TE Connectivity is known for producing a wide range of connectors and is the world's No. 1 connector manufacturer.
In 2014, Tyco Electronics acquired the world's leading sensor company Precision Electronics MEAS, high-profile cross-border into the sensor industry, and then, and successively acquired a number of sensor companies such as Germany's FirstSensor, increasing the layout of the sensor field, 10 years later, Tyco Electronics has become a global leader in industrial sensors that cannot be ignored.
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In TE's FY2023 Annual Report, it outlines the company as:
"We are a global industry technology leader committed to creating a safer, sustainable, efficient and connected future. Our broad range of connectivity and sensing solutions are proven in the harshest environments to advance mobility, industrial applications, medical technology, energy, data communications, and living at home."
▲来源：泰科电子《2023 Annual Report》
It can be seen that this connector giant attaches great importance to sensor products, so what is TE's sensor industry chain? Which sensor fields are TE's key layouts?How does TE view the development trend of China's and global sensing industry? Recently, at Sensor Shenzhen 2024, the reporter was interviewed by Mr. Gong Lingsong, head of sales of TE Connectivity's sensor division in China. Get an in-depth look at the industrial giant from a sensor perspective.
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Gong Lingsong, Head of Sales for TE Connectivity's Sensor Business Unit in China
The world's largest connector giant, what is the sensor layout, what sensor products do you have?
1941 AMP, Aircraft Marine Products Inc. Founded, AMP is a world leader in electrical and electronic connectivity devices and interconnection systems, headquartered in Switzerland. With more than 100,000 product types and sizes, AMP had a 19% share of the $19 billion global interconnect market that year.
In 1999, Tyco International acquired AMP, and in July 2007, Tyco International was spun off into three companies, one of which was Tyco Electronics. In 2011, Tyco changed its name to TE Connectivity, Inc., which is known today as TE Connectivity.
Headquartered in Switzerland, TE Connectivity has more than 85,000 employees worldwide, including 8,000 engineers, and customers in more than 140 countries, designing and manufacturing more than 500,000 products.
At present, Tyco Electronics has three business units: Transportation Solutions, Industrial Solutions, and Communication Electronic Solutions, among which sensor products and solutions are included in the Transportation Solutions division.
▲泰科电子三大业务，来源：泰科电子《2023 Annual Report》
According to Tyco's fiscal year 2023 report, the transportation solutions segment currently accounts for the largest proportion of revenue. The main products sold by the Transportation Solutions segment include terminal and connector systems and components, sensors, relays, antennas and application tools:
Tyco sensors have 8 categories and 32 sub-categories of core sensing technologies, which are widely used in transportation, industrial and medical fields, and continue to improve stability, reliability, intelligence, miniaturization and integration to better support the development of the national digital economy.
TE entered China in 1988 and opened its first factory in Shanghai, according to Gong Lingsong, head of sales of TE Connectivity Sensor Division in China, TE Electronics has been working in China for more than 30 years and has always adhered to the principle of "close to the market, close to customers".
In terms of sensors, as early as 2019, Tyco Electronics released the "Report on the Development and Application of Sensors in the Intelligent Era", and put forward three value propositions: "Innovation", "Integration" and "Intelligence" with the strategic slogan of "Future Perception, Foretold by Me".
The so-called "innovation" refers to providing high-quality innovative sensor solutions to better perceive the use scenarios of emerging technologies, "integration" refers to enhancing cooperation with customers, collaboratively designing solutions, and optimizing resource allocation, and "intelligence" refers to focusing on the field of intelligent sensors and becoming an "engineer of engineers" to help the intelligent development of various fields in the future.
It can be seen that as the world's No. 1 connector giant, Tyco Electronics has long been ambitious in the global sensor field and China's sensor market.
According to Gong Lingsong, Tyco Electronics has developed 8 major product types from 32 core sensing technologies, and there are many product series under each product type, covering applications in most industries. In addition, Gong Lingsong emphasized that TE can be said to be a comprehensive, end-to-end solution provider. The company can provide customers with products from basic sensing technology to final packaging, and has all the capabilities in independent design, manufacturing, and quality testing, so that customers can follow Tyco Electronics to high-quality development.
Peeking into the industrial layout of giants, what are the core sensor products of Tyco Electronics?
The sensor industry chain is huge, there are many subdivisions, such as Tyco Electronics and other giant enterprises, often have a large number of sensor product lines, so what sensor products are the core of the enterprise, from which you can peek into the layout of these giant enterprises in the field of sensors and the development expectations of the future sensor downstream application market.
Among the 32 main sensor technologies of Tyco Electronics, there are about 5,500 kinds of sensor products currently registered in the sensor product library of Tyco Electronics' official website, among which pressure sensors and temperature sensors are the main sensor product categories of Tyco Electronics.
▲ Tyco electronic sensor types, source: Tyco electronics official website
In terms of pressure sensors, Tyco has MEMS technology, silicon oil-filled, and silicon strain gauges...... and other pressure sensors capable of measuring a wide range of pressures from less than an inch of water (<2.5 mbar) to 100K psi (7K bar), covering most industrial pressure measurement needs.
▲Various pressure sensors of Tyco Electronics, source: Tyco Electronics official website
In terms of temperature sensors, Tyco has NTC, PT platinum resistance, thermocouple solutions for contact measurement, as well as non-contact infrared temperature probes, with comprehensive technology. From long-term stable PT platinum resistors for industrial applications to miniature NTCs and thermocouples for medical applications, the product range covers a wide range of applications.
▲Tyco Electronics temperature sensor products, source: Tyco Electronics official website
In addition to these two main products, Gong Lingsong also introduced sensor products such as vibration, humidity, and position.
Why does Tyco need to develop so many sensor product lines? Gong Lingsong said: "What we hope is that when customers come to find sensors, we can provide products with different technologies and let them choose." And for different applications, we have a wide range of sensors for him to choose from. ”
Obviously, providing users with diversified, one-stop sensor needs is the key to Tyco Electronics' development of many sensor product lines.
Diversified sensor products are not only the advantages of sensor giants such as Tyco Electronics, but also the dilemma of small and micro sensor companies. There are many subdivisions and types of sensors, and a single sensor product is often unable to meet customers, and supporting multiple sensor product lines at the same time is too burdensome for small and micro sensor companies.
In 2025, China's sensor market will reach 60 billion US dollars! Focusing on the three major fields of medical, industrial and automotive, Tyco Electronics will open up the sensor market with key applications!
We know that Tyco Electronics has greatly expanded its sensor product line through the successive acquisitions of sensor companies such as MEAS and FirstSensor in Germany.
So, why does Tyco Electronics value sensors?
Gong Lingsong said that according to the report released by CCID Consulting, China's sensor market accounts for about 1/4 of the world's market, and China's market size will exceed 60 billion US dollars (about 434.5 billion yuan) by 2025. Sensors are the "five electrical senses" of the physical world, and sensors are inseparable from the collection, > transmission, > analysis and processing, > of data collection in the physical world to intelligent decision-making on the application side. Sensors are helping the rapid development of China's new energy vehicles and photovoltaic energy storage fields, the intelligent, green and high-end development of manufacturing industry, and the localization and high-end development of medical equipment.
Therefore, TE attaches great importance to the overall development of the sensor product line, and expands and complements the existing sensor production line of TE through mergers and acquisitions. Gong Lingsong introduced that Tyco Electronics will focus on sensor products in the three major fields of medical, industrial and automotive.
In recent years, mergers and acquisitions and R&D have focused on these three major areas to form complementary sensor products, enrich the sensor product line, and supply different sensors to the same customer to meet the needs of customer sensor applications.
From Gong Lingsong's introduction, we can learn that the sensor applications of Tyco Electronics are in the medical, industrial, automotive and other fields, which have natural strict requirements for high performance, high stability and high accuracy of the sensor, and it is also a field that many domestic sensor companies are difficult to set foot in.
How does Tyco Electronics tap into these markets?
In the interview, Gong Lingsong repeatedly emphasized that "we must be close to customers, bring the voice of customers, bring customer demand information, and develop and manufacture sensor products that are really needed in the market for customers." ”
In addition, focusing on the three major fields of medical, industrial and automotive, Tyco Electronics develops the market in the way of key applications.
For example, in the industrial field, torque sensors have been developed for the key applications of collaborative robots to monitor the torque during movement in real time, and in the medical field, micro-miniaturized high-performance pressure sensors and temperature sensors have been developed for the key applications of minimally invasive interventional surgery to assist in diagnosis and treatment. That is to say, Tyco Electronics is specific to a certain application, and conducts R&D and innovation of sensor products for the application.
Integrating different sensors into one solution is the advantage and important strategy of sensor giant companies, Gong Lingsong introduced:
"We work with our customers to develop what they need in the next generation? What are the pain points now? By understanding the customer's pain points, we make this type of product to adapt to your application. For example, the more sensors used in an application, the smarter it becomes. However, sensors take up space, and their cost continues to increase as they offer more power or higher performance. As a result, the need for sensor fusion to integrate multiple sensors into a single package or to combine the output data of multiple sensors has emerged. The goal of sensor fusion is to eliminate redundant packaging to minimize system cost. This is also a trend in the development of sensors. ”
As thin as a hair!The industry's first miniature invasive pressure sensor can enter blood vessels and promote the transformation of smart healthcare! How does Tyco Electronics lead the development of the sensing industry?
Gong Lingsong specifically mentioned the miniature pressure sensor that Tyco Electronics will focus on in 2024, how small is it? As thin as a hair, this sensor intuitively demonstrates Tyco's technical strength in the field of sensors.
Currently, most surgical devices do not have a pressure sensor, and in many cases, it is necessary to integrate direct pressure monitoring into any anatomical site, such as brain surgery, cardiovascular surgery, gastrointestinal and renal surgery...... In the past, these could only be judged by the experience of doctors, or with the help of external sensors (which are too large to enter the body), and there are problems such as transmission interference and data delay.
This breakthrough pressure sensor from Tyco Electronics can measure these pressure parameters. The sensor belongs to TE's IntraSense series, which is the industry's first miniature invasive pressure sensor, with a device size of only 750 μm× 220 μm× 75 μm, and is manufactured using MEMS technology.
▲Tyco Electronics' breakthrough ultra-small volume pressure sensor and pencil comparison, source: TE Tyco Electronics
According to reports, in the future, IntraSense series sensors can be applied to minimally invasive medical equipment such as diagnostic catheters, treatment catheters, disposable speculums, biopsy needles, and ablation equipment.
Gong Lingsong commented on this sensor: "In the field of medical devices, minimally invasive devices have the fastest annual growth in recent years, and they also have the greatest potential. Minimally invasive surgery has great benefits for the improvement of patients' psychological, physiological, and quality of life, so minimally invasive medical devices have been vigorously developed in recent years. This FDA-certified sensor is highly accurate, biocompatible, integrable, and photosensitive. Thanks to the superior performance of the IntraSense series, smaller, smarter medical devices can make the surgical process more controllable and patients enjoy better treatment. ”
In the future, Tyco will continue to promote the strategy of miniaturization, integration and low power consumption in the field of medical sensors, and launch more sensing technologies that lead the development of the industry like the IntraSense series of sensors along the strategy.
Tyco has more than 200 engineers in China to promote China's local R&D, local production, and local supply chain strategy!
In recent years, the upsurge of domestic independent research and development has set off, in the field of sensors, many innovative sensor companies have taken the stage, with the support of funds and policies, to increase product development and productivity, how does Tyco Electronics face the competition of domestic independent research and development?
The sensor market is huge, and more companies need to cooperate to develop the market. Gong Lingsong believes that the Chinese market has always been one of the most important strategic markets for Tyco Electronics' sensing business, and Tyco Electronics has been promoting the localization of the industrial chain.
As early as 1995, Tyco Electronics Sensor Division established a Chinese R&D department in Shenzhen, and now, Tyco Electronics has more than 200 sensor R&D engineers in China, which can collect the demand information of domestic enterprises, carry out local R&D, and establish a local supply chain, and produce locally in China, Tyco Electronics has established three production bases in Shenzhen, Chengdu and Suzhou:
- Local R&D and design: Tyco Electronics has a sensor Asia R&D center in Shenzhen. TE attaches great importance to the research, technology development and process research of functional materials, and deeply applies finite element analysis to assist design, and has the ability of new sensor technology innovation and engineering development.
- Local talents: Tyco Electronics has a professional customer service team in China, and has a diversified talent reserve in R&D and operation, which is the output of talents for Tyco Electronics' global business;
- Local manufacturing: Tyco has three advanced sensor manufacturing bases in Shenzhen, Chengdu and Suzhou in China;
- Local supply chain: Tyco works with upstream and downstream partners to build a local supply chain ecosystem to support the development of the Chinese market in a more sustainable way.
- Local customers: TE Electronics' cooperation with customers covers both breadth and depth: in terms of breadth, TE's customers are involved in multiple industries, including multinational companies and start-ups; In depth, TE has cooperated with many customers in the industry for more than 10 years.
It can be seen that from R&D, supply chain to production, Tyco Electronics has established a localized industrial chain in China, which not only promotes the improvement of the domestic sensor industry chain, but also promotes the development of China's sensor industry.
Gong Lingsong also emphasized, "We have worked closely with local sensor companies or system companies. We are also open to deeper cooperation with local companies. We will continue to deepen our efforts in China, grow together with our Chinese partners, and jointly contribute to high-quality development. ”
epilogue
From connectors to sensors, Tyco Electronics continues to enrich the sensor product line and sensing technology through "buying, buying, buying", and interprets the importance of the first connector giant to sensors with practical actions and industrial layout.
At present, Tyco has 8 categories and 32 major sensing technologies, and takes the medical, industrial, and automotive fields as the main layout, in-depth robotics, minimally invasive medical and other key applications, and promotes the research and development of cutting-edge sensor technology in the industry, so as to promote the implementation of emerging industries such as smart medicine. For example, the IntraSense series of sensors mentioned in this article has undoubtedly brought great changes to the medical industry.
From R&D, supply chain to manufacturing, Tyco Electronics' localization industry chain in China has affected the development of China's sensor industry to a certain extent.