-
- News
- Books
Featured Books
- smt007 Magazine
Latest Issues
Current IssueComing to Terms With AI
In this issue, we examine the profound effect artificial intelligence and machine learning are having on manufacturing and business processes. We follow technology, innovation, and money as automation becomes the new key indicator of growth in our industry.
Box Build
One trend is to add box build and final assembly to your product offering. In this issue, we explore the opportunities and risks of adding system assembly to your service portfolio.
IPC APEX EXPO 2024 Pre-show
This month’s issue devotes its pages to a comprehensive preview of the IPC APEX EXPO 2024 event. Whether your role is technical or business, if you're new-to-the-industry or seasoned veteran, you'll find value throughout this program.
- Articles
- Columns
Search Console
- Links
- Events
||| MENU - smt007 Magazine
Supply Chain in Crisis
February 8, 2019 | Nolan Johnson, I-Connect007Estimated reading time: 2 minutes
The ripples start at the very front of the process. The engineering and design teams make choices about the performance characteristics for their project, then select components that fit their performance windows.
Hundreds and even thousands of little choices must be made about which capacitor, resistor, tolerances, materials, and packages; it goes on and on and on. In a traditional design flow, the project team tends to use the parts they already know and have footprints for—maybe a little long in the tooth, but known quantities, after all.
Except these are not traditional times. Component supplies, prices, and lead times are in a great deal of turmoil. The automotive, IoT, and telecommunications sectors are vacuuming components out of the supply chain at a record pace, exerting influences like early obsolescence of older components and more.
With the design completed, the design team passes the bill of materials—including components and the fabricated board, etc.—to the procurement folks. The job is done for the design team, right? Not so fast. Some of those little component decisions—especially the ones to go with a tried-and-true, always-been-there, two-cent passive—may actually be little bombs waiting to go off in that BOM.
Procurement takes over, goes through the BOM line-by-line, and finds all sorts of parts that are no longer able to be sourced through primary suppliers. Those time-honored big-package discretes have gone end of life! Nothing in that size can be found! By the time the buyer finds something that fits the performance specifications, it’s in a 0201 package—but the BOM calls for a 0804.
Now, the procurement team sends two memos: one to the design team to identify the sourcing stalemate, and one to the product manager to tell them the new product introduction schedule is now at risk. Then, procurement makes a flurry of phone calls to try to source parts in non-primary channels, maybe even turning in desperation to grey-market sources.
The problem is even if this crisis gets resolved in procurement, the team still isn’t in the clear. As fast as component availability is changing currently, things aren’t sorted just because the project has moved into manufacturing. Those parts shortages could still arise during manufacturing or between the first and second production runs. No, it isn’t over yet. It seems like it right now, but it’s never over. The repercussions ripple up and down the supply chain at will.
To stay competitive and create long-lived products, design teams need to improve their component selections—and their design skill sets in some cases—to use the parts that will be available long term. They need to pay attention to parts availability in the short term too.
It may begin with the designers—and the designers certainly end up being held accountable to updating the design to keep the product current—but it takes the entire supply chain being in communication to keep everyone informed and in production.
To read the full version of this article, which appeared in the January 2019 issue of SMT007 Magazine, click here.
Suggested Items
Real Time with… IPC APEX EXPO 2024: Magnalytix's Services and Trends in the Electronics Industry
05/10/2024 | Real Time with...IPC APEX EXPOMike Bixenman, president of Magnalytix, explains Magnalytix's services, including third-party validation, test boards, electrical testing, and comprehensive reports. He also discusses emerging trends such as power electronics and reliability. Standards and design improvements also form part of this conversation.
Podcast Review: On the Line with… Designing for Reality
05/09/2024 | Duane Benson, Positive Edge LLCAs a technologist, if I were forced to come up with just one recurring theme that I might call a professional “nemesis,” it would be the difference between theory and reality. A lot of technology we have at our disposal works well in theory but falls short when reality hits. That’s not the only reason I chose to listen to and review On the Line with… Designing for Reality, featuring a series of conversations with ASC Sunstone’s Matt Stevenson, but it certainly helped that the title caught my eye.
EMA Webinar: Next Generation MCAD/ECAD for SOLIDWORKS
05/09/2024 | EMA Design AutomationLearn how the MCAD and ECAD experts at Hawk Ridge and EMA can help you solve your MCAD/ECAD integration challenges with this unique collaboration environment.
Sondrel Awarded New Video Processor ASIC Design and Supply Contract
05/09/2024 | SondrelSondrel, a leading provider of ultra-complex custom chips for leading global technology brands, is pleased to announce that it has won a major ASIC design and supply contract for a next generation, video processing chip.
Connect the Dots: Designing for Reality—The Pre-Manufacturing Process
05/08/2024 | Matt Stevenson -- Column: Connect the DotsI have been working with Nolan Johnson on a podcast series about designing PCBs for the reality of manufacturing. By sharing lessons learned over a long career in the PCB industry, we hope to shorten learning curves and help designers produce better boards with less hassle and rework. Episode 2 deals with the electronic pre-manufacturing process. Moving from CAD (computer-aided design) to CAM (computer-aided manufacturing) is a key step in PCB manufacturing. CAM turns digital designs into instructions that machines can use to actually build the PCB.