U.S. manufacturing experts say when it comes to China, trade and tariffs, industries such as electronics should keep their eye on the long game. “The [Trump] administration is playing a larger chess game than it is given credit for,” said Tom Derry, CEO of the Institute for Supply Management. “It’s not just about aluminum and…
Despite the best efforts of component makers, distributors and equipment manufacturers, counterfeit electronics still enter the supply chain. Counterfeiting has cost the semiconductor industry as much as $7.5 billion related to brand damage, product replacement and repairs, according to the Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA). No single solution has evolved that definitively combats counterfeiting in electronics.…
There’s a phenomenon that’s been discussed a lot in recent weeks that goes something like this: In spite of incontrovertible evidence that a statement or fact is true, people disregard the evidence and hold fast to their original but incorrect belief. (It’s one way that researchers are explaining the current U.S. presidential election.) We’ve also…
The ubiquitous labels that accompany electronics shipments are more complicated than most people imagine. Barcodes on these labels are packed with standard information such as the manufacturer of the product and part number. However, many parties along the supply chain – raw materials suppliers, component manufacturers, distributors, sub assemblers and end-customers—want unique information in barcodes…
The alphabet soup that is part of counterfeit-avoidance is difficult enough; poring through the available standards almost requires a scorecard. The ECIA has done some of the work for the industry in comparing the final rule from the Defense Acquisition Regulations System (DFARS), which added. section 252.246-7007 Contractor Counterfeit Electronic Part Detection and Avoidance System;…
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…
Columbus, Ohio – Battelle today announced Barricade™, a new technology that eliminates the risk of counterfeit integrated circuits in devices for aerospace and defense systems, critical infrastructure, medical devices and other essential systems. Barricade provides fast, non-destructive authentication of electronic components from both trusted and untrusted sources, enabling separation of cloned or counterfeit components from authentic ones…
The electronics industry urgently needs an energetic components exchange program to help address an inventory imbalance that is distorting the supply chain and resulting in the wastage of parts valued in excess of $20 billion annually, says a top industry executive. While some companies are implementing programs for helping customers individually address the problem it…
If the supply chain could cobble together a worst-case scenario in counterfeit components, it would read a lot like the case of Hao Yang. Yang, a Chinese national, was prosecuted earlier this year as a co-conspirator in a scheme to sell counterfeit ICs to the U.S. military. Details of the case, outlined on the Immigration…
In the semiconductor industry, “blacktopping” doesn’t mean paving roads or sealing cracks in an old driveway; it’s resurfacing a semiconductor component to display new information such as date codes. Unfortunately, blacktopping is getting a bad rap because counterfeiters use this practice as a way to disguise devices as “real” when, in fact, they are the product…