It’s the end of Tim’s World!
26 July 2011
A slightly over-dramatic headline perhaps, but this will be my last contribution to the Editor’s comment section (called Tim’s World) on the web site.
My move to pastures new comes at what I hope is an exciting time for the electronics industry in the UK. Having seen electronics manufacturing move offshore so rapidly I feared that ultimately it might weaken and erode the design discipline as well, despite my inherent faith in British inventiveness.
I now believe that my pessimism was misplaced. The majority of the electronics manufacturing that moved offshore was only manufacturing that graced our home turf out of convenience for a relatively short time – the UK being a convenient gateway into Europe for global computer and communications companies. When these companies moved East, the indigenous companies, although relatively small, have thrived in their own specialised, usually high-end businesses. The traditional expertise in electronics design therefore still has the ‘closed-loop’ with manufacturing to provide a stable foundation on which the UK electronics industry can rebuild.
The financial meltdown seems to have opened politicians’ eyes to what has been obvious to the rest of us for decades – the UK needs engineering, it needs manufacturing and it needs electronics. There also seems to be a resurgence among students to follow an engineering future. Possibly this is a result of the tuition fees forcing students entering higher education to select courses that may provide a real, salary paying job at the end of it. Or maybe the glitz of working in the city has started to look less appealing.
Whatever the reasons, I do believe that there is a new optimism in the electronics sector in the UK and that EPD, as it has done for the last 30 years, will continue to inform and serve it through its magazine pages, the e-Legacy awards, this newsletter and our website. We will also have to move forward, and there is no better person to do this than my replacement, Alistair Winning (alistair.winning@imlgroup.co.uk) who returns to EPD after several years of immersing himself in other disciplines within the electronics industry. I am sure he will fully introduce himself through this column in coming weeks.
As a slightly indulgent sign off I would like to thank all of those from all parts of the industry who have been supportive of me personally and EPD more generally – and there are many who I am sure I will remain in contact with (my move is internal so my email - tim.fryer@imlgroup.co.uk - and phone number - 01732 359990 - will remain the same).
It really has been a pleasure!
Tim Fryer.
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