3 Ways to Ensure Your EMS Provider's Supply Chain is Excellent

Estimated reading time: 4 minutes

As electronic devices become scarcer the chances of counterfeit or non-conforming versions entering your EMS suppliers' inventory increase. So when it comes to the integrity of their chain of suppliers, mitigating the risk of these "suspect" electronic devices is a key priority. This requires investment in an array of inspection tools, trained inspectors, and robust procedures. It's no longer possible to simply rely on a couple of basic checks and, increasingly, combinations of inspection equipment have to be used in order to identify suspect parts.

To help ensure that customers' demands are met, most EMS providers will have some form of contract in place. A simple but effective supply contract would include, at a minimum: agreement on pricing, lead times, batch quantities and any stock commitments.

3. E-business

Every EMS provider will have a chosen mechanism for sharing information electronically with their suppliers. It is becoming increasingly common for EMS companies to utilise electronic procurement processes to request quotes, place orders and even manage invoices with suppliers. The technology underpinning this has moved on massively since the early days of electronic data interchange (EDI) and nowadays a complete electronic interface, from the customer through the EMS provider to the initial supplier, means the information flow can be quick and accurate.

The reasons for the increasing use of E-procurement tools are simple - they cut out unnecessary administration, reduce errors and speed up processing. It is now possible for an EMS supplier to receive a forecast from a customer; raise a purchase order with a supplier; send the purchase order; and receive confirmation of the order in 24 hours using E-RFQ. In the past, these processes would have required a considerable amount of administration and would have taken several days to complete - eating into the originally quoted lead time.

Hopefully, this blog has given you some useful insight into areas to consider when looking into how your EMS supplier approaches their planning, inventory control, and supplier relationships. Once you have discussed these with them, you will be better placed to judge just how robust their supply chain is.

Editor's Note: This article originally appeared on the JJS Manufacturing blog, which can be found here.

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