Here's what Siemens Industry Software's Director of Business Development Electronics Manufacturing Oren Manor sees as the key trends in 2022. In this interview we dig into those predictions a little deeper.
"As discussions around the grim situation of planet Earth continue and the real-life implications of climate change across the globe become more and more evident, focus will be placed on the carbon footprint and environmental impact of electronics manufacturing. Until recently, the electronics industry including consumer automotive, networking and aviation electronics has been spared the scrutiny placed on other manufacturing industries such as clothing, toys and plastics. For the last decade, electronics has been deemed as a savior and as a key action by which to “go-green” and divert traditional but environmentally impactful processes to digital ones with a significantly reduced impact on the environment. As an example, emailing is commonly believed to have reduced environmental impact compared with traditional mail.
The global pandemic, driving remote work and social distancing has opted for many “digital” applications and solutions driving the need for networking equipment, audio/video over the web and the associated required computer power at the server and on the edge. Again, Electronics is the “savior” allowing this mini-revolution and changing traditional hundred year old processes within weeks. As an example, banking personnel who for decades were required to work on-premise, commuting daily to the office, were suddenly enabled with VPN access and permitted to work from home. Banks and financial institutions expedited the country-specific regulatory approvals and put in place the required security and authentication mechanism to safeguard our money. This transformation again required a heavy investment on electronic equipment.
But things are changing. And as the world learns to “live alongside the pandemic” electronics will not be spared the leeway it was provided in the past. In addition, consumer habits and electronics lifecycles are becoming shorter and shorter with cell phones being replaced at as little as every 18 months. This is causing the electronics waste to pile up and is starting to have a significant environmental impact. In addition, the amounts of data sent and stored globally is requiring more and more data centers and the electricity required to power the servers and the associated cooling systems are no longer negligible in terms of carbon footprint.
As environmental catastrophes such as the deadly wildfires in the Greece Islands over the summer or the latest Delhi air pollution school closure become more and more frequent the eyes will be turning over to manufacturers including electronics. Authorities will begin to regulate, monitor and control energy consumption. This will send Electronics Manufacturers to add energy consumption collection capabilities to their Manufacturing Execution Systems and start making equipment purchasing decisions based on energy efficiencies. In addition, factory layout and Intraplant logistic routes will be designed to be energy consumption optimal and finally electronic products and PCBs will be designed for sustainability throughout the manufacturing process. As major cities battle air pollution they will start enforcing regulations such as the Netherlands Zero-Emission Commercial Vehicle Zones announced to start by 2024 in Amsterdam and other major metropolitan areas
Like every episode of EMS@C-Level, this one was sponsored by global inspection leader Koh Young (https://www.kohyoung.com) and Adaptable Automation Specialist Launchpad.build (https://launchpad.build).
You can see video versions of all of the EMS@C-Level pods on our YouTube playlist.