Author: Maulin Buch

The Retronix Component Recovery Decision Tree

Posted on by Maulin Buch

Retronix Electronic Component Shortage Solutions

If you don’t already know about the current global chip shortage, you must be living under a rock. However, did you know that Retronix could have the solution to your supply chain woes?

Is any industry safe from the component shortage?

While there has been extensive coverage on the chip shortage impacting the automotive industry, the reality is that businesses in every sector are hurting. Just, when we thought that the global chip shortage couldn’t get any worse, the situation intensifies, and it now looks like millions of everyday consumers will be impacted. While small in size, the semiconductor plays an integral role in all modern-day technology. From the sought-after PlayStation, the humble toothbrush to the voice-controlled speaker that is now becoming commonplace in our homes. The tiny chip hides in so many products that feature in our day-to-day lives. 

Having been in the industry for 30 years, Retronix has experienced component shortages before but never to the extent where the everyday consumer is affected. 

Computer Chip Shortage

Reinhard Ploss, the Chief Executive of German chipmaker, Infineon, agrees that this is uncharted territory for the semiconductor industry, 

“The current situation, where all verticals are booming, I have never seen before” CNBC. 

How long will the component crisis last?

As reported in Bloomberg, the lead time for ordering and taking delivery of a computer chip topped 17 weeks in April.  According to Susquehanna Financial Group, this is the longest wait since the firm began tracking data back in 2017, putting the supply chain into the danger zone. 

As would be expected there are several disputes over how long the shortage will last. Chuck Robbins, Cisco CEO, is optimistic about the situation telling BBC, “We think we’ve got another six months to get through the short term. The providers are building out more capacity. And that’ll get better and better over the next 12 to 18 months.”

However, IBM President Jim Whitehurst isn’t as confident about the situation, sharing with the BBC that it would be years before the semiconductor supply chain returned to normal. “There’s just a big lag between from when a technology is developed and when [a fabrication plant] goes into construction and when chips come out,”. Reinhard Ploss, Infineon, shares the same bleak outlook for both this year and the next exclaiming that “We’re fighting for every wafer”.   

What is the solution?

Our Retronix Component Recovery solution doesn’t require any fighting, instead, all we ask is for you to do some component searching. Search your scrap for faulty/obsolete PCBs, your storage for old PCBs, and your supply chain. From experience, we can promise that you will be surprised by what you can uncover. We can also promise that our Retronix advance and precise component reclaim service can safely recover any high-value component that you find.

Many organisations don’t realise that the Retronix Recovery Solution even exists and in desperation flee to the grey market. Fortunately, our IC testing suite can validate the authenticity of components sieving out any nasty counterfeits from customer supply chains. 

Still unsure of how we can help? Follow our Retronix Component Recovery Decision tree to find the solution that’s right for you. 

Component Recovery Decision Tree

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The Automotive Industries Component Shortage Crisis

Posted on by Maulin Buch

The Automotive Industries Component Shortage Crisis: Component Reclaim Eases Burden on Supply Chain

With the chip crisis forecast to hit the production of 3.9m vehicles this year, the automotive industry is to lose a staggering $210 billion in revenue in 2021 alone. 

With the ability to quickly recover valuable components that organisations desperately need while enabling a Circular Economy that positively impacts the environment. Component Reclaim is offering businesses a viable solution out of this dire supply chain crisis.

When will the chip shortage end?

As would be expected, there are several disputes over how long the shortage will last. However, it’s difficult to ignore the forecasts of the chip makers themselves. Unfortunately for the likes of GM and Ford, who have had to shut down production at many of their plants, it’s not looking promising. 

Arm Holdings Chief Executive, Simon Segars, is predicting that the crisis will prevail until at least the end of next year, citing that the “This isn’t a short-term problem with a short-term solution.” Intel CEO, Pat Gelsinger, shares the same bleak outlook, believing that the industry won’t be back on track for another couple of years (Techspot).

With chip lead times pushing 26+ weeks alternative ideas and technologies are beginning to be explored as a means of helping to speed up recovery. 

Alternative ideas & technologies

As discussed in Forbes, Sundar Kamak, Head of Manufacturing Solutions of Ivalua Inc. has called for manufacturers to turn their attention to reusing and recycling chips from older devices and equipment.  

“Each year millions of devices and equipment containing chips are scrapped or thrown away – the UN found there was 53.6 million metric tonnes of e-waste in 2019 globally, of which just 17% was recycled. Not only could this help ease the burden on supply chains, it will also have a positive impact on the economy, and encourage regenerative design to reduce reliance on finite resources”, Kamak said (Forbes).

Component Reclaim may seem like a new phenomenon, but not to us. At Retronix, we have been recovering components from PCBs and returning to a ‘like new’ condition for three decades now. Operating to IPC-9592 STD, our leading technology, including Laser Reballing, delivers the safest recovery and refurbishment service in the industry. 

Our process to recover and refurbish devices, including BGA Chips, not only reduces the amount and cost of scrap going to landfills but also seriously damages the counterfeit industry. With five electronic components on average making up to 60% of the value of an entire assembly, we have seen customers recover £120k worth of chips from just one board.

Retronix is carrying out this service and other bespoke services for hundreds of customers across the world, so what you may think is a unique issue you are facing we might already have a solution for. Our Component Shortage Service encompasses a range of solutions that could solve your sourcing issues quickly and safely: 

Click HERE to learn more or get in touch today via the contact form below. 

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Electronic Component Shortages

Posted on by Maulin Buch

The Electronic Component Shortage

At the start of the year, Retronix had reported on the critical semiconductor shortage threatening to hamstring production lines of the world’s largest carmakers – demand is high, supply is tight.

Fast forward to today and that looming threat has become a stark reality with the world’s biggest carmaker Toyota, having just announced that it is to slash worldwide vehicle production by 40% in September. Volkswagen, the second-biggest car producer, has warned that it may also have to slash production (BBC News).

What has caused this disruption?

As reported by the Harvard Business Review there has been a multitude of one-off factors that have caused this situation that likes of Samsung, VW and Apple find themselves in today. From fires in Japan, storms in Texas to more unnatural Geopolitical factors, these unrelated occurrences have created a domino effect of disruptions that have caused a severe in-balance in the semiconductor supply chain.

However, as highlighted by Business Line, “supply chains in all sorts of industries have dealt with shortages resulting from catastrophes before” and have managed to pull through. So, what’s different this time?

The Electronics Supply Chain

The truth is that this imbalance in the supply chain was present far before any of these “freak” occurrences. Direct Components explain that the shortage of multi-layer ceramic capacitors (MLCCs) is a consequence of the rise in demand for portable technology and automotive advancements. In turn, this has exasperated the availability of tantalum capacitors, a well-known MLCC alternative. Harvard Business Review calls for large manufacturers in automotive and other sectors suffering from this component shortage to take a long hard look at their supply chain strategies and ask themselves “Where have they prioritized cost reduction at the expense of risk management?”.

Certainly, if we have learned anything from the pandemic, supply chains are extremely volatile, and while the vaccine is picking up pace in the fight against COVID-19. The shortage in components doesn’t seem to be going away any time soon.

How can Retronix help?

From Retronix perspective, we have seen customers reporting that they are having to step outside of the approved suppliers to source the components they require. This has seen an upturn in our testing services as we act as a third-party test house to help our customers verify their new suppliers. Our Component Reclaim Service also offers a much-needed solution for customers by safely and quickly recovering and reworking components for builds.

Click HERE to learn more about our Semiconductor Shortage Solutions Service or get in touch today via the contact form below.

Component Shortage Infographic

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Chip shortage crisis – demand is high, supply is tight.

Posted on by Maulin Buch

Chip-shortage crisis : demand is high, supply is tight.

“The world’s largest carmakers are facing a critical shortage of semiconductors that threatens to hamstring production just as the industry tries to stage a comeback from a sales slump caused by the pandemic.”

CNN Business (London)

Major automakers are suffering from a global shortage of chips as demand is high, and supply is tight. This is a fallout from the Coronavirus pandemic, forcing carmakers to halt or slow down their production.

Audi, for example, is slowing their production by aiming to make 10,000 fewer cars in the first quarter of 2021 and putting more than 10,000 workers on furlough.

Their parent company, Volkswagen, also announced their slow down due the lack of chips on the market, as have other global carmakers such as Honda. Others have made statements about their adaptions in production.

“We are doing everything in our power to minimize lost production and to ensure that normal deliveries to customers can be resumed as rapidly as possible”

Volkswagen Group purchasing manager Murat Aksel said in a statement on December 18.

This bottleneck in the supply chain could hurt the automotive industry further as carmakers risk missing out on the demand uplift due to their assembly lines slowing.

Part of this is a result of the industry being forced to close their factories in 2020 due to the pandemic, resulting in leading semiconductor manufacturers reassigning their production capacity to companies making smartphone, laptops and gaming devices. This means they are now competing for the manufacturing capacity.

German car-parts company Continental described “largescale supply shortages”, with lead times of six to nine months, adding bottlenecks were expected to continue “well into 2021, causing major disruptions”.

CCS Insight analyst Geoff Blaber said: “Semiconductors have a broad range of applications but a very limited pool of companies capable of manufacturing the silicon.

“Demand is high, and supply is tight” and any sudden needs “can prove very difficult to accommodate”.

As this period of history is unprecedented it is impossible for analysts to make predictions using historical data as to the long-term impact and the length of time this allocation period will last.  But with all the other challenges being thrown at us all over the course of this year, we hope that the industry will overcome this without too much long-term damage to the industry.

From Retronix perspective

We have seen customers reporting that they are having to step outside of the approved suppliers to source the components they require, and this has seen an upturn in our testing services as we act as a third-party test house to help our customers verify their new suppliers.  Our testing services alongside services such as – component reclaim, retinning and alloy conversion are tools that we can offer the industry to assist our customers and support them through the tough times of allocation. Reclaim memory devices & high value IC’s from obsolete, damaged or old revision PCB’s.

Retronix can help with this. You can find out more about our component recovery here or get in touch with us and find out how we can assist you. We also carry out free of charge samples to help you prove our process and the benefits to your company.

If you have a requirement that you would like to discuss with us, please make contact via email: sales@retronix.com or use our Website Contact Us page.

Why pay for Long Term Storage of devices?

Posted on by Maulin Buch

Why pay for Long Term Storage of devices?

The GEIA-STD-0003A is very comprehensive and covers all aspects of long term storage.

How are the devices stored?

Companies spend a lot of money on storing devices for use in the future: Obsolete Parts, Devices which are on extended lead-times, devices which are bespoke to their applications and not available off the shelf, parts which have an effect on the build schedule etc. are the reasons why long term storage of devices is done.

Companies will re-seal and vacuum pack trays of devices, then some go even further by storing in Humidity cabinets or even Nitrogen cabinets

But here in lies the problem, these measures are not guaranteed to work, to maintain perfect storage conditions at all times is expensive, especially if you have to partially use the devices from time to time.

what is the better option?

The better option is not to spend money on storage and to put them safely on a shelf, and when devices are needed –

Retronix can carry out a range of services for you : We can do a sample solderability test to find out if your parts are useable, if not we can refresh the alloy to return the components to ‘as new’ condition in terms of solderability, we can then bake and repack to reset the clock on the MSL level

Retronix will have a pre-arranged and agreed deal with you which will make the process smoother and with that, not only will this be more cost-effective but also more efficient. All while conforming to the GEIA-STD-0003A

Long Term Storage Solution

Allocation & Shortages

Posted on by Maulin Buch

Electronics Component sector is in for another period of shortages and allocation.

What are the reasons?

If all current predictions are correct, then the Electronics Component sector is in for another period of shortages and allocation. The effects of this are already showing in other sectors.  As always there are a lot of reasons for these periods of component allocation:

 

  • Rise in demand
  • Obsolescence issues
  • Company mergers
  • Supply chain disruptions
  • Capacity of production at manufacturing sites

The lockdowns that various Governments around the world have been implementing this year has meant that only essential businesses could continue operations.  Industries in the Philippines and Malaysia were hit from March and until mid-April. This particular stoppage is one of the reasons that allocation is now being brought to our attention again.

These two countries make up part of the manufacturing hubs for the likes of Texas Instruments, NXP, Xilinx, Cypress, Littlefuse and Maxim and as such, this closure of production is now starting to ripple through the industry. 

What problems does this give rise to?

From our perspective at Retronix, we have seen customers reporting that they are stepping outside of the approved suppliers to source the components they require.

“This leads to possible counterfeit and faulty components being introduced into their supply chains.”

How long is the allocation predicted to last?

The shutdown of manufacturing of components has meant that industries that drive demand like automotive have also been on shutdown.  In turn, this means that there is a possibility that this period of allocation may not be as impactful short term as the allocation of 2018.  And given the fact that the industry was only starting to see the ending of that 2018 allocation, we can only hope that this time around the industry recovers quicker. 

But with the slowdown in automotive manufacturing, amongst others classed as non-essential, there was, of course, the spike in manufacturing for medical equipment.  Many component manufacturers prioritised the delivery of components to the building of ventilators and other equipment with a predicted extra 880,000 ventilators required worldwide.

As this period of history is unprecedented, analysts can’t make predictions using historical data as to the long-term impact and the length of time this allocation period will last.  With all of the challenges, this year has thrown at us – we hope that the industry will overcome this allocation challenge without too much long-term damage.

What is the solution?

Retronix have had an upturn in our testing services as we act as a third-party test house to help our customers verify their new suppliers. Our testing services alongside services such as –component reclaim, retinning and alloy conversion are tools that we can offer the industry to assist our customers and support them through the tough times of allocation.
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