Jon Barrett 
I first encountered electronic components in a business environment when I started my engineering career at a robotics and automation company in the late 1980s. The technologies mainly related to power electronics for the motor drives, logic controllers and peripherals such as sensors and light curtains. That’s the best part of 40 years ago so … Read more
Consider this leader as a follow on from John Denslinger’s article on EV charging infrastructure on page 18 of this issue of Electronics Sourcing North America. Normally, societies and economies evolve steadily over time. Trends organically emerge, sometimes accelerated by new technologies. Each generation accepts change, adopts the elements they like and life rolls on. … Read more
The Electronic Component Show 2024 is sold out. In fact, it was fully booked a while ago with a waiting list in place. It’s not surprising. There comes a day when every buyer and designer needs to down their printed and digital communication tools and go face-to-face with people and products. Held at Oxford’s Kassam … Read more
As an editor, what do I know about manufacturing? Well, apart from the factories I’ve worked in, I consider MMG Publishing a manufacturing organisation. The only difference is raw materials: paper and ink, rather than metal and plastic. We have design, purchasing, manufacturing, sales and distribution departments. Engineers design products using CAD systems. We use … Read more
Thanks to a unique set of circumstances, there is a single day when I judge the accomplishments of the electronics industry over the previous year: Christmas day. On that day, as if by magic, electronic products appear on the living room floor. The time frame to enable them is immediate. The userbase comprises demanding children. … Read more
I always look forward to the December issue of Electronics Sourcing. It’s an opportunity to ask a wide range of manufacturers and distributors for their experience over the past 12-months and their expectations for the coming year. Every year, for the last decade, these Forecast features have typically delivered a diversity of views. Some contributors … Read more
It’s been an interesting 55-years. Like many children of the ‘60s, I was born into a manufacturing economy. As the years ticked by this was subsequently swept away by the knowledge economy, which was looked upon as higher value, cleaner and more environmentally sound. Just as I got to grips with that concept, it too … Read more
Medical, social and economic impacts aside, Covid-19 has revealed some interesting aspects to life. One or two of them have the potential to be uncomfortable truths. Thanks to forced homeworking and video conferencing I have had the pleasure of peeking inside more living rooms, kitchens, bedrooms, studies and box rooms than I would have previously … Read more
NOTE: Situations are changing by the hour. By the time you read this the NHS may already have the first batch of the 20,000 ventilators it has asked for. If not, read on I don’t quote from the Bible that often but over the years I’ve used the phrase ‘swords to ploughshares’ to describe the … Read more
