News: Rochester Electronics
Semiconductor Supply - New Year, New Possibilities
In this interview Stephen Morris, General Manager EMEA, Rochester Electronics, answers questions on the impact of the pandemic in the last year and how it has transformed their business. What challenges did the electronics industry face and how businesses can prepare themselves for the new possibilities…
Did the pandemic bring in any new opportunities?
Though the Global pandemic was by far one of the biggest challenges that many businesses had to tackle, we did see a positive impact on our business. One of the major positives was with our ecommerce business where we saw a huge increase in online sales. We expanded our ecommerce team, enhanced our systems, streamlined our processes to deliver first-class customer service that our clients have come to expect from us.
What transformational changes were adopted in your business in the last two years, and will you continue with any changes? The coronavirus (COVID-19) crisis has completely shifted the way we live and work. Now with life slowly returning to normal we have introduced a hybrid model where our staff split their time between the physical workplace and home. We have taken all necessary steps to ensure the safety of our workforce, from office cleanliness to updated processes to handle different situations that could be caused by COVID-19 related incidents.
We have updated our travel and meeting policies where we actively monitor and adhere to the latest travel guidance from the local government to ensure the safety of employees and customers.
What’s your take on the global component shortages affecting the supply chain and how has your company addressed this issue?
Supply issues in the last two years have undermined the normal delivery
4 December/January 2022
certainties. COVID related manufacturing, shipping disruptions and even unexpected natural disasters have led to supply chain uncertainty and lengthening lead-times. Component Discontinuation notices have risen by 15% over the same period, as 3rd party fab priorities have changed, and the industry refocuses its fab investments to address a lower powered battery dominated landscape. The current semiconductor market shortages are widespread.
Rochester Electronics’ focus on providing a continuous source of semiconductors aligns strongly with the long lifecycle requirements of equipment manufacturers. Rochester provides 100% authorised stock of active and end-of-life (EOL) devices from over 70 leading semiconductor manufacturers. Fundamentally in times of shortage and increased obsolescence, Rochester is well positioned to support customers in these times of need and that is exactly what we have been doing by shipping more than 1bn products in the last year.
What are your thoughts on counterfeit components entering the supply chain due to supply issues, and what safeguarding measures can be put in place? Lean supply chains have met a demand upswing and supply constraints, all market sectors are affected.
The customer is under a huge amount of pressure to guarantee supply, and typically grey market or unauthorised sources are seen as the only solution. The counterfeit business is huge and sell through these grey market channels to infiltrate into the end customers. When times are tight, and
Components in Electronics
Stephen Morris, General Manager EMEA, Rochester Electronics
products are not available then the risk of an end customer becoming a victim of counterfeit product increases significantly. Yes, there are testing and checks that can be done to ensure the products are genuine, but these take time and are costly to perform and, in some cases, still not fully guaranteed.
The only way to ensure genuine product is to buy from an authorised source where you are absolutely guaranteed the pedigree of the devices.
Authorised suppliers like Rochester Electronics offer risk-free sourcing, and the only real safe option to keeping customer’s production lines operational during shortages, allocation, and obsolescence.
What’s your advice to businesses in the New Year?
Today when unpredictability is an accepted norm, I believe businesses should prepare and protect themselves from supply chain disruption. They need to adopt alternative forward thinking sourcing methods to guarantee continued semiconductor supply and by partnering with an authorised supplier like Rochester Electronics these businesses will then gain the security of consistent longevity of supply that they so badly need.
To find out more about Rochester Electronics, visit:
www.rocelec.com
www.cieonline.co.uk
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