After a significant cool down last month, the U.S. manufacturing industry bounced back in November with growth in new orders, production and employment. Overall, U.S. production has been expanding for 27 consecutive months, although manufacturers tapped the brakes in October. The nation’s leading production index, the Institute for Supply Management’s PMI, increased 1.6 percentage points…
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…
Editor’s Note: Welcome to AspenCore’s Special Project on Tesla. This article, along with the articles listed at the bottom of the page, looks at Tesla’s manufacturing and supply chain woes and the long road to a Tesla Model 3. Electric vehicle (EV) start-up Tesla has disrupted the electronics supply chain, but not in the way the…
U.S. manufacturers that rely on access to electronic components are on the brink of not being able to fulfill their customers’ orders. But manufacturing is still humming: The Institute for Supply Management’s leading factory index, the PMI, increased by 1.4 percent in May to 58.7. However, comments from the computer and electronics sector indicate OEMs…
In line with our strategy to build out our value-added service proposition, Electrocomponents plc is pleased to announce that it has reached agreement to acquire IESA, a leading provider of value-added services to industrial customers for a cash consideration of £88 million. Acquisition of leading corporate MRO(1) marketplace provider of value-added services Significantly enhances the…
Electronics component shortages are now so severe that some OEMs believe their growth for 2018 could be stymied if they are unable to get parts. “We have not missed deliveries yet, but we are on the edge,” said George Whittier, COO at manufacturing and engineering services provider The Morey Corp. “Shutting down one of our…
Symmetry Electronics, a leading global distributor of wireless and video technologies, has moved its inventory warehouse from Los Angeles, CA to Fort Worth, TX. to consolidate distribution operations with the TTI family of companies. The move allows Symmetry to better accommodate customers with expanded inventory and improved warehouse capacity. Symmetry is excited to share TTI’s…
For decades, U.S.-based electronic component distributors’ global growth strategy was acquisition. Beginning with the EU, American distributors acquired foreign competitors to establish themselves in a geographic market. The same is true for Asia-Pacific, and acquisitions there will likely continue. For foreign distributors entering the Americas the trend has been different. While there have been acquisitions—by…
Although the electronics supply chain has been dancing around the issue of double ordering for several quarters, a recent Morgan Stanley report finds there’s been a “significant uptick” in double ordering that has extended component lead times even further. Evidence of double ordering also has analysts questioning the sustainability of the current component-demand upcycle. “To…
Significant change is coming to the manufacturing arena. As artificial intelligence, the industrial IoT and the smart factory begin to transform production, Intel Corp. is gauging the impact such technologies will have on manufacturing and the supply chain — and the humans that oversee these complex operations. The benefits of smart factories are many: autonomous…