Mary E. Shacklett is an internationally recognized technology commentator and President of Transworld Data, a marketing and technology services firm. Prior to founding her own company, she was Vice President of Product Research and Software Development for Summit Information Systems, a computer software company; and Vice President of Strategic Planning and Technology at FSI International, a multinational manufacturer in the semiconductor industry.
Mary has business experience in Europe, Japan, and the Pacific Rim. She has a BS degree from the University of Wisconsin and an MA from the University of Southern California, where she taught for several years. She is listed in Who's Who Worldwide and in Who's Who in the Computer Industry.
In February 2016, Euractiv Germany expressed concern about the ever shorter product life cycles of electronic appliances and devices. They argued that the continuous stream of new appliances and devices into the marketplace was unnecessary, since consumers were still satisfied with the products that they had. Worse, growing numbers of discarded electronic devices and appliances…
In August 2017, Wally Johnson, vice president of finance at Firstronic, a contract manufacturer that produces electronic modules for automakers and tier one suppliers, wrote about the storm brewing in the automotive electronics supply chain. “Industry professionals are seeing lead times on ‘passives’ — electronic components such as resistors, capacitors, inductors and transformers — stretch…
Legally, companies can be subject to strict liability if the products they furnish to consumers do not meet the expectations for ordinary use that consumers have. In other words, even if you are as diligent as you can possibly be in component checkouts, you can still be strictly liable for products that neither you nor…
Printed circuit boards (PCBs) are the heart and soul of many electronic devices, but the complexity of PCB design, procurement, and manufacturing processes creates many opportunities for failure issues. In addition, organizational silos that exist between design engineering, manufacturing engineering, and procurement can exacerbate these risks. “I saw this problem early in my career,” said…
This month, Apple announced that it would no longer use the GPU core technologies that have been an integral part of its phones and tablets produced by Imagination Technologies Group. The news negatively impacted Imagination, and there are some industry analysts who don't expect Imagination to survive much longer as an independent company. “I…
When asked about their supply chain challenges, electronics companies list globalization, commoditization, rapid product obsolescence, and supply and demand volatility as ever-present factors. However, they also say pricing and logistics optimization are major impediments to supply chain optimization. This sense of excessive logistics spending is corroborated in a 2016 survey by Deloitte and Material Handling,…
The ability of a break-through technology like blockchain deliver unprecedented possibilities for supply chain reform in electronics and other industries. It has the capacity to securely chronologize and record not only trade and currency flows but virtually any business process or documentation. In fourth quarter, 2016, 31% of 400 executives surveyed by EfT said that…
Theft of intellectual property is a growing problem, particularly in the electronics industry. Awareness of the problem and strategic action, though, can help manufacturers get a handle on the problem. In 2013, the Commission on the Theft of American Intellectual Property delivered a report on IP theft which concluded that “the scale of international theft…
The semiconductor industry works on razor-thin margins, so any improvement in chip quality and yield is critical to making a profit. The same chips are inserted into a myriad of boards, sensors and other electronic devices, and are integral to supply chain performance and customer order fulfillment in electronics. “During 2016, we used our analytics…
3D printing is becoming more than just a buzz word, becoming a key technology in a variety of business scenarios. Now, electronics OEMs are exploring how technologies like 3D printing be used in the production of printed circuit boards and/or circuit board components. By using 3D printing, companies can make a physical object from a…