Bishop & Associates’ 2014 Connector Industry Forecast shows major changes in the marketplace, including stronger performance in the industrial, automotive, and telecom/datacom equipment sectors. The connector industry’s performance for the first five months of the year has been very strong. Year-to-date May, the industry has grown revenues by +9.5% over the same period in 2013.Read More
The telecom interconnect market is the third largest market sector by annual revenues. In 2013, the worldwide market for interconnect products used in telecom (telecom/datacom) totaled $25.0 billion including connectors and cable assemblies. Individually, connectors accounted for $9.8 billion in sales and cable assemblies equaled $17.9 billion. The figures cannot be directly added to getRead More
The semiconductor market maintains its momentum so far in 2014, which is good news given how closely trends in the connector market follow trends in the semiconductor market. Global semiconductor market performance in early 2014 has continued where 2013 left off – with positive sales growth. As the Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA) reported at the beginning ofRead More
So far, 2014’s facts and figures show the connector industry in a sweet spot: The first three months suggest the full year is going to result in high single-digit growth. There are three issues that can create turmoil in the connector industry and cause a serious drop in profitability when they are experienced: Decline in connector demandRead More
The results of Bishop & Associates’ annual distributor customer survey have been tallied and presented at EDS. Read on to find out which distributors are the best for service, breadth of product, delivery, and price. Bishop & Associates conducts an annual survey of the original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), contract manufacturers (CEMs), and cable assemblers (CAs) inRead More
So, how big is web traffic? The numbers in this world wide web traffic report are almost beyond comprehension. Cisco estimates that in 2013, world wide web traffic reached an average monthly volume of 55.6 exabytes. One exabyte equals 1,000 petabytes. A petabyte equals 1,000 terabytes. Confused? These are incredibly large numbers! To give itRead More
Hydroelectric power generation, the largest renewable energy source, supplied 16% of the worldwide electrical needs in 2012, but wind turbine energy is growing at a much faster pace. Read this wind turbine power market report for the details. Other than hydroelectric power plants, wind turbine power has become the largest renewable/green energy source in theRead More
Competition in the defense industry will continue to become more global and intense. Facts and figures of military strategy show the defense sector has more players than future demand can profitably support. Governments and defense agencies in 2013 — from the US to China to the eurozone — had to justify defense spending against aRead More
The global rail industry market for connectors is expected to yield an 8.0% CAGR through 2018, growing to an annual volume of $828.8 million. Europe, the largest component of the global rail industry market segment, with 48.8% of the total market, is repositioning itself for consistent expansion into its 2020 plan and beyond. A freeRead More
Profitability Killers (Price Erosion + Rising Raw Material Costs) In Part 2 of the 10-year snapshot of the connector industry, Ron Bishop looks at price erosion and rising material costs. A sharp decline in demand will automatically produce a decline in profits. We experienced that in 2001, 2002, and 2009 when connector sales declined -18.9%,Read More
10-Year Snapshot of the Connector Industry The phrase “significant change” doesn’t adequately describe what happened in the connector industry over the past 10 years. Specifically, between 2003 and 2013, the connector industry: Experienced roller coaster swings in connector demand, setting new industry records for declines and increases Suffered the worst price erosion in decades, followedRead More
December 2013 – 2013 is almost in the books. Did it meet, exceed, or fall short of expectations? Ron Bishop takes a look at the numbers to see how we’ll be ringing out this year.
