A new year brings new opportunities for industry growth. When it comes to how engineers will design products over the next 12 months, there are a few industry trends to consider – trends that will impact where manufacturers shift their emphasis and where demand will lie. Ultimately, these trends will impact how, and which, parts are purchased.
When it comes to ensuring supply chain efficiency and making solid decisions for your company, consider what’s to come in various markets that affect your job.
In 2020, it will still be critical to incorporate more suppliers into your sourcing strategy, as we’ve seen a great deal of components shortages over the past few years.
This year, experts suggest that we’ll still be heavily focused on incorporating more suppliers into sourcing strategies, as we’ve seen a great deal of components shortages over the past few years. We’ll also focus on greater supply chain transparency as a need will rise to understand even suppliers’ suppliers so that we can predict when availability challenges may arise.
Probably one of the most poignant predictions made by John Caltabiano, Vice President, Global Supply Chain, Jabil, in an article featured on EPSNews was that of continued growth—growth across the electronic equipment market.
Rapid growth calls for an understanding of key tech trends that will shape the way we purchase and plan for supply/demand.
ByteSnap Design’s Dunstan Power gave us plenty to think about in his recent article.
Machine Learning
For starters, he predicts a heightened focus on Machine Learning. While corporations still expect nearly $16 trillion in AI gains over the next 10 years, and many are predicting much disruption and opportunity, some might say there’s been an overkill of AI talk. Instead, engineers are focusing a lot more on machine learning. It’s predicted that these technologies will play into more accurate and automated medical diagnoses. We may also see a boost in tools that are driven by machine learning technology that will keep up with hardware strides.
Vehicle Efficiency Poised to Improve with Collaborative Tech
From self-driving vehicles, auto semiconductors, and connected vehicle tech, safety and efficiency are expected to improve as cars become more interconnected. According to collaborative driving company, Veoneer, most vehicles sold in 2030 will include collaborative driving tech and a fraction will be fully autonomous.
“We can look forward to cars either coming with data plans or piggybacking off mobile Wi-Fi during 2020, learning habits/routes, such as a daily commute,” says Power.
What else?
Expect to see a heightened focus on security, big data and its use, and personal virtualized assistants. 5G will also continue to be at the forefront of manufacturers’ minds, as the technology rolls out in many regions this year. And let’s not forget China—with its move toward independence potentially creating two distinct supply chains. This move could present opportunity for some companies and hurdles for others.
For more trends, read all of the 2020 predictions by Dunstan Power, ByteSnap Design.
