-
- News
- Books
Featured Books
- smt007 Magazine
Latest Issues
Current IssueBox Build
One trend is to add box build and final assembly to your product offering. In this issue, we explore the opportunities and risks of adding system assembly to your service portfolio.
IPC APEX EXPO 2024 Pre-show
This month’s issue devotes its pages to a comprehensive preview of the IPC APEX EXPO 2024 event. Whether your role is technical or business, if you're new-to-the-industry or seasoned veteran, you'll find value throughout this program.
Boost Your Sales
Every part of your business can be evaluated as a process, including your sales funnel. Optimizing your selling process requires a coordinated effort between marketing and sales. In this issue, industry experts in marketing and sales offer their best advice on how to boost your sales efforts.
- Articles
- Columns
Search Console
- Links
- Events
||| MENU - smt007 Magazine
Four Silver Linings in the Stormy Clouds of Pandemic, Supply Chain, and Inflation
September 14, 2022 | Dr. Ronald C. Lasky, Indium Corp.Estimated reading time: 2 minutes
It may be difficult to see any bright spots in the current economic situation. We have all experienced the devastation of the pandemic, supply chain issues, and most recently, inflation. However, as a senior technologist for an international materials supplier (Indium Corporation) and a professor of engineering at an Ivy League research university (Dartmouth College), I offer these four silver linings for those of us in the electronics industry.
Silver Lining 1: Demand
Because of the pandemic and supply chain issues, there exists an insatiable demand for electronics. Nearly all industries are dependent on electronics. For example, many auto-mobiles are structurally assembled, but are awaiting electronics installation. For example, I’m currently waiting on a Volvo that was ordered in May and is not expected until October; the hold-up is the lack of electronics.
Silver Lining 2: Greater Supply Independence
The shortages during the pandemic and more recent supply chain issues are driving a sense that countries like the United States must be more independent for supply from unstable countries and regions. Most notable, action to support this concern is the recent passage of the CHIPS and Science Act. As in Silver Lining 1, this bill, although controversial in many aspects, will almost certainly lead to more jobs in electronics. I think we will see this independent drive go beyond electronics to pharmaceuticals, machine tools, rare earth metals, and other critical materials and finished products.
Silver Lining 3: STEM Education
Not only will the United States need more engineers and technicians to develop and manufacture semiconductors and other high technology products like electrical vehicles, but the world has also seen how much supply chain challenges affect our lives. More scientists and engineers will be needed to improve the operations, transportation, and final delivery of the goods we all need to prosper in the 21st century. All these needs will be a boon to STEM education.
Silver Lining 4: Inflation
We have all suffered from inflation, mild at first and rampant now. It appears that much of the inflation is driven by the cost of fossil fuels. These high costs drive not just transportation, but fertilizer prices, food, construction—almost everything. This is where electronics can come to the rescue. Electronics are one of the few consumer products we purchase that historically come down in price. I was recently shopping and saw a 70-inch flat panel TV for less than $700. Just a few years ago, that TV would have cost about $2,000.
Conclusion
The United States and the rest of the world still have multiple challenges ahead, including supply and staff shortages, wars, and unrest. But with the near insatiable need for ever-increasing high-performing electronics, those of us in this vital industry are blessed indeed.
This article originally appears in the September 2022 issue of SMT007 Magazine.
Ronald C.?Lasky is an instructional professor?of engineering?for the Thayer School of Engineering at Dartmouth College, and senior technologist at Indium Corporation.?Dr. Lasky is also an I-Connect007 columnist who contributes to SMT007 Magazine. To visit his columnist page,?click here.?
Download The Printed Circuit Assembler’s Guide to… Solder Defects by Christopher Nash and Dr. Ronald C. Lasky. You can also view other titles in our full I-007eBooks library.
Suggested Items
AIM to Highlight NC259FPA Ultrafine No Clean Solder Paste at SMTA Wisconsin Expo & Tech Forum
04/18/2024 | AIMAIM Solder, a leading global manufacturer of solder assembly materials for the electronics industry, is pleased to announce its participation in the upcoming SMTA Wisconsin Expo & Tech Forum taking place on May 7 at the Four Points by Sheraton | Milwaukee Airport, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
Hentec/RPS Publishes an Essential Guide to Selective Soldering Processing Tech Paper
04/17/2024 | Hentec Industries/RPS AutomationHentec Industries/RPS Automation, a leading manufacturer of selective soldering, lead tinning and solderability test equipment, announces that it has published a technical paper describing the critical process parameters that need to be optimized to ensure optimal results and guarantee the utmost in end-product quality.
Empowering Electronics Assembly: Introducing ALPHA Innolot MXE Alloy
04/16/2024 | MacDermid Alpha Electronics SolutionsIn the rapidly evolving electronics industry, where innovation drives progress, MacDermid Alpha Electronics Solutions is committed to setting a new standard. Today, we are pleased to introduce ALPHA Innolot MXE, a revolutionary alloy meticulously engineered to address the critical needs of enhanced reliability and performance in modern electronic assemblies.
New Book on Low-temperature Soldering Now Available
04/17/2024 | I-Connect007I-Connect007 is pleased to announce that The Printed Circuit Assembler’s Guide to… Low-temperature Soldering, Vol. 2, by subject matter experts at MacDermid Alpha Electronics Solutions, is now available for download.
Inkjet Solder Mask ‘Has Arrived’
04/10/2024 | Pete Starkey, I-Connect007I was delighted to be invited to attend an interactive webinar entitled “Solder Mask Coating Made Easy with Additive Manufacturing,” hosted by SUSS MicroTec Netherlands in Eindhoven. The webinar was introduced and moderated by André Bodegom, managing director at Adeon Technologies, and the speakers were Mariana Van Dam, senior product manager PCB imaging solutions at AGFA in Belgium; Ashley Steers, sales manager at Electra Polymers in the UK; and Dr. Luca Gautero, product manager at SUSS MicroTec Netherlands.