It’s a daunting challenge for a Contract Manufacturer (CM) to aggregate and report data to a customer.  Typically, they have to use manual labor to take the appropriate data, parse it into their system, and manually crunch the data (using Excel sheets or similar tools) to generate the report.  The man-hours necessary from technicians, management and analysts can quickly add up and the labor costs can eat into the profitability of the contract.

In the next few years, the ability to provide on-demand test data for review and analysis will provide contract manufacturers with a more compelling partnership proposal, especially in comparison to other CMs which don’t offer their customers with visible, clear test data.  Those that do offer data and teamwork to the customers will have the upper hand in proving the quality and efficiency of their labor, equipment and processes to prospective and current partners.  To all our CM managers: how much nonproductive time do you spend aggregating data for your OEMs?