The electronic component suffers from the optimism of forecastsElectronics is entering more and more into many market sectors: automotive, household appliances, lighting systems are veering more and more towards electronics because of performance improving and products' simplicity of use. To understand better the current situation and market trends of the electronics component, we have interviewed Ennio Sangalli and Gianni Confalonieri, respectively President and Past President of the ANIE's Associazione Nazionale Componenti Elettronici.
Comparing to a decidedly positive 2000, what was the trend for electronic components during the first semester 2001?
We can say that in the first six months of the year we have recorded a generalized state of suffering caused mostly by a slowdown of production from our customers. Computers are not respecting the productive expectations hypothesized at the beginning of the year, the same can also be said for mobile telephones, which forecasts would have had closer to a production of 450 million units a year, instead they stopped at 380 million devices. All elements that bring a certain worry into the sector.
Should we then record a decreasing first semester?
This is not exact. We cannot speak of a market decrease, we can say that the enthusiasms brought about by last years' results have deluded the sectors' companies, convincing them to plan provisional budgets for 2001 which were probably too optimistic. The state of suffering, therefore, is not relative to a market crisis, but to companies not reaching the ambitious objectives they had set for themselves at the beginning of the year. We believe, in any case, that for the second semester we can expect an improving of the production's performance compared to the first few months of the year.
What are the geographical areas which have registered a greater contraction compared to the expectations?
Surely the United States are registering a strong slow-down, especially in the computer production. In the same way Asia, Japan, Taiwan and Korea, who can boast important poles for the development of electronics, has denounced a decrease compared to expectations. China itself, a very important market for the future, is not having the growth trend all sector operators were hoping for. The only continent which is substantially holding out well is our good old Europe, if we consider as Europe all the countries which are west of the Urals.
How did the electronic component industry deal with this productive slowdown of its reference markets?
After years of quality, which by now is an acquired and essential characteristic to offer oneself to the market, today the command word is flexibility. Flexibility in the service to the customer, but also in the way we program production. It is owing to a great productive flexibility that companies were able to contain the state of suffering of these first six months of the year.
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