The Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) is reporting that a growing group of purchasers, including procurement managers in the electronics industry, are increasing their involvement in efforts to collect and share data on environmental risk among their suppliers. Not only has the Electronic Industry Citizenship Coalition (EICC) recently teamed with CDP to increase the number of…
For users, few things are as important on their electronics devices as the display. For mobile devices, touch screens control the device in addition to being the visual center for information. For consumer electronics such as televisions, the display is almost the only thing that matters. Display technologies are not necessarily locked in a battle for…
The electronics companies most likely to be affected by Amazon.com/business — catalog distributors — are not particularly worried about the e-commerce giant’s foray into the b2b components market. Catalog distributors – and electronics distributors in general –have a number of attributes that provide them a competitive advantage in the high-tech industry. “There are distinct complexities…
The potential of the Internet of Things (IoT) as a component-sales driver can’t be understated. Semiconductor manufacturers are working on devices with security featured embedded in silicon to address IoT privacy concerns. Discrete sensors are turning into hybrid devices and new applications such as fingerprint identification are being perfected. Now, cloud-based supply chain solutions such…
Amazon.com’s announcement that it has established a b2b site which, among other supplies, will be selling components has been met with skepticism from a number of decision makers in the electronics supply chain. The main concerns cited by participants in a LinkedIn discussion moderated by ERAI are traceability of parts and the possibility of defects.…
One of the difficulties of environmental policies and corporate social responsibility (CSR) practices is measuring a return on investment (ROI). When such ideas are first pitched, the encouragement for compliance is more about the money you’ll avoid spending on things such as fines than on the rewards you will reap. Some policies, such as RoHS,…
The announcement heralds “convenience, business-only selection and pricing and free two-day shipping.” “Catalog distributor” you say? Nope. Amazon.com/business, which was announced today. In many ways, it’s the distribution industry’s worst nightmare. To date, the esoteric, complex and often-expensive electronics components that engineers use to design high-tech products were sold predominantly directly from suppliers or through…
A purchasing professional serving a PC manufacturer today has very little to complain about. Component supplies are plentiful and prices keep trending in one direction: downward. The latest financial results from Intel Corp. and Advanced Micro Devices Inc., the biggest vendors of PC microprocessors, were dismal – for the chipmakers. At Intel, sales in the…
Discussions regarding counterfeit electronics components almost inevitably come around to finger-pointing: if a bogus part enters the supply chain it is distribution’s fault; or independent distribution’s; or the buyer’s; or a situation that require buyers to go outside the authorized channel; or COTS programs; or an EMS. Original component manufacturers (OCMs) and OEMs are rarely involved in…
Since my company, Lytica Inc., introduced analytics based price prediction for electronic components, many major EMS and OEM companies have saved millions of dollars by applying this technology to their materials spending. As with the disruptive technologies described by Clayton Christenson in The Innovator’s Dilemma, those stuck like deer in the headlights clinging to a…