Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/1265351
JULY 2020 I SMT007 MAGAZINE 73 In the past, we've had stockpiles of masks, ventilators, etc. However, the problem with stockpiles is they age and can't always suffice. But one of the amazing things in this COVID- 19 crisis was watching how small- to medium- sized manufacturers in all the different regions and cities came together and helped produce what was needed. Part of the conversations I'm having with different government officials is asking, "What if we could leverage that? What if we could make that part of the plan that if there is a national crisis, we could iden- tify and rely on a swarm of manufacturers to come together in an ad hoc fashion to help address those needs?" There is interest in new solutions like that by the government. Johnson: As you described tracing up and down the supply chain, I was reminded of when the food supply chain was revamped in response to mad cow disease. It sounds like there are similar changes going on here. Is that a fair assessment? Peters: It is, and the food supply chain is a very good example. You have much better labeling now. As a consumer, you can have much more confidence about where your food came from, and behind the scenes, there is a considerable amount of technology. You've heard about blockchain, which was first applied to the food industry supply chain. That same kind of infor- mation is crucial in electronics for a variety of reasons. We have challenges with counter- feit electronics. We have problems with even knowing where something came from, so if we have a problem we know about the other sys- tems that have the same components in them. IPC has another standard—IPC-1782—that was developed for the banking industry. It has a lot of applicability for the DoD because it provides a standard to ensure traceability so that I know where my parts came from, and I know where they're used. If I have a com- ponent in F35s, and they're in 25–35% of the F35s, I can know which ones to go to if there's a problem traced back to a certain component; The U.S. culture places profit margins and shareholder value above sharing or partnering. Overseas companies are more open to collaborating for the common good.