Addressing critical issues will bring more opportunities to UK electronics companies

What are these critical issues? You could make some educated guesses about what they might be – skills, finance, the business climate are all possibilities. Looking for the answers, New Electronics asked its readers earlier this year what they saw as the problems, not only for the industry as a whole, but also for the companies in which they work. What proved to be interesting was the difference in perception between the critical issues facing the industry and those facing individual companies. We asked you to pick from a list of topics the one issue you believed to be most critical for the industry. The result was R&D and access to new technology. But when we asked you to write in the issue you saw as being the most critical, the answer was 'skills'. When asked about the most critical issue facing a company, the answer was 'business issues', closely followed by 'skills'. While concerns were expressed about technology issues, the overriding problems were skills related – an ageing workforce, a lack of new people entering the industry and an inability to hire the skilled engineers needed. Engineers also expressed their concerns about product availability, lead times, obsolescence and counterfeiting. Design issues facing companies included dealing with change and complexity, as well as designing cost competitive products and getting them to market on time. In this special issue of New Electronics, we've taken a look at some of these problems: how to work more effectively with the supply chain; how to deal with obsolescence; and skills development. We've also taken a close look at design services, new product introduction and manufacturing. We couldn't cover everything in one go, so we will be addressing other issues in the future. Our survey highlighted a range of critical issues affecting the UK electronics industry, but there are solutions to these problems – and these solutions will lead electronics companies through the road blocks towards more opportunities.