U.S. manufacturing activity cooled a bit in November as a resurgence in Covid-19 cases pressured factory employment and production levels. The Institute for Supply Management’s PMI declined by 1.8 percent — to 57.5 — from October’s level of 59.3. Although workforce limitations are being felt across the supply chain, the PMI remains above 50, indicating…
Though the holidays are considered “peak season” for parcel shipping every year, unprecedented increases in e-commerce look to bring a new level of intensity in 2020. According to a recent report from Salesforce, businesses relying on parcel shipping face a likely capacity crunch this holiday season. Covid-19 transformed the holiday landscape Although the Covid-19 pandemic hit retail hard, not all retailers have struggled.…
The electronics supply chain faces more challenges than usual, so companies are reassessing all aspects of their business to maintain resilience. Supply chain partners can reduce these difficulties through strategic planning. Here are some of the most pressing challenges, and some remedies. The Covid-19 pandemic As the world grappled with the Covid-19 pandemic, the electronics…
Covid-19 created a host of problems for the supply chain logistics and management industry. Businesses have come to realize with little time to prepare how important it is to have a substantive strategy for withstanding rapid and drastic change. Strengthening your supply chain to withstand this change requires keeping in mind the various challenges and…
About eight months after the Covid-19 virus pandemic accelerated around the world—causing lockdowns in many countries and driving the global economy into a deep recession—sales of optoelectronics, sensors and actuators, and discrete semiconductors have stabilized. In some cases, revenues have begun showing signs of a slight recovery in the second half of 2020, which is…
The ongoing Covid-19 crisis has brought disruption and presented new challenges across every industry. For the electronics manufacturing sector, there are dozens of challenges that accompany the “new normal”—from remote work and stay-at-home orders, to travel restrictions and supply chain complexities. Although businesses have had to rapidly pivot and completely transform their operational standards to…
It would be hard to overstate the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on organizations of practically every type. Industries that were prospering until last year are in bankruptcy now. Customer demand for a wide range of consumer goods has abruptly shifted. Countless public institutions and nonprofit organizations which had been viable until the beginning of…
The supply chain is the backbone of modern business, and it faces some unprecedented changes these days. Supply chain managers have faced an unusually extreme set of challenges amid Covid-19. These difficulties will transform the industry as the pandemic continues and eventually subsides. These ongoing changes will be beneficial, ultimately leading to more resilient supply…
The global coronavirus has upended many of the metrics used to forecast supply, demand, economic activity and financial stability. Two electronics associations – the IPC and ECIA – report electronics markets are recovering, but forward momentum is decelerating. “The economy improved over the last month, but it is clear that momentum is slowing and future…
Machine learning (ML) is positioned to solve a range of supply chain challenges today, but commercializing ML applications lags behind research. Businesses that stand to gain from ML solutions are helping accelerate that process. Last week, MIT’s Computer Science Artificial Intelligence Lab (CSAIL) research alliance launched, via webinar, MachineLearningApplications@CSAIL to develop applications for the latest…