Electronic sub-contract engineering isn't new.
Recession hits these companies hard, because of the costs of stock; labour; etc, and because volatility of customers makes long term planning tricky.
And, really, the components that are common over many projects are cheap. It's the stuff that's specific to a build that is expensive. The PCB, the case and tooling for the case, the connector (sometimes), these are the big costs.
Re:The Hardware Renaissance
by tomkinstinch on Tuesday October 23, 2012 @07:51PM
(#4690948)
Indeed, looking at capital costs for our product the injection mold tooling is one of the most expensive aspects of production. Rapid prototyping (CNC milling/laser cutting/3D printing/etc.) reduces the cost of iterative development, but there's no way around what it costs to ramp up for production.
"there might be an opportunity for a company that does volume manufacturing on-demand"
I've bought plenty of hardware from http://www.seeedstudio.com/depot/
As an "open hardware facilitation company" I donno if they fit the startup licensing mold, but the general idea seems pretty sound.
No reason why this company couldn't be located in Asia as well, but having very close and accessible communication with the people who use its services might also turn out to be an idea that was stupid until it wasn't.