Plug-and-play comes of age
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. Finally, any form of meaningful technical support is non-existent. This year the challenge was an app-controlled toy and this is how things went. Connect phone to WiFi: check. Find correct app on store and download: check. Register app using facial recognition: check. Enable Bluetooth on…
Press go for growth
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 are bullish, others are bearish. Some see growth in one industry, others in a different sector. Not this year. This year is different. Looking back, all the contributors seem to have had a common experience. The pandemic hit hard and hit fast. It disrupted supply…
Think, make or serve
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 was pushed aside by the service economy, which itself spawned its little brother: the gig economy. Then along comes Covid-19 which destroys the service and gig sectors overnight. I understand that in a globalised, interconnected world where people, products, services and money can cross back…
Paper and print everywhere
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 seen in my whole life. Politicians, celebrities, newsreaders, medics, experts, the general public and more, I’ve seen it all. I’m fascinated by how untidy some rooms are. I want to know why anyone would choose ‘that’ colour for a wall. I’m eager to discover the…
Hybrid renewable: why not?
Most months I get the chance to chat with industry friends and colleagues about a range of electronics related subjects. Most times we start with contemporary topics but quickly wander into uncharted territory. So it was during a conversation with industry PR, Nick Foot, who sideswiped me with a simple question I had no answer for: “Why do renewable energy facilities typically employ only a single generation technology, especially offshore”. I’ve seen plenty of wind, solar, wave and tidal facilities, but never an offshore ‘power station’ using multiple generation hardware. Nick’s basic argument was why invest in building an offshore…