Like being forced into an ill-fitting suit, the CEM tethered financially to a distributor is squirming to find its place in the industry, analysts said. Those hybrids are also divided in their approach to attracting new business. Some are reinventing themselves in an effort to capture excess business from major CEMs. Others are taking a nonaggressive approach, and their CEM divisions remain hidden assets filled with small job orders that don't threaten their larger CEM customers. Tenn. The top players in the industry control a sizable portion of new business wins.
Hybrids have limited electronic manufacturing services.
They have to figure out how to grow and compete for OEM contracts, Cage said. They don't want to compete with their CEM customers, said Robert C. Damron, an analyst at Tucker, Anthony Capital Markets in Milwaukee. At the same time, distributors of all sizes are concerned about major CEMs and OEMs seeking to limit suppliers. We go beyond being a traditional distributor. Fla. Reptron recently changed the name of its longtime CEM division, K-Byte Manufacturing, to Reptron Manufacturing Services.