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What Makes the Life Sciences Supply Chain Different?

What Makes the Life Sciences Supply Chain Different? The life sciences supply chain is unique due to its complexity, high stakes, and the critical role it plays in patient care and public health. It handles a wide range of items, including pharmaceuticals, medical devices, diagnostics, and biologics, each with unique requirements for storage, handling, and transportation. Key aspects that set the life sciences supply chain apart include: Complexity and Regulation: The products it handles are often Read Article

Advanced Forecasting for Reducing Inventory Costs

Advanced Forecasting for Reducing Inventory Costs In today's competitive business environment, efficient inventory management is a key strategic factor for reducing costs and increasing customer satisfaction. One of the most effective ways to achieve this is through advanced forecasting. The Case for Advanced Forecasting The case for Advanced Forecasting is compelling. It’s a strategic approach that leverages cutting-edge technologies and methodologies to predict future trends and behaviors Read Article

PCB Manufacturers Offering the Shortest Turnaround Times

PCB Manufacturers Offering the Shortest Turnaround Times With the growing demand for PCBs in just about every electronic device in development, time is of the essence. For manufacturers or even hobbyists, quickly getting hold of a functional prototype can be the difference between success and missed opportunities; as a solution to this time-intensive problem, some manufacturers have started offering quick-turn PCBs. Note from the editor: The text below lists several companies offering quick-turn PCB Read Article

Securing Early Access to Cutting-Edge Components

Securing Early Access to Cutting-Edge Components Historically, PCB designers have faced the ongoing challenge of finding the right component for whichever purpose their eventual manufactured PCB will serve. With supply shortages, poor quality parts, and unreliable vendors filling the space, that has proven troublesome. Today, with the oversaturation of the tech market and growing consumer demand for bigger and better, designers now face an even more difficult task: sourcing cutting-edge Read Article

Certified Suppliers for Compliant Medical PCBs

Certified Suppliers for Compliant Medical PCBs The medical device industry relies heavily on technology to deliver life-saving treatments and diagnostics. At the heart of many of the devices used, you will find the printed circuit board—a network of electrical pathways etched onto a laminate substrate. Given the industry in which devices are used, it is of the utmost importance that designers guarantee both quality and compliance in their PCB designs to ensure patient safety and device Read Article

How Will RISC-V Change Supply Chains For Advanced Chips?

How Will RISC-V Change Supply Chains For Advanced Chips? From innovative new electronics to the most powerful artificial intelligence (AI) use cases, advanced chips form the backbone of the latest technologies—the current rate of innovation hinges on more power in smaller packages. For years, many industries have not had the expertise or resources to pursue custom chip designs, despite the fact that custom chips would bring a huge range of features in varying applications, such as harnessing the power Read Article

How Multimodal LLMs Address Supply Chain Challenges

How Multimodal LLMs Address Supply Chain Challenges The modern supply chain is a complex and dynamic network that spans across industries and the globe, encompassing a wide range of processes, everything from procurement and production all the way to distribution and delivery. As global supply chains become increasingly intricate, supply chain managers face numerous challenges, including demand forecasting, inventory management, logistics optimization and risk mitigation. The traditional methods Read Article

Mechanics Meet Electronics Seamlessly in Multi-Board PCB Design

Mechanics Meet Electronics Seamlessly in Multi-Board PCB Design If you really take time to appreciate PCB layout, you'll find that circuit boards are as much a work of art as they are driven by science and engineering. Multi-board PCB design only expands the possibilities in terms of form, function, and capabilities. The reality is that many products are multi-board systems, and the need to integrate multiple PCBs into a single package or ecosystem is a specialized area of electronics development. What makes Read Article

How Thermoformed Flex PCB’s are Designed and Fabricated

How Thermoformed Flex PCB’s are Designed and Fabricated In today’s fast-paced world of electronics, we’re always on the lookout for components that are more compact, durable, and flexible to add to the toolbox. Flexible materials and flexible circuit technology continues to be a winning solution. Read Article

Having a Conversation with your Design using AI Digital Twins

Having a Conversation With Your Design Using AI Digital Twins In this article Ari Mahpour guides us through the process of creating a “Digital Twin” like Custom GPT to give users the ability to “have a conversation” with their design. Read Article

PCB Thermal Design Deep Dive with Ethan Pierce

PCB Thermal Design Deep Dive with Ethan Pierce Welcome to the Altium OnTrack Podcast! Today, we are joined by Ethan Pierce, founder of Dodec Labs. He and host Zach Peterson explore the intricacies of thermal management in PCB design. If you’ve ever faced issues with overheating PCBs or want to enhance your PCB thermal design skills, this episode is a must-watch! Listen to the Episode: Watch the Episode: Episode Highlights: Importance of early thermal problem identification Effective PCB Read Article

Break Up Your PCB Data Package to Keep IP Secure

Break Up Your PCB Data Package to Keep IP Secure Contained in your PCB manufacturing data is the golden goose that drives your profitability. Make sure you keep track of who gets your data and what's kept secret. Read Article

Smart Strategies for Managing Rising Component Prices

Smart Strategies for Managing Rising Component Prices The electronics industry is currently facing a significant challenge: rising component prices. This trend is driven by a variety of factors and requires strategic management to maintain competitiveness. In the article, we will present an analysis of the challenges faced by the electronics industry due to rising component prices. There are the key drivers of this trend, including supply chain disruptions, increased demand for electronic components Read Article

Move Over China, Malaysia Intends to Be the Next Semiconductor Powerhouse

Move Over China, Malaysia Intends to Be the Next Semiconductor Powerhouse While China combats other regions of the world with new import-export tariffs and uncertainty around its long-term distribution of electronics, there is potential for Malaysia to make headway in the industry. Watching things unfold we realize that, following great effort to improve the supply of components like semiconductors and other pieces of consumer electronics, there is potential for these gains to be reversed in the form of higher overall Read Article

How Are Buyers Working Around New Chinese Tariffs?

How Are Buyers Working Around New Chinese Tariffs? The trade war between the US and China is triggering significant changes that could impact supply chains, from the electronic powerhouse in the Far East to the emerging Western industries. However, China’s favorable pricing structure may alleviate any concerns about increased import prices and limitations, resulting in mere inconveniences for supply chains rather than major disruptions. Not only is the US making bold changes, though, as European Read Article

Electronics Development in the Cloud Without Exposing IP

Harnessing the Power of Cloud-Based Solutions for Electronics Development: A Focus on IP Protection In the rapidly evolving world of electronics development, cloud-based solutions are becoming increasingly prevalent. This shift is driven by the need for greater efficiency, scalability, and accessibility in the development process. However, as we move towards these digital solutions, a critical aspect that demands our attention is Intellectual Property (IP) protection. Read Article

Regulatory Compliance Through Traceable Component Sourcing

Regulatory Compliance Through Traceable Component Sourcing With the electronics industry deepening in complexity and dependence on critical components during times of shortage and regulatory change rising, it has become most important that PCB designers and manufacturers approach the development of printed circuit boards (PCBs) with adaptability and compliance in mind. Doing so requires meticulous attention to detail, especially when it comes to sourcing components. With that in mind, traceable component Read Article