Mark Jones, chief operating officer at Omron Electronic Components Europe, highlights the importance of sustainable design in the future plans for the company and the industry as a whole. 

Are you optimistic or pessimistic about the current state of the European components market?

I am quite positive. There is growth in some parts of Europe, such as Germany, Switzerland, Austria, France and Spain and particularly in eastern European countries and Russia. There are some concerns about the UK, but I hope it will come out the other side. 

An opportunity is in renewable energy technologies. This is an area where Europe is leading the world. For example, in the development of wind turbines and solar farms. Also for hybrid vehicles there are some very interesting developments across Europe and the UK is taking a lead in energy-efficient building design.

If you had to identify an important focus for the company in 2008 what would it be?
 
Our investment in sustainability and eco-products.

In what ways is sustainable design having an impact on the business?

We have a programme of re-engineering all our core relay, switch and connector products to reduce the amount of raw material content.

Raw materials cost have been rising. In some cases we have seen an 8% increase in materials costs. We cannot pass that on to the customer so we must look at ways of dealing with it.  

This is not just about costs. It is also part of our strategy to support renewable technologies. We have re-engineered our processes to create high precision stamping, tooling, moulding and electro-plating.

It cuts waste, improves yields and reliability. In some cases we have been able to reduce materials costs by as much as 50%.

How would you describe the UK’s manufacturing industry in 2008?

UK manufacturers are very much niche and have become skilled in adding value in the services they provide. As a result I believe the UK industry has some resilience to the changes it is facing. But I think this can be a platform for doing more.

Industry in the UK has downsized but design and innovation is still here and there are opportunities in new technology areas, for example renewable energy.

Do you see a time when the company may start manufacturing some products in Europe?

We have just opened a new technology centre in Europe providing product customisation and we already have a switch engineering in Munich doing full product design for the European market. When I look at these developments I start thinking about the possibility of European manufacturing. There are markets in Europe where local production would be important.    

See also: Q5 - Interviews with electronics industry leaders
Read all the Electronics Weekly Q5 interviews. From ARM's chairman, Sir Robin Saxby, to touchscreen technology firm Zytronic's MD, Mark Cambridge, the business leaders share their particular insights on the UK electronics industry.

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