As the strength of construction depends on the superiority of the foundation and the efficiency of a chef depends on the purity of base ingredients; in the same way, the quality of a printed circuit board assembly depends on the components that the board is built with. Yes, undoubtedly these little critical pieces are the ones that decide the quality and functionality of a PCB assembly. A circuit board can be rigid or flexible with a varied number of layers, layouts, designs and manufacturing process, but basically, if the components aren’t right, the board assembled will be of no use. Hence, no matter what is being made or manufactured, the primary critical pieces directly contribute towards the success of that product or project. Thus, the importance of a robust supply chain management system comes into the picture here. The whole responsibility of checking the availability of components, their pricing and quality, as well as maintaining healthy supplier relationships lies on the supply chain management team.

An efficient supply chain management can help organizations to not only enhance customer satisfaction by offering better pricing and optimizing the inventory cost but also streamlines logistics and warehousing processes, reduces time to market and aids to achieve agility and responsiveness in meeting customer demands.

However, the challenges to the global supply chain do not seem to be ceasing. In the wake of Covid-19 pandemic, more challenges like factory closures, widespread component shortages, and all-around uncertainty have increased and are likely to remain this way for some more time. Supply chain is not always as easy as it seems and SCM teams do face different roadblocks, which cause manufacturing delays and raise manufacturing costs.

Here are some of the important challenges the electronics manufacturing industry will need to confront to create a more responsive, less risky, and more diversified electronics supply chain system.

1. Availability of the components

It is very important to make sure that the specified components as per the bill of materials are actually available before the design enters production. It is a challenge for SCM to check the availability of the components as they may be discontinued or may be simply out of stock or may have longer lead times that may not match the production schedule.

2.Shorter product lifecycles

Rapid advances in technology and changes in consumer behavior and demand have led to shorter product lifecycles, which in turn create inventory management issues. EMS providers are forced to hold extra inventory to address unexpected customer demand to mitigate the risk of component obsolescence or global supply chain disruptions.

3.Component pricing

Providing competitive pricing is one of the major criteria for achieving customer delight. Different suppliers and distributors sell the same component at different prices due to varied reasons. Hence, the responsibility lies on the SCM team to analyze, choose and procure quality components from approved suppliers at a low price.

4.Quality of the components

SCM team should not only procure components from authorized and approved suppliers but should also make sure that the components meet the required quality standards. Besides, SCM should also set a supplier quality assurance program to make sure that the parts are packed, shipped and handled according to regulatory static and moisture control protocols.

5.Integrity with suppliers

Building a strong and strategic working relationship with the suppliers is a major task for the SCM to be able to work efficiently and come up with a better output in a short period of time. Maintaining integrity with the suppliers is another challenge and the SCM ought to overcome this for getting the required components on time every time.

6.Demand unpredictability

An efficient SCM system heavily banks on accurate demand forecasting. On the contrary, demand unpredictability is an ever-present phenomenon in the electronics industry. Even with the introduction of sophisticated forecasting models and software, demand forecasting remains a complex task and managing these deviations in the forecast is one more challenge for the supply chain team.

Conclusion

Pre-pandemic, the electronics manufacturing industry had very consistent supply chain patterns. But the new normal seems to be a challenge-after-challenge added to an already strained supply chain system. While the supply chain team cannot control unpredictability, capacity, freight, material lead times, etc., they can still control their response to the challenges to mitigate the impact of cost and lead-time risk and ensure to meet the manufacturing schedule.