Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/1496178
36 SMT007 MAGAZINE I APRIL 2023 ethical and social aspects of their operations. This includes efforts to reduce waste, improve energy efficiency, and ensure responsible sourcing of materials. These trends will continue to influence demand within the electronics supply chain for years and are partially responsible for recent boom/bust cycles. Unfortunately, while recovering from the latest cycle, the pandemic, factory closures, and other challenges led to pent-up demand, which drove component availability to an all-time low. Everyone in the industry felt the impact and it was rough. These trends motivated stakeholders up and down the supply chain to adjust their practices and processes to better collaborate with their suppliers and customers. As this di s r up t ion moved f ur ther dow nstream and suppliers looked at their processes to increase productivity, solution providers like CalcuQuote offered a unique vision to these challenges. Our integration allows companies to make nearly 60,000 sourcing decisions every day. These activities provide insights to help stakeholders better understand the market and make informed decisions to remain competitive. The following summary highlights turning points and important trends: Ease of decision making: Lines automatically sourced through APIs and other integrations: • January 2019–July 2020: Automated Decisions Increased by 24% • August 2020–June 2022: Decisions Reverted Back to Early 2019 levels • July 2022-January 2023: Decisions Increased Again by 15% Insufficient Stock: Percent of lines with insufficient stock to meet demand: • April 2019: Lowest level of out-of-stock lines at 6% • November 2021: Highest level of out-of-stock lines at 38% • January 2023: Trending back down and now at 24% Multi-sourced a BOM: Count of approved manufacturers per BOM: • Steady increase in average number of MPNs per BOM • Minor fluctuations haven't changed the trend, which will likely continue Unit price index: Average unit price per part: • March 2019–March 2020: Index dropped 18% • March 2020–March 2021: Index rose 84% • March 2021–March 2022: Index rose 35% • March 2022–January 2023: Index rose 2% Manufacturing lead time: Average number of days to receive all parts on a BOM: • March 2019–March 2020: Lead times decreased 6% • March 2020–March 2021: Lead times increased 31% • March 2021–March 2022: Lead times increased 52% • March 2022–January 2023: Lead times decreased 11% Note: Lead times decreased 13% since the peak in August 2022. While the electronics supply chain is still feeling the effects of the shortages, lead time and price increases, and other supply chain challenges, recent trends indicate stabilization and even improvement. The pains will likely persist for a while, but the steady progression toward integration and automation will further mitigate the impact and allow companies to remain competitive through whatever lies ahead. SMT007