Supply Chain Performance is More Important Than Ever
Planning for supply chain success is critically important to any business, but navigating the supply chain has never been more difficult than it is right now. Electronic Components including connectors, wire and cable as well as all the accessories like heat shrink, cable ties, solder etc. have become especially challenging to source. However, there are some easy tips that will provide a big boost in your efforts to build and secure your critical supply lines.
Planning for Supply Chain Success
There are many considerations when choosing the right electronic components for a new custom cable assembly design. One of the most important, but often overlooked consideration is ensuring components are readily available in the market. Selecting components that are commonly stocked among electronic component distributors like TTI, Mouser, Heiland, Digi-Key and Newark is a solid option. Plan for supply chain success by using market available equivalents when selecting materials. This means choosing connectors that will interface and connect with other manufacturers products. Designing in made to order parts should only be considered for applications where there are no products available on the market that meet your requirements’. Insisting on name brand products will drastically limit your options, increase costs and slow down deliveries. Electronic Component search engines like Octopart are a handy tool to quickly check market availability for electronic components.
Know Your Experts
Consult with subject matter experts to design for supply chain success. Custom cable assembly manufacturers are the best resource to support quality design with market ready materials. They can also help you design in lower cost market available equivalents that will save time and money. It is very expensive and time consuming to revise a technical drawing. Engineers required for these updates are costly and often too busy on other projects to review and approve engineering changes, so it’s important to design in flexibility from the beginning. During the prototype phase for new custom cable assemblies, always confirm the materials selections with a custom cable assembly manufacturer. Finally, make sure that proper tooling is available for the products you are selecting. Always check with your manufacturing partner to ensure they either have the tooling on hand, or they can access it quickly.
