The COVID-19 virus has created a mess all over the world is having its root of existence in China. It has a major impact on every aspect of lifestyle. As a result, there were no certain curing methods or vaccines related to the virus initially, the governmental bodies forced lockdown upon their respective nations which eventually disrupted most of the sectors. As a result, there was a huge impact on the global economy.
Due to the outbreak of the pandemic caused by the virus, many small sectors were closed down and on the other hand, some sectors decided to cut off some of the employees which resulted in major unemployment.
However, the printed electronics market, though suffered a bit due to this outbreak of the pandemic, but its application to the healthcare sector has somehow did not disrupt the whole market. The requirement of smart technology in the field of healthcare has triggered the market to maintain somewhat a healthy CAGR during the time of the pandemic.
Aftermath of The Printed Electronics Market
COVID-19 created a major impact on the printed electronics market as there was a global shutdown of all the markets except for those which are considered as the essential goods in the time of the pandemic. In order to prevent the outbreak of the virus, the governments blocked the operation of almost everything except essential products like food, pharmaceutical among others. Thus, international trade also came to a halt.
The printed electronics market faced quite a few challenges in the initial days of the pandemic. However, after some time, the lockdown rules were relaxed, and slowly several companies started to operate with some strict rules imposed by the government like mandatory use of masks, sanitizers, and most importantly, social distancing.
For instance,
- In April 2021, solutions for healthcare, retail and other industrial sectors were showcased at LOPEC on the online platform of Messe Munchen where several companies related to the printed electronics market offered some solutions in order to release pressure from the healthcare process and professionals so that the protective measures could be maintained properly
Thus, the printed electronics market started to grow eventually as the need for the products related to the consumer electronics sector were also increasing as following the healthcare sector, other sectors were also opting for the implementation of smart and touchless technologies in order to maintain social distancing norms.
STRATEGIC DECISIONS FOR MANUFACTURERS AFTER COVID-19 TO GAIN COMPETITIVE MARKET SHARE
The pandemic has not been that much cruel to the market, regards to the healthcare sector. With the uplift of the lockdown, the healthcare sector particularly is focussing more on implementing smart technologies in monitoring health as a measure of precautions. The companies are moving into partnerships with other consumer electronics companies to develop a better product combining the components of the two companies. Companies are also acquiring and merging with other players to strengthen their position in the market.
For instance,
- In February 2021, Henkel and Quad Industries expanded their printed electronics contract of partnership. These two companies, along with the association of four other medical and technology companies have developed a smart health patch for remote patient monitoring
- In early 2021, Nano Dimension, a manufacturer in additively manufactured electronics (AME) and printed electronics acquired a fellow additive company Nanofabrica. The collaboration aims at developing a relatively advanced micro-AM field as Nano Dimension focuses on the micro-electronics whereas Nanofabrica is known for microsale additive manufacturing with the inclusion of medical, micro-tooling among others
The industrial application is also increasing in case of the printed electronics as all the other sectors are back in action with the requirement of the printed electronics product.
Impact on Price
The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the price of the printed electronic markets has slightly varied as the technological advancements play an important part in the determination the price of the products. But, the variation in the price is almost negligible as the cost of the sensors, printed circuit boards (PCB), OLEDs among others have been associated with nearly almost same price post pandemic. So, the printed electronics market hardly experienced any change in the price of the materials associated with the market.
Impact On Demand
The demand of the printed electronics market will be increasing as the requirement of the products like sensors, RFID equipment, PCBs, and OLEDs among others in the different sectors of consumer electronics is increasing gradually. On the other hand, various companies are launching new products related to the market in order to bring stability to their respective organizations which will eventually boost the market. The companies are also tending to perform several merger-acquisitions in order to cop up with the loss due to the pandemic by boosting the respective revenues of the organizations.
For instance,
- In October 2021, Panasonic announced the introduction of BEYOLEX, a new thermoset stretchable film for printed electronics based on proprietary non-silicone thermoset polymer chemistry. This new launch of the film will be very effective for both the company and the global market in increasing their shares
- In November 2020, Clariant and Agfa announced an agreement where the latter assumed the ownership of Clariant’s Electronic Materials portfolio. Clariant decided that the segment of electronic materials consisting of the cutting edge technology among others was no longer meeting the alignment with its existing high-value speciality portfolio of the long-term strategy of the company
Impact on Supply Chain
The COVID-19 pandemic has affected immensely to the supply chain and demand of the products associate with the respective markets. However, the supply chain of the printed electronics market was however maintained only towards the healthcare sector during the pandemic. The post lockdown scenario was a bit different as the other sectors also came into the picture. After the lockdown was lifted, the supply chain of the products is increasing daily as the necessity of the printed electronics market is also increasing not only in healthcare, but in other sector too such as manufacturing industries, PCB replacement units, mobile repairing centres and off course healthcare equipment manufacturing units among others. Thus, the production and supply of the products related to the printed electronics market as hampered due to the advent of the pandemic due to the deadly COVID-19 virus, except that of the healthcare sector which actually maintained the position the printed electronics in the global market.
Conclusion
The outbreak of the pandemic situation due to the COVID-19 virus has changed the entire process of the activities all over the globe. From lifestyle to global economy, the pandemic has affected each and every factors related to the world. But despite all this, the governments and the workplaces are putting much effort to fight against the deadly virus and take out the maximum positive outcome from it.
However, the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted the global printed electronics market a bit less than the other markets due to its contribution to the healthcare sector. However, the market has resulted in a lower estimated year-on-year growth rate as compared with 2019 because of the less amount of participation of the other sectors associated with the printed electronics market. However, the growth has been high after the market has opened after COVID-19, and it is expected that there would be considerable growth in the sector owing to high technological advancements that are expected to drive the overall demand of the market.
