The Redesign Dilemma

摘要

Anyone With A smartphone, tablet or digital camera recognizes that electronic devices are getting smaller. And, consumer delight with smaller electronics drives miniaturization trends in other industries. Business users want products at work to be as easy to handle and operate as their personal devices. And high-volume consumer products tend to drive shifts in component availability and pricing. Properly designed, smaller products can reduce cost. Quality may also be improved, since miniaturization requires higher levels of automation, leading to greater process consistency. However, there are also tradeoffs. Industries with low-volume legacy products may find the cost of redesign prohibitive, particularly in turnkey legacy systems designed with larger equipment footprints. Some companies are also reluctant to open the door to the greater design and manufacturability challenges that come with miniaturized products, until the competitive trends in their industry force a change in strategy.