Electronics Supply Chain: Component Obsolescence

For many electronic component manufacturers and purchasers component obsolescence continues to be a major issue. Continuous efforts are required to mitigate this issue.

For many in the electronics industry keeping up with the pace requires continuous effort and planning. The industry moves at a fast clip; a rate of change which increases as you get closer to the consumer end of the market. This results in short consumer product lifecycles, which in turn results in component obsolescence.

Many of the markets we work with have long life cycles, so components with short life cycles present a real issue to their operation. This affects markets such as medical, military, aerospace, and telecommunications. If components become unavailable, a redesign – often costly – may be needed. Most industries will have to combat the challenge of component obsolescence at some point and many are now putting the onus on their electronics suppliers to forward think a strategy for their project life span.

Another driving factor of this issue is consolidation – when an electronic supplier is bought out by another supplier they sometimes decide to cull some of the product lines to eliminate product redundancy. Research firm IHS estimates that about 4,270 product discontinuance notices will go out in 2017.

Component obsolescence also has other consequences, which can prove trying for those involved in the electronics supply chain. The most worrying consequence being Counterfeit components that can results in vulnerability and risk. Counterfeits affect all segments of the market and many precautions should be taken if you suspect any suspicion of counterfeiting – a future blog article for another time perhaps?

How does UK Electronics overcome component obsolescence you may be wondering? It’s not an easy task but we’re dedicated to finding the right solutions for our clients. At the forefront of this are our continuous efforts to stay up to date on the status of components. Having a proactive, comprehensive, component obsolescence process is key to meeting our customer’s needs.

It is likely that the electronic component supply chain will continue to experience considerable strain with some major disruption throughout 2018 so mitigation of component obsolescence must remain a key focus. If you’re looking for a high quality electronic assembly manufacturer that is continuously mitigating the issues surrounding the electronic component supply chain the please contact us today.