Most engineering and procurement teams know their bills of materials carry risk. The parts that stop production are the ones nobody flagged.  Component obsolescence costs teams up to $250,000 per event. That number covers emergency sourcing, expedited freight, engineering redesign, and lost production time. It assumes a team catches the problem at all before a line stops.  Most teams acknowledge BOM […]

Hundreds of billions in new fab investment are reshaping U.S. semiconductor manufacturing, but the capacity gap between today’s constraints and tomorrow’s production creates a multi-year planning challenge for every OEM that depends on electronic components. The CHIPS Act semiconductor reshoring component availability initiatives are central to this transformation, aiming to strengthen supply chain resilience and […]

Eight strategies that cut costs at the source: in the BOM, in the design, and in the sourcing decisions that happen long before a board reaches the assembly line.  PCB assembly cost reduction remains a critical engineering objective, especially in 2026. With semiconductor lead times extending to 40 weeks for key categories and spot market premiums soaring three to ten times […]

When lead times spike and parts vanish, the real expense goes far beyond the price of a replacement component.  A component engineer discovers that a voltage regulator specified in the original design is now on a 40-week lead time. The part was available in six weeks when the design was finalized. Production is scheduled in 12 weeks. The math does […]

Electronic Component Lead Times in 2025–2026 A 12-month analysis of supply chain pressures, escalating lead times, and actionable strategies for procurement and engineering teams. The electronic components industry spent much of 2024 recovering from the whiplash of the pandemic-era shortage cycle. Inventory corrections ran their course, distributor buffers were rebuilt, and many procurement teams believed […]

Heatherly Bucher, Director of Strategic Partnerships and Alliances, Arena by PTC Greg Jaknunas, Sr. Director of Product Development, Accuris Why tribal knowledge is a manufacturing risk Every manufacturer has a version of Joe. Joe is the component engineer who knows the products, the parts, the suppliers, and the workarounds. Over time, he builds a system of spreadsheets, alerts, […]

Fragmented supply chain data creates invisible risk. Explore how gaps in early visibility can lead to hidden costs, delayed decisions, and downstream disruption.