ATLANTA – A component distributors trade group says an automotive semiconductor shortage was predictable, but solutions are available.

ECIA’s new document on the automotive semiconductor shortage, “The Automotive Semiconductor Shortage – an Accident Waiting to Happen?”, sheds light on some of the reasons for the disruptions in automobile manufacturing globally that have been widely reported recently.

“For the past several decades, the automotive manufacturing industry has driven one of the leanest and most demanding supply chains in the world, especially for electronics,” said David Loftus, president and CEO, ECIA. “Just-in-time manufacturing works great in a steady state environment. Unfortunately, with long lead-time items like semiconductors, when demand is volatile, as it has been in the past 12 months, the accompanying supply chain cannot react instantaneously.”

Fortunately, solutions should become more essential once the current crisis has abated.

“Products that have longer lead-times and large production lot sizes, like semiconductors, need distribution for efficient buffering between the manufacturers and end customers. Clearly, the answer from the electronics industry for high-mix, low-volume customers like those in the automotive industry is the authorized channel for electronics distribution. Supplier-authorized distributors are logistics experts that can aggregate volumes over many customers, efficiently holding and shipping inventory as needed to the broad electronics customer base.”

The paper is available here: https://tinyurl.com/ymq5m8hs.

PCB EAST: The original East Coast technical conference and exhibition! Returning to the Boston suburbs in June 2021! 

• Prev
• Next