Quality Management Systems and The Importance in Electronic Components Distribution

Quality Management Systems and The Importance in Electronic Components Distribution



Quality is critical in the electronic component supply chain. It is a standard measured against similar requirements for products with a uniform degree of excellence. Electronic components are held to some of the highest quality standards. If they weren’t, the risk of malperformance affecting a product in anything from coffee makers to pacemakers would increase exponentially.Get more news about Best Electronic Component Distributor,you can vist our website!

Manufacturing a single semiconductor involves hundreds of steps that, in total, can take up to–and sometimes more than–three months. Original component manufacturers (OCMs) must tightly control everything from air quality, temperature, and the uniforms of the technical staff aiding in the creation of semiconductors. Even semiconductor transportation must be done with specially made containers and packaging, or the chips will degrade in performance efficiency or be rendered completely useless.

Once a semiconductor has completed its journey from design to mass production, its odyssey to final product implementation is only just beginning. For many original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), contract manufacturers (CMs), original design manufacturers (ODMs), and more, awaiting these components at their final stop, quality is still not entirely assured.

Why not? Counterfeit components exist and have recently been skyrocketing in detection since the start of the 2020-2022 chip shortage. Long lead times due to chip scarcity from ravenous demand left many manufacturers in a difficult situation. Manufacturers could wait to purchase stock from their suppliers of choice once it became available. Because of this choice, these manufacturers would be forced to initiate production stalls or lower production output to continue operations. The second choice was to buy from different sources that advertised stock on hand.

Those that chose the second option risked receiving an order of counterfeits.

In an article by the Wall Street Journal, “What’s Worse Than a Chip Shortage? Buying Fake Ones,” published in 2021, author Stephanie Yang detailed how chip desperation turned some OEMs to platforms and distributors they normally wouldn’t give a second glance. Specifically, the article described a scenario in which a New York-based 3D-printer manufacturer, BotFactory, turned to AliExpress for semiconductor stock after going several weeks without chips and losing sales.

The stock arrived in plastic wrap, not the anti-static packaging required for shipping components. To the surprise of no one, the chips didn’t work. But it was a chance BotFactory and many other OEMs were forced to take during the shortage. Over $500 billion was lost in global sales between 2020 and 2022 due to the chip shortage. Though, counterfeits aren’t just a danger that lurks during a shortage.

The Semiconductor Industry Association estimates counterfeit electronics cost the semiconductor industry $7.5 billion annually. Worse still, an estimated 15% of spare or replacement semiconductors purchased by the U.S. Pentagon are counterfeit. The SIA obtained these statistics in a SASC Hearing in 2011. A year prior, in 2010, Stephanie McCloskey, an administrator for VisionTech Components, was sentenced for helping sell thousands of counterfeit components between 2007 and 2009. McCloskey and others sent some of these circuits to major U.S. defense contractors. McCloskey v. United States of America was the first federal case involving counterfeit integrated circuit trafficking. Counterfeiters haven’t stopped.

In 2012, an investigation by the Senate Armed Services Committee found that over one million counterfeit electronic components had been used in equipment designed for the U.S. Air Force, Navy, and Special Operations. Despite the awareness of counterfeits slipping into highly strict supply chains, from the 2012 report, the risk has not diminished. If anything, counterfeiters have only become more sophisticated, and the chip shortage was a golden opportunity.

In February 2022, nuclear power plants found counterfeit components in their supply chain. BotFactory’s ill-gotten purchase occurred in the spring of 2021. It could take another few years for the true extent of the damage counterfeits caused during the chip shortage to be fully realized. The automotive chip shortage is still lingering, and with it, the chance for counterfeits to take advantage of OEMs and others in desperate need.