Since the harnessing of static electricity and the
understanding of its production and ultimately useful storage, inventors have been refining the ways in
which we can advance technology. Currently, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company
(TSMC) believes
their semiconductor processing plant will be mass producing 5nm process transistors by 2020. (Smaller transistors are preferred
worldwide because they allow their “switch” to be reset more quickly, allowing
faster data exchange. With a human hair around 75,000nm in diameter and a red
blood cell 6,000nm in diameter, 5nm is thus phenomenally small.) The pace of
change is incredible and as technology advances, the human element becomes the
limiting factor – from iterative design through to simple things like shipping
and delivery.
When Arrow
Electronics was founded in 1935 in New York City the company was focused on
repairing radios, with components that were often as
large as your fist. At this stage obsolescence didn’t
really exist as a concept outside of the horse/automobile dynamic and certainly
not in electronics. Televisions didn’t exist as a massive commercial venture
and transistor development only started to make large advances in the mid-20th
century.
Today, in
stark contrast, the electronics supply chain is one of the largest and most
automated industries on the planet, worth hundreds of billions of dollars. The top 25 distributors are valued
at over $85bn in annual sales. Many
hundreds of companies are franchised to distribute components for original component
manufacturers (OCMs), while many thousands more exist in the non-franchised
space (concepts explained in my previous blog). With this huge spread of
technology and massive choices in supply partners, there is a similarly massive
opportunity for nefarious organisations to exploit even the most sensitive
supply chains. So who can you trust? When we layer onto this enormous market the
knowledge that several well-respected experts place, the consequences of counterfeit
electronics at up
to 8% of the global market, we start to see larger issues with trust and
supply-chain security.
Experts
exist across the market in avoiding counterfeits. Standards bodies such as SAE International, IDEA, and government agencies like UK MOD and US DOD can advise on best practices and offer
certification, but in reality only some distributors are adhering to them.
Of course,
not every independent distributor is the same,
and as with any industry, some are better able to absorb the cost, logistics,
and time commitments needed to adhere to stringent certification requirements.
For example, test and inspection commitments are a significant factor when considering
partners in your supply chain. What level is appropriate for your customers,
though?
Selecting
suppliers who have deep investments in x-ray fluorescence (XRF – the measurement
and determination of the composition of materials), x-rays (the non-destructive
testing of components to confirm internal characteristics), and decapsulation (the
destructive testing of components to confirm internal characteristics)
technologies in-house is advisable, but this restrains your breadth of choice.
Our own quality and compliance expert Dwight Gerardi penned an excellent series of blogs detailing our capabilities; this is
an excellent place to start when evaluating future suppliers and partners.
Ultimately,
deciding which level of testing, certification, and security in your supply
chain is appropriate for your customer base is something that will be unique to
every company. However, in an increasingly risk-averse industry, how much of
your brand capital could be lost in choosing the wrong partner?
To
understand more about industry best practices, or anything covered in our Converge
blog series, please reach out directly. I’m delighted to hear from you at
rob.picken@converge.com
Keep
innovating!
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