Dock strike reverberates
by Staff -- Purchasing, 11/21/2002
Much of the noise in PURCHASING's October leadtimes data for electronics can be traced back to the West Coast dock workers strike that left inbound components and subassemblies sitting on ships. Electronics buyers tie other scattered supply problems to either domestic plant shutdowns or big offshore manufacturing moves. For example, one buyer remarks that: "Three of our suppliers closed their doors this past month and one of them took a significant credit we had on the books under with them." Another buyer reports problems "due to supplier transferring production to Mexico."
Components suffering the greatest leadtime stretching this year include switches, relays, and printed circuit boards. In all three cases, the percentage of buyers waiting six or more weeks for delivery has risen into the 30-40% range up from 15-30% one year ago. As one electronics buyer describes it: "We have experienced a multitude of suppliers either with a lot of stock or no stock and little ability to produce, due to their cutbacks."
Memory, for the most part, remains readily available, according to PURCHASING's survey. Example: For the August-October period, leadtimes for DRAM 64Mb averaged 9% faster than in May-July. Average delivery speeds also running faster over the same time comparison include DRAM 16Mb, DRAM 128Mb, SRAM 256K, and SRAM 1Mb.
| ELECTRONICS LEADTIMES | <1 wk | 2-5 wks | 6-10 wks | 11-20 wks | 21-30 wks | 30+ wks | Apr | May | June | July | Aug | Sep | Oct | |
| Raw data for latest month | Recent history: Weighted averages | Movement in latest month | ||||||||||||
| DRAM: 128 Mb | 25% | 43% | 32% | 0% | 0% | 0% | 3.2 | 4.5 | 7.1 | 5.8 | 5.2 | 6.4 | 4.2 | Shrink |
| DRAM: 64 Mb | 14% | 45% | 41% | 0% | 0% | 0% | 3.4 | 4.8 | 7.2 | 5.6 | 5.4 | 5.1 | 4.9 | Shrink |
| DRAM: 16 Mb | 12% | 53% | 35% | 0% | 0% | 0% | 3.4 | 3.8 | 6.9 | 6.3 | 4.6 | 5.2 | 4.7 | Shrink |
| SRAM: 4 Mb | 13% | 50% | 31% | 6% | 0% | 0% | 3.4 | 4.4 | 6.4 | 5.5 | 4.9 | 5.8 | 5.3 | Shrink |
| SRAM: 1 Mb | 11% | 42% | 37% | 11% | 0% | 0% | 3.4 | 4.5 | 6.2 | 6.5 | 4.7 | 4.8 | 6.1 | Stretch |
| SRAM: 256 K | 13% | 47% | 33% | 7% | 0% | 0% | 3.7 | 5.6 | 5.4 | 6.0 | 5.1 | 5.3 | 5.4 | Stretch |
| Flash: 32 Mb | 23% | 32% | 32% | 9% | 0% | 5% | 3.4 | 7.0 | 6.4 | 5.9 | 5.2 | 6.2 | 6.8 | Stretch |
| Flash: 16 Mb | 18% | 29% | 41% | 12% | 0% | 0% | 3.1 | 6.5 | 6.8 | 6.6 | 5.1 | 5.9 | 6.2 | Stretch |
| Flash: 8 Mb | 11% | 44% | 33% | 11% | 0% | 0% | 3.4 | 4.7 | 6.0 | 7.0 | 4.1 | 5.2 | 6.0 | Stretch |
| Logic: Bipolar | 5% | 63% | 26% | 5% | 0% | 0% | 2.9 | 4.3 | 5.6 | 5.5 | 5.9 | 5.8 | 5.2 | Shrink |
| Logic: CMOS | 11% | 56% | 33% | 0% | 0% | 0% | 2.5 | 3.0 | 5.8 | 6.4 | 6.3 | 5.2 | 4.7 | Shrink |
| MPU: 32-bit | 12% | 35% | 29% | 18% | 6% | 0% | 2.9 | 3.8 | 6.5 | 6.1 | 5.9 | 6.9 | 7.9 | Stretch |
| MPU: 16-bit | 21% | 36% | 29% | 7% | 7% | 0% | 2.3 | 5.3 | 6.9 | 5.6 | 5.3 | 6.9 | 6.6 | Shrink |
| Zener diode | 23% | 46% | 20% | 9% | 3% | 0% | 2.6 | 4.9 | 4.8 | 4.4 | 5.1 | 6.0 | 5.4 | Shrink |
| Thyristor | 14% | 45% | 32% | 9% | 0% | 0% | 2.6 | 5.6 | 5.8 | 6.1 | 4.7 | 6.7 | 5.6 | Shrink |
| Small-signal transistors | 12% | 55% | 27% | 6% | 0% | 0% | 2.3 | 4.0 | 5.3 | 5.2 | 5.8 | 5.0 | 5.1 | Stretch |
| MOSFET | 18% | 55% | 27% | 0% | 0% | 0% | 3.1 | 3.8 | 6.2 | 5.7 | 7.1 | 6.1 | 4.2 | Shrink |
| Analog digital converters | 13% | 37% | 33% | 13% | 0% | 3% | 3.4 | 5.4 | 7.2 | 8.1 | 6.5 | 6.9 | 7.3 | Stretch |
| Digital/analog converters | 15% | 31% | 31% | 19% | 0% | 4% | 3.0 | 5.8 | 6.2 | 7.4 | 6.6 | 6.9 | 7.9 | Stretch |
| Network resistors | 25% | 36% | 28% | 8% | 3% | 0% | 2.4 | 4.5 | 5.2 | 5.5 | 5.6 | 6.3 | 5.6 | Shrink |
| Thick film chip resistors | 29% | 44% | 21% | 6% | 0% | 0% | 2.8 | 4.4 | 5.0 | 5.3 | 4.0 | 5.2 | 4.3 | Shrink |
| Carbon film resistors | 19% | 51% | 24% | 5% | 0% | 0% | 2.2 | 4.1 | 4.6 | 5.4 | 3.9 | 4.9 | 4.7 | Shrink |
| Wirewound resistors | 16% | 52% | 26% | 6% | 0% | 0% | 2.8 | 4.5 | 5.1 | 4.5 | 4.6 | 5.7 | 5.0 | Shrink |
| Ceramic chip capacitors | 23% | 45% | 25% | 7% | 0% | 0% | 4.2 | 4.3 | 5.1 | 5.2 | 5.2 | 5.9 | 4.8 | Shrink |
| Film capacitors | 30% | 42% | 24% | 0% | 3% | 0% | 4.1 | 4.3 | 5.5 | 5.2 | 5.1 | 7.0 | 4.3 | Shrink |
| Tantalum chip capacitors | 20% | 45% | 28% | 8% | 0% | 0% | 3.8 | 6.0 | 7.1 | 4.3 | 7.3 | 8.2 | 5.0 | Shrink |
| D-SUB connectors | 27% | 42% | 21% | 6% | 3% | 0% | 3.4 | 3.8 | 5.3 | 4.1 | 5.9 | 6.1 | 5.0 | Shrink |
| PLCC connectors | 27% | 46% | 12% | 12% | 4% | 0% | 4.2 | 3.9 | 5.6 | 4.1 | 5.9 | 6.8 | 5.4 | Shrink |
| PCB connectors | 18% | 45% | 29% | 5% | 3% | 0% | 4.4 | 3.5 | 5.1 | 4.9 | 5.7 | 6.5 | 5.5 | Shrink |
| DIP switches | 24% | 41% | 31% | 3% | 0% | 0% | 5.0 | 3.9 | 5.7 | 4.8 | 5.2 | 6.4 | 4.6 | Shrink |
| Pushbutton switches | 24% | 40% | 24% | 9% | 2% | 0% | 4.5 | 3.2 | 5.5 | 4.5 | 4.6 | 5.8 | 5.4 | Shrink |
| Slide switches | 15% | 48% | 26% | 11% | 0% | 0% | 2.9 | 3.4 | 5.5 | 4.5 | 4.7 | 7.6 | 5.6 | Shrink |
| General purpose relays | 24% | 40% | 22% | 11% | 2% | 0% | 2.8 | 3.3 | 4.9 | 4.5 | 4.8 | 6.2 | 5.6 | Shrink |
| Solid state relays | 15% | 46% | 23% | 12% | 4% | 0% | 2.8 | 3.7 | 6.3 | 4.2 | 5.7 | 7.6 | 6.3 | Shrink |
| NiCd batteries | 17% | 57% | 17% | 4% | 0% | 4% | 2.8 | 4.6 | 5.4 | 4.4 | 4.8 | 6.0 | 5.7 | Shrink |
| NiMH batteries | 17% | 56% | 22% | 6% | 0% | 0% | 2.7 | 4.4 | 5.6 | 4.4 | 5.0 | 5.6 | 4.7 | Shrink |
| Li-ion batteries | 13% | 63% | 25% | 0% | 0% | 0% | 3.9 | 4.4 | 5.6 | 5.5 | 6.5 | 8.5 | 4.3 | Shrink |
| Switcher power supplies | 13% | 27% | 40% | 10% | 3% | 7% | 5.3 | 4.3 | 6.8 | 6.2 | 9.5 | 6.8 | 8.9 | Stretch |
| Single sided printed circuit boards | 4% | 61% | 27% | 4% | 2% | 2% | 4.5 | 4.6 | 6.1 | 6.1 | 5.3 | 6.2 | 6.2 | No change |
| Double sided printed circuit boards | 4% | 57% | 26% | 4% | 7% | 2% | 5.4 | 4.7 | 6.0 | 5.0 | 5.7 | 7.3 | 7.2 | Shrink |
| Multi-layer printed circuit boards | 8% | 54% | 26% | 8% | 2% | 2% | 4.9 | 6.0 | 6.4 | 5.8 | 7.4 | 8.2 | 6.5 | Shrink |
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