Supply Chain & Procurement are key central functions for Electronic companies when bringing new products to market.
Opposite to purely mechanical products where companies are in control of most of the manufacturing process - the Electronic companies have a higher dependency on external factors such as external component cost, Components going End of Life and outsourced manufacturing.
Supply chain therefore plays a much bigger role in the entire lifecycle of the product and should be integrated in the development processes in order to:
- Reduce component cost
- Reduce cost in product changes
- Handle End of Life Components
- Ensure that components with the right supply chain characteristics are chosen (Lead time, Supplier etc.)
- Optimize collaboration with external Partners