differences in the relation between occupational stress and health outcomes. Conclusions: The job burden-capital model of occupational stress-depression and well-being was found to be more systematic and comprehensive than previous models.

An analysis of vendor innovation capability in the contract electronics manufacturing industry

Limited academic research has been given to analysing the innovation capabilities of vendors in outsourcing contracts. This paper seeks to address this gap in the literature by enhancing our understanding of how the innovation capability of vendors is deployed to win, run and renew outsourcing contracts with their customers. Employing the resource-based view as a theoretical basis and undertaking in-depth case study analysis of three vendors in the electronic manufacturing services industry, the research shows that to achieve the outsourcing objectives of winning, running and renewing the contract, vendors can use different configurations of the competitive priorities of cost, quality, delivery and flexibility. The research aggregates the capabilities that influence the innovative capability of a vendor into the innovation-related capabilities (IRCs) of design, new product introduction and manufacturing. Three strategies are identified for vendors on how to deploy these IRCs, and a number of propositions are developed to indicate the suitability of the three deployment strategies for different operational contexts.

The Effect of E-Supply Chain Management Systems in the North American Electronic Manufacturing Services Industry

The paper examines the effect of E-Supply Chain Management Systems in the North American electronics manufacturing services industry. A causal and descriptive research study was conducted based on a survey applied to thirty six individuals in electronic manufacturing services firms in order to determine the impact of e-supply chain management on their key supply chain operations. Results of the research revealed that e-supply chain management had a positive effect in the electronic manufacturing services industry as these showed that the profits of the firm increased and internal communications were improved due to the implementation of e-supply chain management. The research also showed that e-supply chain management systems have many technical issues such as problems with process automation and transmission of supply chain data, e-procurement effectiveness, integration with existing systems and the monitoring of inventory systems and purchasing process. Several recommendations are made to overcome these challenges including employee training and re-engineering of business processes for better system integration.

A study of the strategic alliance for EMS industry: the application of a hybrid DEA and GM (1, 1) approach.

Choosing a partner is a critical factor for success in international strategic alliances, although criteria for partner selection vary between developed and transitional markets. This study aims to develop effective methods to assist enterprise to measure the firms' operation efficiency, find out the candidate priority under several different inputs and outputs, and forecast the values of those variables in the future. The methodologies are constructed by the concepts of Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) and grey model (GM). Realistic data in four consecutive years (2009–2012) a total of 20 companies of the Electronic Manufacturing Service (EMS) industry that went public are completely collected. This paper tries to help target company—DMU1—to find the right alliance partners. By our proposed approach, the results show the priority in the recent years. The research study is hopefully of interest to managers who are in manufacturing industry in general and EMS enterprises in particular.

Does gender diversity moderate the relationship between supply chain management practice and performance in the electronic manufacturing services industry?

This study attempts to examine the moderating effects of gender diversity on the relationship between supply chain management (SCM) practices and supply chain performance in the Malaysian electronic manufacturing services (EMS) industry. The respondents were selected from the four departments: purchasing, planning, logistics and operation of one of the most well-known Malaysian manufacturing company located in Johor state, Malaysia; with the questionnaires being distributed via email. Hierarchical regression analysis was used to test the above objective. Findings indicate that SCM practices–performance relationship was not moderated by employees’ gender diversity. Theoretical and managerial implications as well as conclusion are also explored.

The perceptions and perspectives of Lean Six Sigma (LSS) practitioners

PurposeThe electronic manufacturing service (EMS) industry recognizes Lean Six Sigma (LSS) as an effective business strategy to strive for cost reduction and improve the profitability and growth of a company. There are many factors affecting the success of an LSS program to meet desired profitability and growth. The purpose of this paper is to identify the critical success factors (CSFs) in successful LSS programs and to evaluate the CSFs’ impact on company performance.Design/methodology/approachThis study is carried out using the quantitative survey method containing structured questionnaires. The study population comprises the six multinational EMS industries in Malaysia that have successfully implemented LSS programs. The LSS practitioners, namely the holders of the Master Black Belt (MBB), the Black Belt (BB) and the LSS champions of the various international manufacturing sites of the six multinational EMS in Malaysia form the respondents.FindingsThe significance of this research is the identification of CFSs for the successful implementation of LSS within the EMS industry. It has identified management engagement and commitment as the most critical to the success of implementing the companies’ LSS programs. Moreover, an effective LSS training, an established LSS dashboard, a frequent communication among all value streams of organizations and a supportive organizational culture are also found to be essential ingredients for the implementation of LSS.Practical implicationsThe paper advises of the nurturing of appropriate CSFs for successful implementation of LSS in the EMS industry and to evaluate its impact on the company performance.Originality/valueThis research adds a new body of knowledge containing factors in the implementation of LSS that are significant in their relationships with operational and organizational performances in the EMS industry, using primary data. The results would provide the EMS industry and other Malaysian SME companies with guidelines for the successful implementation of Lean Six Sigma with the intention to remain competitive.

Knowledge complementarity and knowledge exchange in supply channel relationships

Existing literature on knowledge exchange in inter-organizational relationships (e.g., a supply channel) reveals two opposing forces at work: (1) collaborative behavior and (2) opportunistic behavior. A concurrent assessment of the opposing perspectives and the contingencies under which each is relevant for supply channel performance can add valuable insights about the dynamics of knowledge exchange. We juxtapose the two behavior patterns using social capital theory and transaction cost economics (TCE) respectively as the explicators and employ knowledge complementarity as the contingency to reconcile the opposing behavior patterns. The choice of knowledge complementarity in this role stems from ample theoretical and empirical support in prior literature about the criticality of this factor in inter-firm knowledge exchange. We propose a research model, and use data from a field study of 82 firms in the Electronics Manufacturing Services (EMS) industry to test our model. Our findings indicate that overall inter-organizational trust (a surrogate for social capital) and knowledge complementarity promote knowledge exchange behavior in a supply channel. The retarding effect of risk of opportunism (a TCE dimension) manifests only when knowledge complementarity is low. However, when knowledge complementarity is high, contrary to expectations, inter-organizational trust appears to impede knowledge exchange. Our post hoc analysis of this intriguing, counterintuitive result leads us to knowledge interdependence and dependence asymmetry as potentially critical antecedents to knowledge complementarity. Implication of our findings to academic research and supply chain scenario is also articulated.

A heuristic model and software development for SMT line balancing: a case study

Printed circuit board assembly (PCBA) is the major portion of manufacturing processes of electronic manufacturing services (EMS) industry, where surface mounting technology (SMT) has become the primary assembly method. Two series-connected SMT placement machines in a SMT assembly line are often the bottlenecks due to the unevenly distributed workloads. This paper studies the line balancing of the SMT assembly line focusing on the workload distribution between the two placement machines. A heuristic approach is proposed to reduce the workload difference of the two machines without increasing the total machine setup time. A software, which can be used as an effective automation tool for a company, is then developed based on the heuristic model. This will increase the quality of the service that the company provides to its customers.

Firm Partial Modularity and Performance in the Electronic Manufacturing Services Industry

Firms continue to develop new ways to decentralize non-core activities to outside parties. Scholars have approached this issue with modularity theory, suggesting a continuum of arrangements ranging from hierarchy to market. Hierarchy relies on fiat, while partially modular forms, those forms between hierarchy and market, require greater coordination, communication and relationships between firms than do fully modular (or market) forms. While modularity theory identifies this continuum, the associated empirical literature tends to dichotomize modularity: firms are either modular or they are not. Nor does the empirical literature examine the performance outcomes of modular arrangements within this continuum. By examining firms that vary between full integration and partial modularity with a continuous modularity measure, this paper empirically examines the performance outcomes associated with a range of modularity levels. We derive this measure from a peculiar inventory option available within the electronic manufacturing services (EMS) industry. Our data include observations on 260 firms over five years. We find that more firms rely on partially modular arrangements, the lower their performance. We suggest explanations for this result, and areas of future research meant to pursue it.

A perspective on North American PWB technology hurdles and barriers and a strategy to overcome obstacles

Increasingly sophisticated users are demanding light, highly portable systems that offer more functions but still keep the costs low. As a result, electronic manufacturing can no longer be partitioned into discreet market segments such as semiconductors, passive components, and PWB's, which are designed and built independently and assembled into a system by yet another party. The new systems are requiring more functions per unit area, which drives more complexity into the interconnecting structure or PWB. The PWB itself is becoming an active part of the electronic circuit, as well as the structural support and package of the system. PWB design and manufacturing capability ultimately determines what and how electronic components can be used and the resulting system size and weight. Reliable portable systems are required in every industry. New markets for PWB's are opening with the rapidly expanding use of organic substrates in semiconductor device packaging components such as ball grid arrays (BGA) and chip scale packages (CSP's). The underlying theme of this paper is that the North American Electronics Interconnection industry needs to change if it is to remain competitive. Implementing the recommendations in this paper will neither stop the OEM from becoming a nonmanufacturing entity, nor stop the EMSI (Electronic Manufacturing Service Industry) from continuing to grow and become more like OEM's. Implementing these recommendations will assist the well managed PWB manufacturer in becoming more competitive.