Connector leads stretch
Staff -- Purchasing, 9/19/2002
From June to August, PURCHASING's national average leadtime for printed circuit board (PCB) connectors stretched 24% compared to the March-May period. Similar comparisons yield a 9% leadtime stretch for D-SUB (D-subminiature) and a 6% stretch PLCC (plastic leaded chip carrier) type connectors. Mil-spec connectors are particularly difficult to source, according to PURCHASING's survey. One buyer links his connector headache to fallout from Tyco's run-in with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) last spring. Another cites a slowdown in freight from Asia. Other headaches this month: obsolete components, light-emitting diodes (LEDs), cord sets, wire, imaging sensors, double data rate (DDR) memory, crystals, oscillators, power supplies, printed circuit board assemblies, and tighter tolerance capacitors. For the most part, spot shortages appear short term, lasting one to three months while cautious suppliers adjust product mix to match demand growth patterns.
| Raw data for latest month | Recent history: Weighted averages | Movement in latest month | ||||||||||||
| ELECTRONICS LEADTIMES | <1 wk | 2-5 wks | 6-10 wks | 11-20 wks | 21-30 wks | 30+ wks | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | June | July | Aug | |
| DRAM: 128 Mb | 16% | 54% | 19% | 11% | 0% | 0% | 4.3 | 5.1 | 3.2 | 4.5 | 7.1 | 5.8 | 5.2 | Shrink |
| DRAM: 64 Mb | 16% | 47% | 28% | 9% | 0% | 0% | 4.8 | 4.5 | 3.4 | 4.8 | 7.2 | 5.6 | 5.4 | Shrink |
| DRAM: 16 Mb | 18% | 57% | 18% | 7% | 0% | 0% | 6.4 | 4.2 | 3.4 | 3.8 | 6.9 | 6.3 | 4.6 | Shrink |
| SRAM: 4 Mb | 15% | 63% | 11% | 11% | 0% | 0% | 4.1 | 4.5 | 3.4 | 4.4 | 6.4 | 5.5 | 4.9 | Shrink |
| SRAM: 1 Mb | 16% | 60% | 16% | 8% | 0% | 0% | 4.1 | 4.5 | 3.4 | 4.5 | 6.2 | 6.5 | 4.7 | Shrink |
| SRAM: 256 K | 11% | 59% | 22% | 7% | 0% | 0% | 6.7 | 4.2 | 3.7 | 5.6 | 5.4 | 6.0 | 5.1 | Shrink |
| Flash: 32 Mb | 16% | 48% | 28% | 8% | 0% | 0% | 4.5 | 4.5 | 3.4 | 7.0 | 6.4 | 5.9 | 5.2 | Shrink |
| Flash: 16 Mb | 10% | 59% | 24% | 7% | 0% | 0% | 3.7 | 4.5 | 3.1 | 6.5 | 6.8 | 6.6 | 5.1 | Shrink |
| Flash: 8 Mb | 17% | 65% | 13% | 4% | 0% | 0% | 3.7 | 4.6 | 3.4 | 4.7 | 6.0 | 7.0 | 4.1 | Shrink |
| Logic: Bipolar | 14% | 46% | 25% | 14% | 0% | 0% | 3.5 | 4.2 | 2.9 | 4.3 | 5.6 | 5.5 | 5.9 | Stretch |
| Logic: CMOS | 16% | 44% | 22% | 19% | 0% | 0% | 3.2 | 3.9 | 2.5 | 3.0 | 5.8 | 6.4 | 6.3 | Shrink |
| MPU: 32-bit | 17% | 46% | 21% | 17% | 0% | 0% | 3.7 | 5.5 | 2.9 | 3.8 | 6.5 | 6.1 | 5.9 | Shrink |
| MPU: 16-bit | 15% | 54% | 19% | 12% | 0% | 0% | 4.3 | 4.6 | 2.3 | 5.3 | 6.9 | 5.6 | 5.3 | Shrink |
| Zener diode | 19% | 54% | 19% | 6% | 0% | 2% | 5.3 | 3.8 | 2.6 | 4.9 | 4.8 | 4.4 | 5.1 | Stretch |
| Thyristor | 17% | 49% | 31% | 3% | 0% | 0% | 4.5 | 4.2 | 2.6 | 5.6 | 5.8 | 6.1 | 4.7 | Shrink |
| Small-signal transistors | 13% | 51% | 27% | 7% | 0% | 2% | 4.4 | 4.2 | 2.3 | 4.0 | 5.3 | 5.2 | 5.8 | Stretch |
| MOSFET | 11% | 53% | 21% | 8% | 5% | 3% | 6.1 | 4.3 | 3.1 | 3.8 | 6.2 | 5.7 | 7.1 | Stretch |
| Analog digital converters | 14% | 47% | 23% | 14% | 0% | 2% | 5.5 | 4.3 | 3.4 | 5.4 | 7.2 | 8.1 | 6.5 | Shrink |
| Digital/analog converters | 11% | 43% | 34% | 9% | 0% | 3% | 5.5 | 4.3 | 3.0 | 5.8 | 6.2 | 7.4 | 6.6 | Shrink |
| Network resistors | 21% | 50% | 21% | 2% | 0% | 5% | 4.7 | 3.5 | 2.4 | 4.5 | 5.2 | 5.5 | 5.6 | Stretch |
| Thick film chip resistors | 24% | 52% | 21% | 2% | 0% | 0% | 4.6 | 3.5 | 2.8 | 4.4 | 5.0 | 5.3 | 4.0 | Shrink |
| Carbon film resistors | 31% | 51% | 12% | 6% | 0% | 0% | 4.9 | 2.9 | 2.2 | 4.1 | 4.6 | 5.4 | 3.9 | Shrink |
| Wirewound resistors | 20% | 53% | 20% | 7% | 0% | 0% | 5.4 | 4.4 | 2.8 | 4.5 | 5.1 | 4.5 | 4.6 | Stretch |
| Ceramic chip capacitors | 27% | 34% | 31% | 7% | 2% | 0% | 5.5 | 4.3 | 4.2 | 4.3 | 5.1 | 5.2 | 5.2 | No change |
| Film capacitors | 27% | 41% | 22% | 8% | 2% | 0% | 4.3 | 4.2 | 4.1 | 4.3 | 5.5 | 5.2 | 5.1 | Shrink |
| Tantalum chip capacitors | 15% | 40% | 25% | 13% | 7% | 0% | 5.9 | 4.4 | 3.8 | 6.0 | 7.1 | 4.3 | 7.3 | Stretch |
| D-SUB connectors | 13% | 58% | 16% | 11% | 0% | 3% | 3.3 | 3.6 | 3.4 | 3.8 | 5.3 | 4.1 | 5.9 | Stretch |
| PLCC connectors | 13% | 59% | 16% | 9% | 0% | 3% | 4.0 | 3.7 | 4.2 | 3.9 | 5.6 | 4.1 | 5.9 | Stretch |
| PCB connectors | 13% | 60% | 13% | 11% | 0% | 2% | 4.0 | 4.2 | 4.4 | 3.5 | 5.1 | 4.9 | 5.7 | Stretch |
| DIP switches | 21% | 52% | 17% | 7% | 0% | 2% | 4.0 | 4.2 | 5.0 | 3.9 | 5.7 | 4.8 | 5.2 | Stretch |
| Pushbutton switches | 30% | 40% | 22% | 8% | 0% | 0% | 3.6 | 4.3 | 4.5 | 3.2 | 5.5 | 4.5 | 4.6 | Stretch |
| Slide switches | 14% | 65% | 14% | 8% | 0% | 0% | 3.5 | 4.8 | 2.9 | 3.4 | 5.5 | 4.5 | 4.7 | Stretch |
| General purpose relays | 24% | 53% | 11% | 13% | 0% | 0% | 4.0 | 3.8 | 2.8 | 3.3 | 4.9 | 4.5 | 4.8 | Stretch |
| Solid state relays | 16% | 53% | 19% | 9% | 0% | 2% | 5.3 | 3.9 | 2.8 | 3.7 | 6.3 | 4.2 | 5.7 | Stretch |
| NiCd batteries | 25% | 50% | 13% | 13% | 0% | 0% | 3.6 | 3.4 | 2.8 | 4.6 | 5.4 | 4.4 | 4.8 | Stretch |
| NiMH batteries | 19% | 54% | 15% | 12% | 0% | 0% | 3.9 | 3.5 | 2.7 | 4.4 | 5.6 | 4.4 | 5.0 | Stretch |
| Li-ion batteries | 13% | 54% | 8% | 25% | 0% | 0% | 4.3 | 3.3 | 3.9 | 4.4 | 5.6 | 5.5 | 6.5 | Stretch |
| Switcher power supplies | 11% | 39% | 22% | 15% | 7% | 7% | 3.8 | 5.6 | 5.3 | 4.3 | 6.8 | 6.2 | 9.5 | Stretch |
| Single sided printed circuit boards | 11% | 65% | 16% | 5% | 2% | 2% | 4.5 | 4.6 | 4.5 | 4.6 | 6.1 | 6.1 | 5.3 | Shrink |
| Double sided printed circuit boards | 8% | 65% | 16% | 10% | 0% | 2% | 4.8 | 4.6 | 5.4 | 4.7 | 6.0 | 5.0 | 5.7 | Stretch |
| Multi-layer printed circuit boards | 3% | 53% | 25% | 13% | 3% | 2% | 5.7 | 5.0 | 4.9 | 6.0 | 6.4 | 5.8 | 7.4 | Stretch |
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