U.S. factory activity declined for the fourth straight month in July as weakening demand and ongoing trade anxiety weighed on manufacturers. The nation’s leading factory index, the PMI, fell to its lowest point since 2016, dropping by 0.5 percent to a level of 51.2. “This is the fourth straight month of PMI decline without any…
Editor’s note: This is the first of a two-part series examining how a supply chain planning system model can improve customer service and drive total value creation. Supply chain complexity has increased exponentially over the past several decades because of globalization, consumer demand for increased product customization and the development of multi-functional business processes to…
For better or worse, DRAM and flash memory have considerable influence on the fortunes of the overall semiconductor market. While memory bolstered chip sales in 2017 and 2018, it will likely have a negative impact in 2019, according to IC Insights. The market research firm expects the memory market will decline by 24 percent –…
U.S. factory activity in December plunged to a four-year low as new orders, production and employment declined sharply from November 2018 levels. Even the electronics industry, which struggled to meet component demand for the entirety of last year, abruptly hit the brakes. “Growth appears to have stopped,” a computer and electronics executive told the Institute for…
As the electronics industry plows through calendar Q4, murmurs of uncertainty around 2019 are surfacing. Analysts say there’s a possibility that demand for electronic components will cool in 2019, and tariffs continue to fuel uncertainty throughout the electronics supply chain. “Semiconductor memory ASPs are going to fall. Semiconductor sales are going to decline. The U.S…
The causes, effects and implications of “The Great Component Shortage of 2018” have been thoroughly analyzed. The automotive and IoT industries have been driving unprecedented demand for smaller and more efficient passive electronics, which in turn has stretched lead times for these once- commoditized components to the breaking point. What hasn’t been discussed, however, is the equal…
The pace of reshoring among U.S.-based manufacturers dropped significantly in 2017, according to management consultancy A.T. Kearney, which has been tracking the trend since 2013. After rising to a five-year high in 2016 — in the wake of a U.S. presidential election that paid a lot of attention to manufacturing, job losses and China —…
DRAM supply and demand is so volatile that memory production, prices and availability are often measured separately from other semiconductor products. The electronics industry is currently in the midst of shortages of many critical components. An injunction, which has halted U.S.memory manufacturer Micron Technology from producing certain DRAM and SSD products in China, may press an…
As evidenced by Brexit and the U.S. withdrawal from the Trans-Pacific Partnership, economic nationalism is on the rise. Industries such as electronics have spent decades building and finetuning a vast network of global supply chains. If globalization is facing a backlash — and experts attest that it is — longstanding supply relationships are about to get…
U.S. manufacturing activity in November reached its highest level since February 2015, positioning the industry to close 2016 on a positive note. The Institute for Supply Management’s (ISM) manufacturing index, the PMI, increased by 1.3 percent to reach 53.2 percent in November, the third consecutive month of growth. “We’ve seen this trend of gradual growth…