Curious to hear how supply chain issues have changed how designers offer packages in the bill of materials? Here is what Jason Sciberras, President of our Saline, MI location, had to say about it from his conversation with Design007 Magazine.  

Shaughnessy: It seems like designers are getting more adept, through necessity, at designing with a back-up plan in mind. We’re hearing more about having to redesign as much as a quarter of the board because of supply chain issues. Sometimes they’re trying to find two or three components that are available to make up for the one that they wanted, so they end up using more real estate. Are you running into that? 

Sciberras: We do a lot of military and aerospace work, so those changes just aren’t possible. They would have to go through recertification and the changes are difficult. The shift that’s coming in the industry is that designers are getting smarter. We’re starting to see some of them designing alternate packages right into the circuit boards so that if this ever comes back, we’ll all think we’re getting toward the backend of this thing and eventually it will get better here. But when we come into the next one—because there’s always a next one—we will be better prepared than we are today. 

In the last 20 years, we’ve seen similar cycles that affected the micro lead-frame chip carriers (MLCC), and we had an IC issue also. This one has lasted longer and has affected more products than anything we’ve ever seen before. The best thing about this one is that the entire world is going through it. We have great relationships with our customers; they’re working with us to solve these problems. They understand what’s going on. As a team, we’ve been very successful at keeping them going in some fashion without interruption. 

Johnson: It seems like designing for alternate packages or multiple choices would be a good design practice even when the supply chain is operating smoothly. 

Sciberras: I’m hoping that’s here to stay. We’re seeing customers ask, “What are the five or six critical components that would most likely impact my ability to keep the line up and running? What kind of solutions can I design into the layout right up front so that if, God forbid, we come down this path again, we know what to do about it?” 

Visit Design007 to view the entire conversation!

Contact us HERE to connect with a team member at Saline, MI, or any of our facilities.