European Community to develop competitive subcontracting for the consumer electronics industry
As part of the Community's response to the current difficulties being faced by the electronics industry, a pilot programme to help improve the competitivity of the component supply infrastructure for the consumer electronics industry in Europe, has been launched by the Commission for 1993-94 (the inaugural session was on 25 March 1993). The pilot programme launch follows the success of a limited test project carried out in 1992 in the plastic moulding/consumer electronics sub-supply sector. The project involved an assessment of the competitive strengths and weaknesses of 11 European moulders who participated in the exercise, a mission to Japan where the moulders had the opportunity to study the operations of their Japanese counterparts and a return visit by Japanese experts to provide on-site individual advice and expertise. The project is industry-led and has the support of both European affiliated and Japanese affiliated manufacturers in Europe. The collaborative project is also endorsed and supported by the Japanese government, and represents and important development in EC/Japan relations in the area of industrial cooperation. The new programme will be run buy the European Consumer Electronics Manufacturers Association (EACEM) and the Electronics Industries Association of Japan (EIAJ). Individual projects will be defined according to the priorities set by the component users. These will depend to a great extent on proposals received from the component suppliers. Community financing for the pilot programme will be in the region of ECU 3 million, representing up to a maximum of 40% of overall programme cost. Within these parameters, it is expected that participating SME suppliers will be able to reclaim approximately 50% of participation costs.