Implementing Design for Supply Chain Principles in Electronic Product Development

Electronics designers used to be siloed from wider supply chain concerns. But in recent years, and amid many disruptions, designers and electrical engineers have become more closely acquainted with supply chain management. That’s particularly the case for electronics design teams that have successfully navigated supply shortages, learned how to avoid large-scale reworks, and become adept at meeting core client and product requirements. 

Altium’s supply chain management and BOM management software have helped many design teams to embrace the Design for Supply Chain (DfSC) principles.  Deep integration of real-time component data helps PCB designers plan for sudden changes in their supply chains and pinpoint components with lifespan, cost, and functionality risks. Design for Supply Chain is a strategy that can help engineers bring together insights from a variety of stakeholders and generate product value through proactivity.

What Is Design for Supply Chain (DfSC)?

The premise of DfSC—an element of Design for Excellence (DfX)—is simple: Gain as much supply chain insight as possible in order to create long-lasting designs that integrate sourcing, costs, and lifecycle data much sooner in the design process. Design for Supply Chain expands the more familiar Design for Manufacturing beyond the factory walls, ensuring that components, costs, risks, logistics, and sustainability are optimized across the entire end-to-end value stream rather than solely within the production line. It facilitates proactive supply chain risk management to reduce costs and accelerate time-to-market.

PCB designers are often at the mercy of component suppliers and the impacts of global events on parts availability. Although parts can be readily selected based on distributor inventories, they can quickly sell out to a big buyer at a moment's notice, and a design or procurement team may have no idea until it's time to order parts. Some of the core principles of DfSC focus on anticipation and contingency planning to address these risks in procuring electronic components.

Principles of DfSC

The principles of DfSC can be rather broad. And while it’s important to understand the effect they have on the end product, I’ll go into some of the unique factors and benefits for engineers and their engagements with procurement teams.

• Early Integration: The majority of procurement systems today are designed to support proactive planning. It has been well-documented among many of the leading electronics organizations that early integration of supply chain insight can significantly benefit all stakeholders. This is the main guiding principle of DfSC, forming the foundations of due diligence and data-driven decision-making.
• Supplier Selection and Due Diligence: Choosing the right supplier has always been driven by the potential to build relationships. Markets can shift drastically in the face of evolving demand and geopolitical disruption. DfSC encourages data-driven supplier selection and due diligence in PCB design organizations, often centering procurement around a multi-sourcing strategy.
• Component Standardization: When custom parts are needed, companies prefer parts that have some level of standardization and modularity from well-known vendors. Attempting to standardize custom parts is very common with custom magnetic components, for example, as there are vendors with ready-to-assemble component systems who can provide parts at volume. 

Why PCB Design Must Consider Supply Chain Integration

The electronics supply chain has always experienced its share of volatility, but events this decade seem to have increased the level of supply chain volatility, which has brought procurement closer to the front end of the design process.

Consider the most recent global shift that impacts supply chains worldwide—the rising tariffs between the US and China. This impacts all facets of the global supply chain. Of course, this is not limited to China—the US has also implemented higher import duties on other fast-growing electronics markets, particularly those producing semiconductors. 

Those that fail to visualize the impact of such events are left behind in a period of uncertainty as they scramble to source cheaper, readily available parts in order to meet client requirements amid seemingly futile attempts at cost reduction. 

That is not all. Relationships are likely to shift in the coming years as global alliances shift and countries strive to localize part development and production. Moving forward, electronics development companies require greater insight in order to look beyond the immediate cost benefits of switching up their suppliers or sourcing from distributors.

DfSC Principles Applied to PCB Design

PCB designers are beginning to realize how supply chain events influence design decisions. Engineers who embrace DfSC build boards that meet electrical and mechanical requirements, but beyond that, they can anticipate sourcing requirement changes, reduce the need to navigate production delays, and plan improvements to their product lifecycle. 

The aforementioned principles apply to PCB design in the following ways: 

Early Integration of Supply Chain Data

Accessing up-to-date supplier data in the design phase helps engineers choose components based on availability, lead times, and cost-avoidance in later design reviews. 

Smart Supplier and Part Selection

Designers collaborate with procurement to select parts that are not only suited to the product, but also found among multiple, reliable vendors. 

Logistics-Informed Design

Design decisions like board size, panellization, and material choices affect shipping and production costs. Earlier consideration of logistics can support both manufacturers (simplifying packing) and buyers (reducing product delays). 

Component Standardization and Viable Contingencies

The use of standardized parts and approved vendor lists (AVLs) ensures consistent sourcing and can aid substitution when preferred components are unavailable. 

Proactive Supply Chain Risk Management Informs Designs

Flagging lifecycle issues, price volatility, or regulatory risks early helps designers and procurement plan ahead—avoiding last-minute part changes or compliance issues. 

Streamlining Electronic Product Development with DfSC

Design for Supply Chain helps electronics teams make smarter choices early, so products launch faster and at lower cost. In a well-designed DfSC workflow supported by integrated supply chain data, engineers can:

• Select components that are plentiful and not about to be discontinued, avoiding late-stage redesigns.
• Integrate supply chain risk management early in the design phase. 
• Calculate the true “door-to-door” cost before budgets are approved.
• Line up backup suppliers for key components, so production stays on track even if one source falters.
• Bake in environmental rules and serial-number tracking from day one, reducing recall and compliance headaches.

By shifting these decisions left, electronic development projects avoid costly re-spins and production delays.

PCB Supply Chain Data and BOM Management

DfSC and Supply Chain Data Integration

DfSC ensures that organizations build a resilient procurement model by focusing on quality, reliability, and availability. For engineers, that means choosing components based not only on the immediate client requirements, but also supplier performance, geographic risks, and lifecycle status.

Altium's supply chain data integration enables greater visibility by integrating up-to-date supplier, component data, and sourcing insights directly into the design environment. This gives engineers instant access to parts availability, pricing, compliance data, and alternative options. 

DfSC and BOM Management

When considering DfSC, a core tenet of PCB design is ongoing management of bills of materials (BOM)—not just in design completion, but throughout the product lifecycle. Active management of your BOM helps limit the impacts of shifts in supplier status. 

BOM management is one of the key capabilities of the Altium's platform, alongside requirements management, manufacturing collaboration, and supply chain management solutions, integrating with a number of supporting data streams, which simplifies the parts sourcing process for engineers and procurement managers. 

Altium connects design and supply chain data into a single collaborative platform, empowering teams to make smarter decisions in the earlier stages of design. Whether you’re aiming to reduce costs, mitigate reworks, or improve sourcing resilience, DfSC is no longer optional. Altium has all the necessary tools to implement DfSC from schematic to shipment, adding value to the services that PCB design teams provide. 

Interested in taking control of your supply chain management? Discover how Altium simplifies BOM management, mitigates risks, controls costs, and integrates up-to-date supply chain data.