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88 SMT Magazine • May 2014 Regardless of contemporary rhetoric, coun- terfeit electronics are an epidemic because not enough emphasis is placed on the core of the problem: purchases that are made from other than authorized suppliers. While parts should be purchased from original manufacturers or autho- rized distribution whenever possible, situations do arise in which this is not possible. In cases that require the purchase of components that are obsolete or on allocation, authorized distri- bution networks are unable to effectively sup- ply needed parts. While some would advocate a delay in purchasing until parts can be produced by an original manufacturer, the lead times in- volved make this an impractical option at best. For military applications, excessively long lead times can have serious operational consequenc- es. As the saying goes, "War doesn't wait." Independent component distributors add value to the electronic components market in numerous ways that authorized distributors cannot. For example, independent distributors possess the ability to move both commercial and government excess throughout the compo- nent markets. This allows parts to be found for situations that require parts made under con- tract, such as sole-source military requirements. Authorized distributors, however, are limited to supplying products that are still produced by the original manufacturer. Additionally, independent distributors help to prevent line-down situations by providing needed parts where they cannot be obtained through authorized distributors or OEMs. This occurs frequently when parts are out of produc- tion (obsolete) or on allocation. Like it or not, companies literally buy thou- sands of obsolete components and materials which are unavailable through authorized dis- tributors. Ultimately, qualified and certified independent distributors provide valuable sup- port to protect your supply chain in the event you are unable to buy parts from authorized distributors. While independent distributors add value in many ways, many within the component indus- try view them in a negative light. In some ways, this is quite reasonable—unscrupulous and de- ceitful firms do exist and have caused purchas- ers of electronic components many headaches over the years. Outfits that operate with ethics as a secondary consideration will often make statements such as, "I am getting parts from an OEM in Europe," or "The parts are late because they are stuck in customs," or "We never buy parts in China." While these statements, if true, are totally legitimate explanations of an independent dis- tributor's purchasing process, they can also be used to misrepresent a firm's sourcing practices. The first two statements are sometimes used by unethical firms to make a customer believe that they have the parts requested by the custom- er in stock, while in fact, they are using these excuses to try and buy time to find the parts. Although there is nothing wrong with an inde- pendent distributor needing time to source and ship parts after making it clear to the customer that this is their intent, misleading the custom- er by claiming that the parts are held in stock when they are not is completely unethical. Re- garding the final statement, there are indeed some distributors that do not source parts from companies based in China or other countries known for counterfeiting parts. However, a dis- tributor that says this but does buy from China is blatantly lying to their customers, which is obviously highly unethical. KraMer on CoMponenTS figure 1: Many times, parts are obsolete or on allocation. INDEPENDENT DISTRIBUToR continues