Dream Cargo: Inspection-Free Shipment - Douglas Alexander on EBN

Your company's cargo can ship anywhere worldwide without inspection delays, but it requires a level of trust and technology enablement.

Procurement Strategies: Follow-Up Reminders - Douglas Alexander on EBN

We all need reminders from time-to-time. It tightens up business and helps avoid time-critical information vacuums.

Design Practices: Good 'Specmanship' for Optimal Cost - Douglas Alexander on EBN

The formula for success in engineering is to design products that offer optimal cost and yield after meeting all specifications.

Managing Procurement Risks - Douglas Alexander on EBN

There are best-practices that can help identify and avoid problems in advance of a catastrophic procurement mishap. Here are some examples.

Building the Efficient Supply Chain - Douglas Alexander on EBN

Any action that can speed up any portion of the supply chain will increase the efficiency of the entire operating network.

Procurement Functions a PC Cannot Perform - Douglas Alexander on EBN

The best procurement strategy is to never take humans out of the purchasing operations. That will take a company right over a cliff.

Reverse Supply Chain & Our Shared Values - Douglas Alexander on EBN

A strong reverse supply chain not only helps to improve operations, but it can also reduce costs and add bragging rights.

Critical Skills for Today's Components Engineer - Douglas Alexander on EBN

The component engineer is an important member of a company's supply chain. Cultivating and educating them should be a priority.

Leveraging Supplier Sample Parts for Design Efficiency - Douglas Alexander on EBN

Getting the most from your new part or sample part system entails best-practices management procedures. Do you have one?

Save Those Failed Components - Douglas Alexander on EBN

Valuable information is lost when the same components keep failing without being saved for further investigation.

China, Solar Power & the Supply Chain - Douglas Alexander on EBN

China is subsidizing solar panel production and hurting other vendors, but the US can still find ways to extract value from the industry.

Calibrating for Product Integrity - Douglas Alexander on EBN

A design is only as good as the actual measurements can confirm, but the integrity of the process depends also on the equipment used.

Reshoring the US Economy - Douglas Alexander on EBN

The possibility exists that many US companies may move some manufacturing operations back home from China as its labor costs rise.

Simplifying Design & Supply Risks - Douglas Alexander on EBN

The shorter the supply chain, the more manageable it is, but this length is often determined by strategies implemented in the design operation.

Where Are the Chinese Buyers? - Douglas Alexander on EBN

China needs to extricate itself from the investment and export-driven growth model, and develop into a consumption-led economy.

The Art of Concurrent Engineering - Douglas Alexander on EBN

The discipline of concurrent engineering allows manufacturers to involve stakeholders early to ensure smooth and efficient production.

Robotic Revolution - Douglas Alexander on EBN

Robots could be the new top-level worker in tomorrow's factory, driving down operating costs and raising production efficiency.

An Ounce of Review, A Ton of Cure - Douglas Alexander on EBN

Design engineers are vital to product development, but manufacturing success requires the early involvement of the component engineer.

Building the 'Ideal' Supply Chain - Douglas Alexander on EBN

The ideal supply chain is not a transplant but must be specific to a product or organization and flexible for unexpected developments.

Greater Role Seen for RFID in Supply Chain - Douglas Alexander on EBN

RFID will soon have an expanded role in the supply chain, and evolving battery technology is fueling this development.

Logistics Acronyms: Are You Confused Enough? - Douglas Alexander on EBN

The logistics industry is filled with enough challenges for the multi-country shipper. Acronyms have only made it worse.

Tracking the Disruptions of Technology Convergence - Douglas Alexander on EBN

Technology innovations have advanced to the point where many products are converging and opening even more opportunities for developers.

Will US-China Trade Reform Put Technology at Risk? - Douglas Alexander on EBN

If products like microprocessors, microcontrollers, and other advanced components are exported with reduced restrictions, then we may be inadvertently giving up some of our core technologies in ...

Technology Transfer Fuels Counterfeiting - Douglas Alexander on EBN

Stopping counterfeiting has been made more difficult by technology transfer and the availability of sophisticated cloning systems.

Anti-Counterfeiting DNA Marking Gets a Boost - Douglas Alexander on EBN

The practice of marking goods with DNA is headed for ubiquitous adoption across many industry sectors, especially in electronics.

ZigBee Transforms the Supply Chain - Douglas Alexander on EBN

Any new technology, such as the ZigBee wireless protocol, can breathe new life into supply chain best-practices.

Design for Manufacturing - Douglas Alexander on EBN

When it comes to choosing a contract manufacturer, forewarned is forearmed.

Design-for-Assembly Is Crucial to Design Success - Douglas Alexander on EBN

When products are being designed, the engineers must also consider product characteristics beyond functions, user interfaces, appearances, or operating conditions.

Improve the Supply Chain? Learn From Home Refinance - Douglas Alexander on EBN

A home refinance experience sheds light on how the supply chain can get quicker and more secure.

Counterfeiting as an Art Form - Douglas Alexander on EBN

Imagine the counterfeiter's pride as he manages to reverse engineer and duplicate an Intel processor requiring millions of transistors with multilayer interconnects.

Design-for-Test: Product Lifesaver - Douglas Alexander on EBN

A straightforward approach to test methodologies today will save heartache tomorrow.

Apple iPad: iThink iWon't Upgrade - Douglas Alexander on EBN

There aren't a lot of compelling reasons to upgrade from today's iPad, or other devices for that matter.

Trade Secrets for Sale - Douglas Alexander on EBN

Recent government reports tell us that North America is losing a fortune to IP theft, much of it involving China.

Houston, We Have a Supply Chain Problem - Douglas Alexander on EBN

How can you describe danger in the supply chain? One word: VACUUM.

DropTag: A Logistics Dream Come True - Douglas Alexander on EBN

It's been almost impossible to pinpoint product damage during shipment - until now.

RFID Sparks New Supply Chain Demand - Douglas Alexander on EBN

RFID makes it possible not only to increase the quantity and types of products streaming through the supply chain, but also to build higher-level products and services.

Fight Counterfeiting With Handheld DNA Sequencing - Douglas Alexander on EBN

We used to think it might be two to four years before a portable DNA sequencer might become available. Suddenly, it's here and affordable.

Games, Grandkids & the Supply Chain - Douglas Alexander on EBN

Games can teach kids a lot about life; so too can we learn about the supply chain from them.

22-Fold Rise Predicted for M2M Devices by 2016 - Douglas Alexander on EBN

Machine-to-machine technology is growing so rapidly that one report says there could be 10 billion connected devices by 2016. That's a big market opportunity.

30,000 Drones May Watch Americans by 2020 - Douglas Alexander on EBN

It’s reasonable to assume that tens of thousands of drones are coming soon to a neighborhood near you. How will they affect your privacy?

14 Key Considerations for the Winning Design - Douglas Alexander on EBN

Generally speaking, the more thoroughly a manufacturing team develops a design concept, and the more qualified the thought process involved, the more likely the end product's success in ...

Design Tradeoffs that Make Financial Sense - Douglas Alexander on EBN

In response to my last article, 14 Key Considerations for the Winning Design , a reader named Waqasaltaf made the following statement with regard to design considerations:

EU Rallies REACH Enforcement Troop - Douglas Alexander on EBN

In a series of articles on the Registration, Evaluation, and Analysis of Chemicals (REACH) published by myself and others for EBN and Velocity, there has been much information provided for ...

Strategies for using Third-Party Programming - Douglas Alexander on EBN

When a company moves into volume production, the part-inventory requirements increase both in quantity and aggregated value. Some of the parts used are off-the-shelf components, while others are custom, or ...

Rising REACH Compliance Costs may Force Rethinking - Douglas Alexander on EBN

To date, there are a total of 84 chemical listings on the Substances of Very High Concern (SVHC) candidate list. The last thirteen additions were all carcinogenic, mutagenic, ...

ITAIDE: Toward Safer, More Secure Supply Chains - Douglas Alexander on EBN

It's commonsense that the more one repeatedly does the same thing to complete a single task, the longer the job is going to take. If it were possible ...

Six Degrees of Counterfeiting Detection & Prevention - Douglas Alexander on EBN

In one of the recent articles I wrote, there was a comment regarding document security and embedded RFID tags. The questions related to how the recipient would know ...

Voice Control Powering Distribution Efficiency - Douglas Alexander on EBN

Back in the 1980s, I was on a supplier audit mission and requested a review of a distributor's warehouse system. I was taken to the back of a very large ...

Why a Regular Inventory Audit is Critical for Success - Douglas Alexander on EBN

In most manufacturing companies a hands-on, manual inventory audit is taken at least once a year and is therefore referred to as the "annual physical inventory." ...

Strengthening the Weakest Link: Security - Douglas Alexander on EBN

When you absolutely need an overnight shipment from overseas, it can be difficult to know when you'll actually get the ordered goods.

The Raw Power of the RFQ Process - Douglas Alexander on EBN

Way back before there was software for generating request-for-quotes (RFQs), there were blank ledger forms. These were multiple row and columnar pages in a paper binding that could ...

Star TRECs for the Supply Chain - Douglas Alexander on EBN

I just returned from a two-week vacation in which I had to engage several airlines to get to my destination. I noticed something has changed with the Transportation Security ...

Aboard the Tech Express - Douglas Alexander on EBN

Two weeks ago, Governor Jerry Brown signed a bill to allow driverless, autonomous cars on California roads by 2015. Google (Nasdaq: GOOG) has logged hundreds of thousands of driverless miles using ...

Leveraging the Raw Power of RFQ - Douglas Alexander on EBN

Way back before there was software for generating requests for quotes (RFQs), there were blank ledger forms. These multiple row and columnar pages in a paper binding could be ...

After reading Bolaji Ojo's article, Illusions of 'Conflict-Free' Minerals, I wanted to understand how this issue might be tackled head-on and what technology could come into play to ...

What can I do as a purchasing agent for a small company to ensure I will not get counterfeit or used components from an electronics parts broker? This wasn't ...

Raise your hand if you recycle. This means you are creating what is known as separate waste. Its pickup and retrieval is called separate collection. Plastic goes in ...

In the olden days, secret documents and important papers and envelopes were sealed with hot wax that had been embossed with the author's signature or signet ring. This seal not ...

Every once in a while, you find a company that is not high-tech or Web-based and whose products are not downloadable. Most people are familiar with the term "brick and ...

Sustaining one industry can result in the depletion of another. Maintaining a balanced supply against a balanced demand is a counterintuitive concept. Manufacturers want a higher demand than current ...

What will be the next really big business opportunity? I wrote recently about 3D printers. If you already own an inkjet or laser printer, you know how aggravating and ...

Technology is moving forward so rapidly that if you blink once, you will miss some significant advances. I am amazed at the products coming via convergence. As each new product is ...

Probably one of the best efforts in the world for managing electronic waste is under way in the European Union.

In this continuing series on resources and services related to the European Union's environmental protection regulation known as REACH, for Registration, Evaluation, Authorization, and Restriction of CHemical substances, I ...

Intel, RFID & an Industry in Transition - Douglas Alexander on EBN

1968 was a big year for me. I joined the Air Force because I didn't have a clue about what I wanted to do with my life. I ...

When I think of the word "sustainability," I imagine lasting value based on reliability, efficiency, dependability, availability, affordability, and consistency -- factors treasured by all manufacturers in the electronics industry. ...

Customer concerns cannot be ignored when evaluating factors that make a supply chain competitive. If it is true that the customer is the "bread and butter" for the supplier, then ...

Technology has had no small part to play in reshaping and resizing the supply chain at every level of its existence. In an earlier article, I talked about the inner ...

Have you heard of the "bathtub curve"? The graphic representation looks like a very lazy "U." On the x-axis, we plot the entire lifecycle of a component ...

Continuing on with the pictorial representation of the supply chain and its many interlinks, I could not help but think of a chain link fence as a macro model. If one ...

Good grief! Every time I tune into CNET, there is another version of a mobile phone being introduced. I could list multiple manufacturers cranking out newer versions of their ...

When I hear the term "supply chain," I have two images in my mind. One is of a straight, finite-length standard chain, with each link assigned to a ...

If I was a supplier and wanted to be as competitive as possible, I would poll my customer base on a semi-annual basis. I would send out a ...

When purchasing goes into action, it goes to its Tier 1 suppliers first. Tier 1 is not always a function of size as much as it is a ...

Ever since EBN reader Rich K made a comment in response to one of my articles on counterfeiting, I have been considering the nuances of his statement, which in reality was ...

In the first part of this blog, I emphasized why it is important for component suppliers and contractors to take their cue from customers if they wish to establish a ...

After writing a number of articles about the European Union's Registration, Evaluation, Authorization and Restriction of Chemicals (REACH) and other regulatory compliance issues, I have become increasingly ...

If I were to ask the most critical question with regard to what assures a company's success in its business sector, I would expect a variety of ...

Imagine taking the Sunday edition of the New York Times, cutting out every single word, one by one, and stacking them in a completely random order to form a ...

For those of you who have been following these REACH Best-Practices articles, I have been doing my best to be as comprehensive as possible in the overviews. Recently, I ...