Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/1470111
70 DESIGN007 MAGAZINE I JUNE 2022 Two recent surveys 1 found that 81% of respondents reported that commodity avail- ability has forced expensive spot buys, while 91% observed that sourcing issues have caused delays in product launches. In the same sur- veys, 79% of the respondents stated that collab- oration issues have caused delays in new prod- uct introductions, while 63% expressed that the numbers of BOM iterations have increased significantly. More recently, Goldman Sachs forecast an average 20% shortfall in computer chips, which is expected to last through 2022. As we dive deeper into the problem specifi- cally regarding today's design and sourcing processes, it's clear that supply chain resilience is not inherent in these processes. erefore, many design organizations are highly vulner- nomic turmoil arising from the war between Russia and Ukraine. With all these external issues already mak- ing matters difficult, and observing many companies operate today, we see a very com- plex, spiderweb-like network of informal pro- cesses that add even more challenges within the enterprise, across functional silos, dis- parate systems, and fragmented cross-func- tional decision-making processes. Based on my recent experience as a principal engineer of PCB design at a leading mil/aero company over the past 12 years, I can attest to this com- plex network of communication and functions inherent to larger corporations that are typi- cally a conglomerate of absorbed smaller com- panies spread across the globe. Figure 2: Challenges within the enterprise, across functional silos, disparate systems, and fragmented cross-functional decision-making processes. Figure 3: Broken digital threads, inhibiting cross-functional collaborations in the electronics value chain.