Motor soft starters

	In this report   •   Main story   •   More applications targeted   •   Product safety, quality emphasized   •   Further price cuts forecast   •   Emphasis on energy-efficient models   •   Portable electronics drive line

Makers of AC/DC adapters in mainland China are boosting production efficiency and output quality to grab an even bigger piece of the market as demand picks up.

These companies revealed that orders have started to improve since the beginning of the year, jumpstarting production schedules.

Anticipating an economic recovery, many makers are expanding capacity through investment in automatic machinery, abandoning traditional labor-intensive practices. Shenzhen Tenwei Electronics Co. Ltd, for example, allocated $450,000 for a Panasonic SMT line and aging equipment, which once installed are expected to increase capacity by at least 15 percent from the current 1.5 million units monthly. Huntkey Electronics Co. Ltd’s similar investment will raise its efficiency at half the workforce requirement. Others are adding factory space. Shenzhen Flypower Tech Co. Ltd is leasing a nearby 8,000sqm facility.

Makers believe that automation, along with new test equipment, will elevate their product quality levels as well. In addition to the usual standards such as CCC, CE, UL, FC, CB, GS, CQC, SAA and CSA, there are environment-conscious directives, including the Energy Star, Energy-using Products or EuP, WEEE and RoHS. To comply with these requirements and secure more orders, especially from the US and the EU, suppliers are pushing energy-efficient products with safety features and anti-EMI.

China’s selection of AC/DC adapters consists of 3 to 120W models. A few suppliers also offer designs with up to 250W output power. The products have input voltage of 100 to 240VAC or a maximum of 90 to 264VAC and input frequency of 50/60Hz or 47 to 63Hz. Most have overpower, overvoltage, overcurrent, overtemperature and short-circuit protection, and a built-in EMI filter. More units are now equipped with plugs and tips for use with various devices.

Mainland China has been the line’s manufacturing powerhouse for nearly a decade now, having benefited from the global industry’s migration that started in Europe and Japan and moved to Taiwan in the 1990s before crossing the strait. Mainland suppliers currently account for more than 70 percent of world supply, with production exceeding 1.2 billion units in 2008.

The local industry is poised for further growth of about 10 percent annually in the next two or three years.

The development has been driven by demand from the mobile phone, DSL modem, laptop, digital camera, MP3/MP4 player, PDA, game machine, printer, medical equipment and household appliance sectors.

Guangdong, Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Fujian provinces, and Shanghai are the major manufacturing centers for AC/DC adapters. Eighty percent of products come from Shenzhen. The city in Guangdong is home to many large-scale operations, including Huntkey and Kuantech (Shenzhen) Co. Ltd. Large makers have annual revenue exceeding $70 millionand employ more than 3,000 workers. Others have as few as 500 workers and sales starting at $15 million.