Six Things to Look for in a User-Interface Technology Supplier

LED and LCD user interface technologies are being adopted at a faster pace than ever before and are set to continue their dramatic growth in the years ahead. At the same time, as the global economy begins to step out of a serious downturn, electronic design teams have faced dramatic cuts in budgets and staffing across a number of industries worldwide. With large demand and reduced resources, now more than ever design engineers need to be able to identify LED and LCD technology suppliers with capabilities that have a real impact on bottom line.

There are six key things that design engineers should look for when identifying a potential LED or LCD supplier:

Feature 1: Market Knowledge
An LED or LCD supplier should demonstrate a thorough understanding of technology trends, industry needs and market conditions to ensure they are well-stocked with best technologies for your specific needs. A good way to gauge a supplier´s familiarity with the market needs and technology trends is to gauge their demonstrated commitment to R&D. Check out their website. Is your supplier constantly coming out with new technologies to meet evolving market needs? Do they offer access to design professionals who are constantly working on cutting-edge solutions for leading brands?

A user-interface technology supplier with demonstrated market and technology trend knowledge is vital to ensuring you get the best possible technology for your specific performance needs in the most efficient way possible.

Feature 2: Design Expertise
Today´s design teams are facing ever growing demands often with reduced resources. To be successful, they must identify suppliers who can provide not only basic LED and LCD technology, but also expert design support.

Quality suppliers provide access to dedicated design specialists who can work as an integrated part of your design team to help you identify the best technology for your specific application needs. These experts can save valuable time and money by providing insights into a wide range of off-the-shelf as well as custom wavelengths and optics and provide insightful feedback on how to most efficiently create a design for your specific performance needs.

Feature 3: Integrated Solutions
A key way to speed time to market, reduce infant mortality and simplify product design and production is to identify a supplier with expertise in LEDs, LCDs, optics, switches, connectors, and PCBs. By identifying a supplier who can provide an integrated solution to for your particular application needs, you can greatly simplify your production process. Rather than juggling a myriad of different part numbers – you can work with a single bill of supply and have the peace of mind that comes with knowing that all of various components of your user-interface technology have already been fully integrated and designed to work together for maximum performance.

Feature 4: LED and LCD Expertise
As it is common for technologies to transition from LEDs to LED displays to LCDs to TFTs, it can be key to identify a supplier with expertise in all of these areas. Such a supplier will have a detailed knowledge of your existing technology and what options the market provides to best meet your technology migration needs.

Feature 5: Flexible Production Capabilities
A quality supplier will be able to provide off-the-shelf or custom technology specifically tailored for a specific application. They will understand the performance requirements related to your specific industry and will be able to cost-effectively accommodate high, mid, and small volume orders.

Feature 6: Global Reach, Local Presence
While an ideal supplier will have a global footprint and be on top of global technology development trends, it is important they also have a significant local presence in order to provide support in a similar time zone and in your language. This proximity means a design specialist can sit down with you to identify the product best suited to your needs.

As more and more technologies adopt LED and LCD user-interface technologies, it will be vital for design engineers to identify suppliers who can efficiently provide top performance for specific application requirements. Finding a supplier with deep market knowledge, design expertise and flexible production capabilities who can create integrated solutions with both LED and LCD technologies via local support teams is a key advantage in a competitive marketplace.