What is Electronics Manufacturing Service (EMS) company?

What are the job functions within an EMS?

An electronic manufacturing service (frequently abbreviated EMS) company is a company that manufacturers and assembles electronic assemblies for other companies.

Like other companies, an EMS is composed of departments.  Many departments within an EMS – such as Accounting, Sales, and Customer Service – also exist in non-EMS companies.  But it is common for an EMS to have specialized departments such as Design Engineering and Test Engineering.  The following is a list of departments that are typically found within an EMS, along with a description of their job function.

Typical Departments within an EMS

Sales
The Sales department is usually the first department that interacts with a prospective customer.  One or more members from the Sales department will communicate with the customer, explain the capabilities of the EMS, and understand the needs of the customer.  Sales will receive items from the customer – such as drawings and Bill of Materials – that are needed for the company to generate a quotation.

Purchasing
For new designs, the Purchasing department works with various component suppliers to obtain the best price with the shortest leads times for components that are used on a customer’s electronics assembly.

For existing designs, the department will place routine purchase orders to component suppliers so that the EMS will have inventory of the components needed to manufacture and assemble product for their customers. [Continue Reading]