Brainport Eindhoven Region has a very strong position when it comes to high tech. This region is the homebase of large OEMs such as Philips, DAF, ASML, and FEI Company. These large companies have been outsourcing the manufacturing of sub-assemblies and larger non-core submodules to strategic suppliers. The tier-one, tier-two and tier-three suppliers in the open high-tech supply chain joined forces to create Brainport Industries.

Brainport Industries companies design, develop & manufacture, leading advanced, precise, and intelligent high tech equipment. The Netherlands, and in particular the Brainport region around Eindhoven, has key players in some of the most advanced, precise and intelligent machines. OEMs competing on the international market for high-mix, low-volume, high-complexity machines have been outsourcing the manufacturing of sub-assemblies and larger non-core submodules to strategic suppliers for quite some time and are now increasingly outsourcing the design and development of the equipment they manufacture as well.

“What they’re doing in fact, is giving suppliers full responsibility for these modules, from design through to manufacturing”, says Marc Hendrikse, chairman of Brainport Industries and CEO of NTS-Group, a company that is system supplier to international machine builders. “This shift is driving suppliers to push their own boundaries in terms of manufacturability and responsibility, and to extend their reach across international borders in order to tap into new, foreign markets. This can be quite challenging for individual suppliers because their companies are often too small or don’t have enough financial power. But together, we can be strong.”

Normally, a single supplier does not have the size and power to do this all alone. By joining forces in Brainport Industries, they are able to reach this goal. The open supply chain of technological companies in the region around Eindhoven offers suppliers a fertile soil and a structure for cooperation in projects. Projects in the field of technology, markets and people. Through this cooperation, suppliers can develop their organizations to the top in their market, find new markets in order to grow sales, and it also supports the constant stream of knowledge workers and professionals that are necessary to realize this turnover.

Due to this optimal efforts of their suppliers, OEMs are able serve their customers even better than before. “Brainport Industries is a leading, global open supply chain”, says Hendrikse. “Our ambition is to further strengthen and grow this Dutch high tech supply chain. By working together we can make the ecosystem more professional and international.”