Getting the North American electronics band back together will take significant time and effort.

Thanks to a series of events and geopolitical shifts – think global supply chain strains caused by a pandemic; import tariffs ricocheting throughout the electronics industry; weapon systems depleted from regional wars – there is an outcry to get the band back together: the band being North American electronics manufacturing.

The band was playing the hits in the late 1980s and early 1990s when North America was in a leadership position as gauged not just by technical development but the ability to produce that technology in volume. The music (read: technical development) is still being written profusely, but where are the bands to play (read: manufacture) the music? That is why the crowd is chanting to get the band back together. The chanting comes in the form of legislation such as the CHIPS Act, as well as from "strategic sourcing" executives searching for local North American suppliers like they had back when the band was alive, well and making the hits.

The industry’s next generation is on the rise.

I am continually amazed at how many people I see and run into at each industry meeting or event – especially at technical meetings when I’m watching people leave one room and enter another for the next session. It strikes me a bit like watching the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace – people leave one room to enter the next to do the same thing, and repeat!

One thing that makes our industry so strong and enduring is having so many people work together to contribute to developing and refining technologies, writing standards for those technologies and processes, and sharing their knowledge with others to fully understand those technologies and standards. And then as they say, “repeat.”

Exclusively staying ahead or behind the technological curve can lead to misfortune.

Over the past decades, it has been my experience that there are two basic categories of technology: "cutting-edge" and "behind the curve." Electric (rechargeable) automobiles, for instance, would be considered cutting-edge while hybrid (gasoline and battery) automobiles are behind the curve.

Interestingly, when it comes to technology adoption, there also seem to be two types of users. There are those who must be ahead of the curve, always first with the latest technology regardless of how well it may work or how much it costs. And there are those who use only proven technology that is reliable, cost-effective and offers value.

Back in 2013, a friend took delivery of an early Tesla Model S. He was so excited to finally have an electric car, and it sure was a beauty. I remember asking him how it drove. "Like nothing else I have ever driven," he responded. But when I asked how far it could go between charges, he replied "I do not know."

Look past the scary headlines and stay focused on business plan fundamentals.

Welcome to 2023. As ready as we all try to be when beginning the annual cycle of booking orders, scheduling resources, shipping product, and oh yes, collecting payment, this year many are still tweaking their annual budgets. The effects of rising inflation and a prolonged unstable supply chain are causing many to rethink how they must operate their business to maintain margin and profitability.