Major upgrades to our manufacturing software extended control down to granular level within bills of material, machine settings and production lines: precision at work! The "lights out" plastic injection workshop, with its 22 unattended injection machines, operated another trouble-free year. Humans only attend for regular oiling and other preventive maintenance, and for tool changes. Technical improvements to plastic injection and assembly systems cut a fifth from their respective energy bills; additional improvements will come into effect in 2025 and 2026.
Ryder Industries Vietnam, based in Ho Chi Minh City, the old Saigon, started shipping in 2024. It operates all three of Ryder's major processes (electronics, plastics and box-build final assembly), in line with Ryder's full-service approach. Particular attention has been paid to a respectful relationship with the new Vietnamese colleagues, supported by cultural and language training; and the consequence has been smooth operations. We are actively investigating further expansion in Vietnam, given the strong customer feedback and demand we have had to date.
Front-end engineering competencies developed in 2024. A useful detail: software that analyses a PCB assembly and its spatial environment, and signals any manufacturability problems. It identified problems in over 25% of recent new PCBA designs reaching us, shortening this development loop and saving costs. It adds to Ryder's existing analysis toolkit: thermal and RFI/EMC on PCBAs, mould flow on plastics, and more. The EMS partner achieves economies of scale when running these tools on hundreds of designs each year. China's electronics raw materials resource base is unmatched, and the Shenzhen talent pool in its "Greater Bay Area", with a population exceeding Germany's, is an enormous strength. Ryder is building out.
World-wide, we are seeing an ongoing polarization of the roles of the OEM branded-products company and its EMS. As international standards are increasingly widely audited, the OEMs are more comfortable handing over functional competencies to the EMS, while they concentrate their resources on their competitive advantages of product innovation, distribution and marketing. Time to market and lifecycle product cost are key factors for OEMs' profitability.
Organisational changes extended Ryder's market understanding and also its range of capabilities. 2025 will see a growth of 6 Sigma and Lean skills. Customers will be a particular focus: Ryder will be listening carefully to their needs and worries (especially acute in 2025), with process changes and training in support.
Swiss Precision : Asian Drive
