TV turn-off as consumers take care
08 October 2007
A few weeks back I complained in this column (see When banks go wrong) that the financial sector created an artificial environment that we all have to suffer the consequences of. And the latest example of that features in one of our main news stories this week
My original editorial, just to recap, suggested that while capitalism was a good thing, it had got out of control. In an bid to make more money, financial institutions were manipulating markets, sometimes with effects further down the supply chain (LCD screen manufacturers in America and Asia, in this case). The tail was wagging the dog, I said.
The feedback from that original editorial was very gratifying, although the majority of it disagreed with my own opinion. Capitalism is King, you said, if the market wants a product or service then it will survive, if the market doesn’t want it, it will die.
One respondent, a consultant from Scotland called Rod Dalitz, put it this way: “Unless you want to justify a command economy (which is thoroughly discredited by the story of communism) you have to accept that individuals compete in a capitalist framework, and sometimes get it wrong. I have to admit that, when capitalism is applied to financial companies, the result looks more like a chaotic system, complex in the mathematical sense. But I think there is no way out of some level of boom-and-bust, as with ecological systems - it is only possible to minimise the suffering.”
None of which I disagree with. My point was more to do with fluctuations in the financial markets, created by voracious predators in pin-striped suits, who drove share prices and currencies up and down, sometimes making a perfectly good manufacturers business untenable.
Admittedly this is not at the source of problem highlighted in iSuppli’s report on the LCD panel market – that is a more straightforward case of a crisis in consumer confidence caused by the sub-prime fiasco in the US. But in some ways it is part of the same issue – greed in the financial sector having consequences far beyond.
To move on…..during my quest to find information to be released at Productronica I was presented by a piece from Asymtek about materials dispensing ( Protecting BGA packages), which I thought was interesting. For all that the main thrust concerns the process of dispensing the material, it also skirts round the issue of what the material is used for i.e. protecting BGAs. There are obviously some applications where the thermal and mechanical properties of underfills are essential for the long-term survival of the BGA, but could a technique such as this provide added reassurance to those who still find that they have unacceptable mechanical failures with their BGAs? Or would the introduction of a further process be no more than an added expense and inconvenience. As always, I would be delighted to hear your views.
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