Posted by Jenny Miller on Tue, Mar 02, 2010 @ 02:06 PM
Finding the right business partner to help your electronic components shortage and EOL situations is critical and can be time consuming. Looking for signs in these three areas will help you move forward with greater confidence.
Area #1 - ISO Certification
ISO Certification is the largest non-governmental producer of system-wide standards for business, government, and societies throughout the world. The standards established for ISO extend to the electronic components world, ensuring that ISO Certified companies are trustworthy business partners.
Make sure that your business partner is ISO 9001:2008 certified, proving they have the most current certification available.
The ISO certification logo look like:
Spotting this on a website is an easy way to see the ISO affiliation of your electronic parts supplier, but you can always ask the question.
ISO certification is a good place to start, but there can be others that impact your electronic components sourcing process as well:
- RoHS compliance - A UK specific standardization for the electronics components industry
- QMI - SAI Global - A third party organization that rigorously evaluates companies to improve their process and pass electronic component industry evaluation. At times, including on the IC Trends website, you'll see their logo revealing an ISO certification that has been processed through them.
In short, make sure that the electronic parts distributor you're leaning on to get your components have trusted third party certification.
Area #2 - Background Check
Even though it sometimes comes down to the last minute, it helps if you can gather information prior to your parts need. With the technology we have at our fingertips, you can spend 30 minutes online and find out some great information about your potential component partner. You can Google their company name to find out where they've been in the news and what's being said about them. If there are groups of people that received counterfeit parts from them, you want to know that.
Another tool any reputable component supplier should give you is a list of references. These references should be able to ask you some basic questions that help you to know if you want to move forward.
• Was their response time adequate and professional?
• Did they provide you with a solid quote at the right price?
• Did the components show up on time?
• Were they the right parts?
• How likely are you to use them again to supply your electronic component needs?
Professional forums and blogs can also be of help. Sites like Electronic Components: Allocation, Lead Times & Shortages , PC's Electronic Component Blog , and Onlinecomponents.comblog can give you great industry information and answer questions about your business partner in question.
Area #3 - Communication Certainty
In a capacitor, diode, resistor or other shortage situation you can spend a lot of time on the phone hammering out the details before you get the chance to vet them completely. There are certain things you can look for to know that your electronic components distributor partner is on the way to getting your parts in place at the eleventh hour. One step is to make sure they have a reasonable next-contact time frame. If you submit an online RFQ you should get a call or email back within 24 hours.
You also want them to be asking great questions so that they can provide you with a great quote, fast. These questions should look like:
• What is the manufacturers part #?
• Can you take a Cross?
• Do you have a date code restriction?
• Do these need to be RoHS Compliant?
• When do you need them on your dock?
• How many?
• Do you have a price history or target price?
If and when a component shortage situation happens you need to have a partner that's part of your team. Although it takes a bit of time and energy to find a dependable component supplier, the pay off is someone you can trust as your business moves forward.
Posted by Jenny Miller on Thu, Jan 28, 2010 @ 03:08 PM
Who to Trust, Where to Find & How to Procure Electronic Components and Obsolete Parts
Navigating the world of electronic components is challenging on a normal day, much less at the eleventh hour when you need parts NOW and don't know where or how to get them. These three strategies for Buying electronic components and managing EOL and obsolscence should help; both in preventing the last-minute shortage and in securing the help you need if, and more likely when, you have inventory supply needs.
Who to Trust for Your Electronic Components
At the end of the day, it's too critical to your business to leave who you are partnered with for your electronics component procurement to chance. Throughout the buying cycle, who you do business with has a huge impact on the achievement of your procurement goals. Having a business partner you can trust creates long term success. You'll want to make sure who you've aligned yourself with an electronics distributor who is able to secure the parts on time, every time. Some great questions to ask of a potential electronics component procurement partner are:
- Are they an ISO 9001:2000 certified vendor?
- You can look at this ISO Certification Directory to verify their certification
- Do you see the ISO logo or even the ISO 9001:2000 certificate on their website?
- Can you trust them?
- Do they have references you can call?
- Google them! What comes up?
- Is there any outside information you can find on electronic components blog or community forums?
- What type of proven track record do they have and how can they showcase it to you?
Where to Find Replacement & Obsolete Parts
You're at the end...you need the parts, and you need them yesterday. Where can you go to find them?
- Find your way to dependable electronic component distributor's part search:
- -Pegasus Electronics
- -E Electronics
- -New Line International
- -IC Trends
- Google your part number, potentially pointing you in direction of some great sources
- Check your part numbers to make sure they aren't obsolete or end of life. If so, see if there's a cross that can sub in for the part that could be easier to find
How to Procure Electronic Components & Stock Inventory
You want to make sure you're find the best part, and the best price, at the best place. You also want to do this in the shortest time possible. Finding that trusted electronic components distributor who has the proven track record and experience will make your life easier. A good electronic components distributor will be able to:
- Provide a searchable online database to find your electronic component
- Be equipped with online RFQ capability
- Help you find possible crosses to your part number if needed
- Ensure quick response - within 24 hours - to update you on your need
- Provide you with competitive pricing
- Have a variety of pricing options, credit/COD terms
- Provide easy access to live procurement specialists to aid your search
- Move forward as a partner to assess and support your entire inventory management cycle
Other Electronic Components Buying Issues
There are many other issues to look at in the component procurement buying cycle, among them the danger of counterfeit components and preventing shortages from the outset. These need space to be unpacked, which will be done in subsequent blogs.
So what do you think? Do you have any tips for other buying and procurement of electronics components? We'd love to hear more. We will be following up this blog with more detail on some of these areas of discussion. Any relevant comments you add here we'll be sure to incorporate into future electronic components blog posts.