Earlier this month I attended the electronica trade show in Munich, Germany. This biannual show remains THE international event in the electronics industry. Munich Messe reports that this year 2,961 exhibitors spread out over 14 exhibition halls (1.6 million square feet) to present their goods and services to more than 75,000 attendees.

So what was new in relays and switches?

• New relay switch products from Panasonic Electric Works, Rafi, Song Chuan, Teledyne, and Zettler
• Higher costs for switch and relay materials
• Production nearing capacity
• A bid is made to purchase APEM

Featured Products

One of the main attractions of any trade show is new and featured products. Here is just a sampling of the relays and switches shown at electronica this year.

Panasonic Electric Works

Panasonic Electric Works featured the LZ relay. It is a low profile, 15.7mm in height, 12.5mm wide and 28.8mm long. Its 1,000 MΩ minimum insulation resistance is obtained with a 10 mm minimum creepage distance between contact and coil. It is available with class F coil insulation
(105°C or 221°F), making it ideal for applications in ovens, ranges, refrigerators, or HVAC equipment.

Rafi

Rafi introduced its new MICON 5 tact switch. This surface mount switch comes in a very small package measuring 6.4mm X 5.1mm X 3.85mm. The switch provides excellent tactile and an audible “click” when operated. It is available in a range of operating forces from 2.7N to 6.9N. The gold contacts can carry 0.01 to 100mA at 0.02 to 42VAC or DC. LED illumination is available.

Song Chuan

New 899 is a baby sugar cube relay measuring 15mm in height, 19mm in length, and 15.5mm in depth. It is available with a choice of two contact materials. AgNi is recommended for medium or high loads and AgSnO for high inductive loads like DC or AC motors or any load with high inrush currents. The new 899 with AgSnO or AgNi contact materials are VDE approved with the same ratings: 10A 250VAC at +85°C or 6A 250VAC at +105°C. It complies with the latest version of EN60335-1 making it suitable for safety applications in household or similar electrical appliances.

Teledyne

The Series GRF342 relay is a hermetically sealed, ultraminiature RF relay designed for surface mount applications. This magnetic-latching relay features extremely low internal circuit losses for exceptional time and frequency domain response characteristics through and beyond the UHF spectrum and into the S band. The GRF342 features a unique ground shield that isolates and shields each lead to ensure excellent contact-to-contact and pole-to-pole isolation. This ground shield provides an RF ground interface that results in improved high-frequency performance as well as parametric repeatability. The GRF342 extends performance advantages over similar RF devices that simply offer formed leads for surface mounting.

Zettler

The AZ6951 has an extremely small footprint measuring 6.5mm in depth and 17.5mm wide. A very sensitive coil only requires 100mW of power to activate. The relay can switch a maximum load of 150W with a current of up to 5A. It has a mechanical life of 20 million operations and can switch a 3A load at 30VDC or 250VAC 10,000 times.

Raw Material Cost Continue to be an Issue that Forces Higher Prices

The cost of gold, silver, plastic and other raw materials that go into relays and switches has eased a bit from the dramatic climb seen over the last few years. But prices remain near 10 to 20 year highs. While material costs have risen, pricing for switches and relays have been pushed lower by global competition. This is squeezing margins and causing manufacturers to cut costs in other areas.

Some relief has been found by increasing prices – a move that many manufacturers are afraid to make fearing it may lead to lost business. But it may be easier to accomplish if demand grows and supplies approach capacity.

Production Nearing Capacity

Remember the days of product allocations and component manufactures scrambling to bring new production capacity on line. This was the scene seven or eight years ago in the electronic component industry. To meet their needs customers increased order sizes to ensure that the fraction of their order that shipped would keep pace. This practice of double or triple ordering may have been the trigger for the inventory glut and industry downsizing at the turn of millennium.

With the European economy catching hold the ability to supply is nearing capacity for passive component makers. They are beginning to feel that the market will shift from being a buyers market to one where sellers enjoy the advantage. This could good be news for relay and switch manufacturers.

Some of the relay manufacturers at electronica are beginning to see the same situation develop, despite the cries of low cost Asian competitors taking up share. If Europe continues to strengthen, the United States avoids recession, and local Chinese markets develop, global demand may keep increasing.

Then the question becomes how much production capacity for switches and relays has been added in the last five years? Have new companies and established western manufacturers producing products in Asia added too much, too little or just the right amount?

21 Centrale Partners Tenders an Offer for APEM

21 Centrale Partners has made a 90M euros ($114) offer to acquire a 90% stake in APEM from Nord-Est. APEM is a global broadline supplier of switches with operations in Europe, Tunisia, Mexico, and China.

Nord-Est, a French company, primarily produces premium packaging, point-of-sale advertising, signs and health care packaging. The groups engaged in luxury packaging include Alliora, Azilone Plastique, Pakart, Pixxent and Socoplan. They also have a minerals and mines division (Denain-Anzin, Mineraux, Asturienne de Mines-Division Cogebi and Compagnie Miniere de Touissit) that produces mica and mica-based insulation for use in the automobile industry. The Company also produces feldspar, quartz and kaolin, and operates two lead, silver and zinc mines in Morocco. The passive components division (APEM) is involved in the design and manufacture of switches and integration products. During 2003, Nord-Est increased its stake in Apem to 88.4%.

21 Centrale Partners is a subsidiary of 21 Investimenti Spa that is owned by Edizione Holding Spa.
Edizione Holding is the Benetton family’s holding company. The companies holdings operate all over the world, in various sectors: clothing; highway and urban catering services; infrastructure and services for transport and communications; real estate and agriculture; and other activities, such as the investments of 21 Investimenti. Total group sales are around 8 billion euro ($10.2 B) and the total number of employees exceeds 60,000.