I've been asked to write a report on the manufacture of ECU within mass produced cars (Fords, etc.). I've tried asking the big companies whether they manufacture the electronics in-house or whether they sub-con and buy the parts in, but they regard this infomation as too sensititive to discuss. Does any body know if these units are supplied? And if so do you have any manufacturers names? Any help on this topic area would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks
G. Coates
I have no direct knowledge of the automotive electronics business, but I have no reason to suspect that it is radically different from any other business that uses electronic subassemblies in their products.
Large companies often use several suppliers for many things, and there may be no good answer. As an Electronics Tech, I know that with electronics especially, the answer may very well be several different countries. The blank circuit boards may be made in one country, etched and drilled in another, stuffed and soldered in yet another country using electronic components made all over the world, and assembled into its final case in yet another using parts made elsewhere. Reasonable costs of air freight and the high-value nature of electronic parts mean that production moves easily between far spread companies and countries that specialize in specific skills.
Circuit board material may be made in the US, then shipped to Malaysia, where highly skilled, (but low payed by US standards) workers do the etching and drilling of the boards. They might be then shipped to a company in Indonesia to be stuffed with components made in the US, Japan, Germany, and Korea where they are soldered. The completed boards might then be shipped to Mexico, where they are assembled into metal and plastic cases made in China, then shipped to an Assembly Plant in Baltimore MD to become part of a new GMC Astrovan.
I noticed this phenomenon years ago when I worked in the copier business, then the computer peripheral business, and what I do today with mail handling equipment. I would notice that perhaps the main part of the machine was built in Rochester NY, but the document handler was French and the feeder was Korean. Looking at subassemblies, such as circuit boards, motors, solenoids, and so on, there was often little relationship of where the final assembly of a module was done and the origin of most of the components inside them.
If world trade is ever severely crippled by war, energy shortages, or natural disaster, our civilization is in a lot of trouble.
A little detective work with a junkyard ECU will answer a lot of your questions. Country of origin is usually put somewhere on a part, whether it be a circuit board, case, or component itself. Take it apart and try to guess where the component parts originated.
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