Issue 10 of the RS Components magazine, eTech, features an article I wrote on the need to move towards social hardware development.

It is increasingly rare to find end-to-end design and manufacture taking place under one roof. This “vertical disintegration” has led to a reconfiguration of the electronics industry value chain, creating a growing need for collaboration across many specialist firms and coordination across countries. As the intense pressure to specialise continues to drive outsourcing, now more than ever before, the development of hardware needs to become a social act.