SIC 3679 Electronics Components, Not Elsewhere Classified

Contenidos

• NAICS CODE(S).
• INDUSTRY SNAPSHOT.
• Products.
• BACKGROUND AND DEVELOPMENT.
• The 1980s and 1990s.
• CURRENT CONDITIONS.
• INDUSTRY LEADERS.
• FURTHER READING.

SIC 3679

The Electronic Components, Not Elsewhere Classified industry segment is comprised of firms primarily engaged in manufacturing a multitude of miscellaneous electronic devices. Examples of more popular industry offerings include automobile antennas, oscillators, mechanical rectifiers, solenoids, quartz crystals, and electronic switches. For information on semiconductors, resistors, capacitors, connectors, and coils, see related electronic component industries.

NAICS CODE(S)

334220

Radio and Television Broadcasting and Wireless Communications Equipment Manufacturing

334418

Printed Circuit/Electronics Assembly Manufacturing

336322

Other Motor Vehicle Electrical And Electronic Equipment Manufacturing

334419

Other Electronic Component Manufacturing

INDUSTRY SNAPSHOT

Miscellaneous electronic component manufacturers supply products for five broad areas: communications, such as radios, televisions, and satellite systems; computers and calculators; scientific instruments; military applications, particularly missile and radar systems; and power control and manufacturing equipment, such as machine controllers and industrial robots.

The single largest market for electronic components was radio and television transmission equipment producers, especially satellite services, which in the 2000s was a multi-billion dollar segment of the industry. Telephone and telegraph communications equipment makers were next, and computer manufacturers represented the next largest group of the market.

Other major market segments included: radio and television receiving equipment; guided missiles, space, and aircraft components; X-ray apparatus; and individual consumers. The remainder of output was used in numerous niche markets, such as musical instruments, surgical equipment, children's toys, and surveillance devices.

Products

Most miscellaneous electronic components are used to accomplish or support the primary electronic functions of rectification, amplification, oscillation, and switching and timing. In addition, this industry encompasses several peripheral products, such as headphones and phonograph needles. Finally, some unrelated odds and ends are lumped into this industry, such as hermetic seals for equipment, record cutting styli, and video triggers (except those on remote control devices).

In comparison to the leading edge semiconductors and circuits manufactured in other electronic sectors, the majority of components classified in this industry are low-tech, commodity-like products. The major product groups listed below, for example, were developed during the birth of the electronics industry and remain similar in function to their earliest predecessors. For example, rectifiers, which are used to convert alternating current (AC) to direct current (DC), were one of the first electronic components developed.

Piezoelectric devices, like oscillators, are used in clocks, pressure gauges, communications equipment, and other contraptions. They utilize materials, such as slivers of quartz that can convert high-frequency AC into ultrasonic waves of the same frequency. They also can change a mechanical vibration into an electrical signal. Properly cut quartz crystals, for instance, are used as frequency controls in radios and televisions.

Switches and relays are devices that open and close electronic and electrical circuits. Common switches, which are manually operated, include push-button, rotary, slide, and toggle mechanisms. Types of relays, which are triggered electronically, are timing, electromechanical, and reed. Solid state relays are excluded from this industry. Relays often are activated by a solenoid, which is a uniformly wound coil of wire in the form of a cylinder. Passage of DC through the wire creates a magnetic field that moves a metal (usually iron) core that...