Over the past two years the electronics industry, worldwide, has gone through some very traumatic times. Although in South Africa we have largely escaped the terrible global recession in the electronics sector, we are nevertheless not totally immune to the negative effects on local manufacturing, particularly where local manufacture is involved in the export arena.
After two years of very negative sentiment in the international electronics market and with no apparent end in sight to the unprecedented down-cycle, locally, we are still optimistic and there are real positive signs in the local market. And this despite the continued volatility of the rand.
The country's economy seems to be still growing and definitely seems to be stimulating our market as we are seeing increasing investment in certain segments - of course a lowering of interest rates would be very welcome.
For businesses who are fortunate to have broken into the export arena, the opportunities are excellent, although we need to counteract the move from Western Europe to Eastern Europe and Asia Pacific (particularly in the subcontract manufacturing sector) by really promoting the capabilities in South Africa. We have excellent engineering skills and manufacturing expertise, and these local resources need to be marketed offshore to attract business to SA. We need to continually harness the skills and resources that we have in electronic design and production.
It is our considered opinion that 2003 will bring more opportunities and changes to our market. The challenges for distribution will become even greater as the industry demands superior service and value-adds.
As the 'global village' gets smaller and smaller we will need to constantly review our business model and adapt to ensure that we position our customers competitively both locally and internationally.
For EBV-Electrolink we are predicting continued growth, but are under no illusions that it will be a tough challenge as we attempt to outpace the market.
For more information contact EBV-Electrolink, 021 421 5350, www.ebv.com
| Tel: | +27 11 236 1900 |
| Email: | [email protected] |
| www: | www.ebv.com |
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