SAN JOSE, Calif. — Malcolm Thompson understands global techno-politics. Back in the day, he led an effort to revive LCD display manufacturing in the U.S. These days most panels are made in Korea and China, but the U.S. did get a strategic piece of the pie. Now Thompson is leading a very different effort to…
Many European companies are working hard to solve their “captive cash” problem, improve their cash-to-cash cycle, and manage their financial and supply chain risk across complex markets and supplier agreements. But the two primary approaches they take—supply chain finance and working capital reduction—result in very different supply chain outcomes. Using supply chain finance or “reverse…
For many engineers and developers working in a hardware startup, getting ideas from paper to prototype can be the rockiest part of the manufacturing process. MacroFab is working to make small-batch manufacturing of printed circuit boards easier and more affordable through the use of what it calls “cloud manufacturing.” “We are eliminating humans as much…
Sustaining Moore's Law A new book authored by Apek Mulay and published by Morgan & Claypool publishers, “Sustaining Moore's Law: Uncertainty leading to a certainty of IoT Revolution ,” (www.ApekMulay.com), presents free market economic solutions for sustaining the progress of today's knowledge based economy. Moore's Law has provided a predictable business model for the semiconductor manufacturing…
London & Tel Aviv, Israel– KKR, a leading global investment firm, announced that it is leading a $42 million growth equity investment in Optimal+, a big data analytics company that provides highly actionable insights to the semiconductor industry. KKR makes its investment alongside the existing lead investors Carmel Ventures and Pitango, two of Israel's most…
For the past few decades, OEMs based in the U.S. have had many good reasons to ship the bulk of their manufacturing and supply chain jobs to other countries in the APAC region. The most compelling reason was that it dramatically reduced costs. Other benefits included less stringent regulations and greater convenience. The massive supply…
Sales and Operations Planning (S&OP) is not a new idea, but many organizations report that their efforts have been less than effective. As the saying goes, though, when you get lemons, it's a good time to make lemonade. That is, rather than a point of failure, S&OP improvement offers an opportunity for great improvement. In…
Nokia Networks, a 150-year-old Finnish company, has forged an incredible record of reinventing itself. Change and evolution have helped Nokia survive for more than a century. A long history of successful change is embedded in today's Nokia Networks supply chain success. To understand the success of Nokia Networks' supply chain operations, it is important to…
MADISON, Wis. — Right now, not many people in the know are willing to bet against the future that includes Ethernet in cars. Yet, angst and confusion continues to swirl around “automotive Ethernet” – whether this refers to the upcoming IEEE 802.3bw standard (also known as 100BASE-T1), the Broadcom-pioneered “BroadR-Reach” spec defined by the OPEN…
Ten months ago, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched his signature Make In India initiative to transform India into a global manufacturing hub. Less than a month later, I released the first book in United States to explore the macroeconomics of global semiconductor business (titled Mass Capitalism: A Blueprint for Economic Revival). With a patriotic…