To succeed, electronics manufacturers need to stay ahead of quickly accelerating technology trends. To find out how this acceleration in high-tech manufacturing is affecting TE Connectivity’s supply chain planning, we interviewed Jim McDonald, vice president, supply chain for TE Connectivity.
McDonald shared his observations on his company’s supply chain challenges and offered advice on what he thinks is important to building an efficient supply chain network today.?Jim McDonaldvice president, supply chainTE ConnectivityEBN: There is a significant acceleration in manufacturing technology which your company’s chairman and CEO, Thomas J. Lynch, mentioned in a recent interview with PwC. Lynch said smarter robots, advancement in sensors, connectivity, and 3-D printing are examples of this acceleration in high-tech manufacturing. What impact does faster manufacturing cycles have on your company’s supply chain planning? And how has this acceleration changed supply chain planning over the years?JM: Maybe 20 years ago, you were handed a product and product management would tell you, ‘This is ready to go to market, now will you please go develop a distribution strategy and a procurement strategy? And, by the way, we’re going to need some machines. Can you go and buy them?’ A lot more today has to happen up-front simultaneously with the development of the product because of the speed at which new products are being developed. Our involvement from a supply chain perspective is key when you think about early supplier involvement or logistics network design. Today, supply chain planning has to be involved up-front in the actual product development process, so having supply chain partners that can work on advanced product development can be a differentiator for a business.
