I have no academic background in economics and whenever I delve into the subject I’m soon confronted by maths that is so many pay grades above me I can’t even see the top. Thus, I keep my observations at ground level. So, when I witness reshoring trends, it triggers memories of the ‘80s when offshoring was the management guru’s go to move. At the time, I recall researching offshoring and stumbling across the theory of comparative advantage. I ignored the maths and went for the simplest explanation I could find. Here goes: Imagine two countries would like access to commercial…

If there is one area of engineering where I have spent most of my time, both professionally and as a maker, it is automation. Interestingly, if the definition of automation is ‘reduce human intervention in processes’ my work with both physical machines and software applications must count towards my automation experience. Everywhere I look I see opportunities to automate. However, for the electronics industry to implement an effective long-term supply chain strategy for automation technology it needs to know where future growth will originate. Here are some guesses. Firstly, as populations age and birth rates fall, logically, the number of…

Readers of Electronics Sourcing’s monthly leader column will be aware of my interest in demographics, particularly declining birth rates which began in the ‘70s and the unavoidable consequence of ageing and declining numbers of workers and consumers. This process has now started chipping away at the electronics industry.   Over the past two or three years I have witnessed an unexpected number of owners of small and medium sized electronics businesses announce their retirement. This caught me by surprise as it wasn’t something I was used to. However, on investigation it’s obvious.   The origins of many of today’s electronics…

In this issue of Electronics Sourcing we’ve asked companies for their thoughts on the future of distribution, starting page 21. I’ve been involved in distribution, first as a buyer, then a commentator since 1985, so I asked myself what distribution might look like in 30-years’ time for someone starting in the business today.   In a strange twist of fate, although I started my engineering career as a product designer, the building my employer was based in was shared with a distributor of engineering components. From recollection, in those days, distribution involved a shelving system, some products to sell, a…

With preparations for the Electronic Component Show complete and the event’s 25 May 2023 date racing closer, now is a good time to explore the benefits of taking time out of your schedule to visit suppliers face-to-face.   Personally, I’ve lost count of the number of exhibitions I’ve attended over the last 35-years. The number one reason I keep going is serendipity. No matter how much I think I know about a technology or supplier, I always learn something new that is valuable to me.   One of the obvious reasons for these chance discoveries is the rate of technology…