Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/1067105
16 SMT007 MAGAZINE I JANUARY 2019 cannot be trusted. My only response to that is, "Ouch." This crisis will end. It may take a while for supply to catch up with demand, but it will end. One option—although not a good one—is to bury your head in the sand and hope it all goes away. But this problem will not go away any time soon. The sooner that we realize that as an industry, the better. Here are some suggestions to get through this crisis: 1. Design Outside of the Norm Since we know that there is a narrowing of the supply and a reduced supply for some compo- nents, we need to be flexible. Look and see if any of the specific parameters of a component can be adjusted out of what would be consid- ered "the norm." For example, "Do we need to use a 0.1-uF 1% cap for our bypass caps?" If you have any ICs on your design at all, the answer to that question is, "Probably." Since this is the most common bypass cap value, everyone is scrambling for that specific compo- nent. You will be able to open more stock of components by changing the parameters espe- cially by taking it up to a 5% tolerance. Many times, the components used are overkill for the class of design. Making that simple change has resulted in a whole new available stock of components. 2. Let the PCB Designer Drive Other Areas of the Process Now, we are giving over to procurement the list of probable components that may be a 3. Self-inflicted Problems Many of the part vendors have now switched over to Allocation. In Allocation, manufac- turers divide the available inventory, so only a percentage of the stock is given to specific manufacturers. The suppliers, of course, want to work with those companies that place the biggest orders. On the company side, Allocation has caused an absolute panic. To make sure to have the available components, the new common prac- tice is to double and triple order quantities. Then, the parts consumers stockpile these components for future use. This only puts a further strain on an already fragile system of supply and demand. Being on the front line with a manufac- turing company working to get products off of the drawing board and into a sales cata- log, this parts availability issue has had a huge impact on every aspect of our business. From the very first day of a new design, we are forced to question what components we use. However, the problem is that we don't know what the specific conditions are from moment to moment. We have seen the prob - lem from both sides in that components we originally thought would not be a problem have become a problem halfway through a design (and vice versa). It has gotten so bad that on some occasions, once we finally did locate components, the parts would be already gone before we could fill out a purchase order minutes later. How Do We Get Through This Crisis? What I recommend to all the PCB designers I work with is to follow a simple rule: This is not business as usual. Do not assume anything in such an environment. The attitude in a dog-eat-dog world by some is not allow a crisis to go to waste. Many black market and counterfeit compo- nents have started to pop up. We have seen parts in our supply chain that were believed to be counterfeit because they did not match the specifications on the datasheet. Thus, the components we can find and get into designs