Most leadtimes head south
Staff -- Purchasing, 2/19/2004 2:00:00 AM
Electronics leadtimes shrunk in January after stretching in the fourth quarter because of strong demand. Leadtimes for 37 of 41 components tracked by PURCHASING magazine fell back while four component delivery times increased.
Typically, demand for components is greatest in the fourth quarter and leadtimes will stretch. However, delivery times jumped more drastically than usual in December. For instance, the average leadtime for a PLCC connector more than doubled from 4.4 weeks in November to 10.9 weeks in December. Thirty-two bit microprocessor leadtimes stretched from six weeks to 11.3 weeks and 8 Mb flash memory delivery times went from 6.1 weeks to 10.2 weeks.
However, component demand weakened in January and leadtimes fell back almost as dramatically as they increased. The PLCC connector leadtime fell from 10.9 weeks to 5.2 weeks and 32-bit microprocessors fell back to 5.6 weeks from 11.3 weeks.
The four leadtimes that stretched in January were switching power supplies, resistor networks, solid-state relays and wire-wound resistors. However, the increases were all less than a week.
Buyers can expect leadtimes to stretch in the second quarter. There is very little inventory in the supply pipeline.
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