An understanding of the structure and geography of the subcontract PCB industry in the UK

This paper examines the make‐up of the subcontract printed circuit board industry in the UK and identifies the geographical location of manufacturing sites together with the number of employees at these sites. It describes both the subcontract board‐producing and assembly sectors. The maps show the position and size of the sites, and these together with a histogram showing the frequency of ranges of employee numbers, provide an understanding of the structure of the industry. Higher density areas which have a greater incidence of PCB manufacturing activity are identified and compared. It is also shown that there is little consistent relationship between the positions of the major system providers and the PCB subcontract industry sites. Concern is expressed about the ability of the many smaller companies to compete in the supply of emerging assembly and substrate technologies.