A world where speed and enormous investments are the essential tools of survival. The integration of technology, systems, quality and productivity has enabled ramp times to decrease and costs to be somewhat contained. This industry-wide integration has led to the integration of suppliers. Coupled together, they create velocity. First to market is never better if you can't satisfy demand or support rapid market penetration.
Velocity is time to profit and time to cash.
It is coupled with market capitalization, the raw fuel of growth, and stronger positioning, which are increasingly being leveraged by suppliers that are of similar size and financial strength as their end customers because of their ability to deliver and enhance the elements of predictability. It becomes obvious that the real standards customers will be most interested in measuring going forward is the performance of their integrated supply chain. A supply chain from which they will demand more risk reduction in the form of predictable performance. The successful suppliers of this decade will focus on the elements necessary to deliver predictability in the 2000s. As the industry ramps worldwide, IC manufacturers want suppliers that have the scale to provide support by being able to scale their operations not only in volume but in chosen geographies as well.