Global Sourcing: Electronics Buyers Search the World
-- Semiconductor International, 4/1/2001
Global sourcing isn't just for large multinational conglomerates anymore, according to Purchasing magazine. Even buyers at small companies are sourcing globally, often using the Internet as a tool to find scarce parts.Global sourcing is nothing new for electronics buyers at large OEMs and contract manufacturers. After all, most semiconductor suppliers are based in Asia and Europe. Buyers at companies like IBM, Lucent Technologies and Solectron routinely source from global suppliers.
However, a new Purchasing survey found that even electronics buyers at small OEMs and contract manufacturers are getting into the global sourcing act. Purchasers at small contract manufacturers and in the industrial, control machine tool and consumer appliance industries are expanding their sourcing universe, often using the Internet to find parts and suppliers around the world.
Responding to the survey were electronics buyers in those industries as well as the computer, telecommunications, automotive, medical equipment, test and measurement and military and aerospace industries. The survey found that, overall, 73% of buyers have increased their spending with global suppliers over the past two years. Also, 78% of buyers at companies with sales of less than $100M said they are buying more from global suppliers.
In the survey, 62% of the respondents said they will increase their buys with offshore suppliers during the next two years. About 65% at the smaller companies said they also will boost spending with global suppliers in the next few years. In many cases purchasers are buying directly from the component manufacturers.
Buyers cited several reasons for doing more offshore buying: increased business, availability and lower prices. Although supply conditions are loosening for many parts, last year was tough for many buyers looking for tantalum and ceramic capacitors, chip resistors and analog ICs. Many could not find enough parts from their existing supplier base and decided they had to look for additional suppliers.
