4 ways your CEM partner can respond to supply chain disruption

When disruptions to the electronic component supply chain occur they are painful. Lead-times can extend overnight, prices can treble and in some cases, parts are placed on allocation or discontinued altogether. This can leave both Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) and Contract Electronics Manufacturers (CEMs) with limited options when it comes to securing material for production requirements. Unfortunately, right now, the component market is once again in the middle of being disrupted. After several years of slow growth and minimal investment, coupled with a number of significant M&A’s and an increased demand for memory products, the supply chain is once again struggling to keep up. In the last few months more companies have announced extended lead times and products on allocation. The memory sector appears to have been hit the hardest, with all Toshiba products on allocation with a lead time of over three months, and Micron facing similar problems. News outlets and industry sources are also predicting a delay to Apple’s iPhone 8 release due to supply constraints. These concerns amplify the need for CEMs to have practices in place for dealing with supply chain disruption. In this blog, we discuss four ways your CEM partner can mitigate risks to your supply chain.

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