Please read our latest Milwaukee Electronics Newsletter, which includes:

  • Milwaukee Facility Names New General Manager – Igor Zelenovskiy
  • Making Responsiveness A Priority – A Message from Rick McClain
  • Engineering Resources Fill Gaps
  • Our Best Practices to Address Material Restraints

Milwaukee Electronics Newsletter Q3 2021

Please read our latest Milwaukee Electronics Newsletter, which includes:

  • IT Strategy Focused on Security, Customer Experience
  • Bringing Stability to a Challenging Market – A essage from Jered Stoehr, CEO
  • Layout In Action – How San Diego PCB Design is Attacking Cost & Quality
  • Engineering in Action – IOT Well Tank Control

Milwaukee Electronics Newsletter Q2 2021

Please read our latest Milwaukee Electronics Newsletter, which includes:

  • Organizational Changes – A Message from Mike Stoehr, Executive Chairman
  • Rick McClain’s Message – A Year of Opportunities & Challenges
  • Jered Stoehr, CEO Q&A
  • Industry Trends – Electronics & ‘The Perfect Storm’

Milwaukee Electronics Newsletter Q1 2021

Milwaukee Electronics is pleased to announce the appointment of Jered Stoehr to the position of Chief Executive Officer (CEO) succeeding his father, P. Michael Stoehr, who will take on the role of Executive Chairman.

Incoming CEO Jered Stoehr, a 19-year veteran of the company, previously held the role of Vice President of Marketing and Sales. Rick McClain, President and Chief Operating Officer (COO), rounds out the three-member senior leadership team.

Amongst his accomplishments at Milwaukee Electronics, Jered Stoehr started up the Screaming Circuits prototype and on-demand manufacturing business unit – the first e-commerce enabled electronics manufacturing organization in the world, opened an international purchasing office (IPO) for the company in Singapore and established an engineering tech center division in Pune, India.

P. Michael Stoehr has helmed the company since purchasing it in 1985. During that time, the company has grown from a small shop with 22 employees in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, to a full-service multi-national electronics design and manufacturing service provider. Originally established in 1954, Mike’s stewardship created one of the longest established manufacturing service providers in the country. As Executive Chairman, Mike will continue to contribute to organizational culture, entrepreneurial growth guidance and governance activities.

In his new role as CEO, Jered Stoehr will be focused on growth and revenue activities, building on the successes he has achieved as Vice President of Marketing and Sales. Additionally, Stoehr will prioritize efforts to improve the customer experience, quality of strategic partnerships, breadth of service/product offerings, and continue the entrepreneurial legacy of the business.

There will be no changes to the day to day operation of the business due to this appointment. The company is committed to maintaining its status as a privately held, family run business. Jered Stoehr, as CEO, will continue to drive a philosophy of constant innovation combined with the traditional customer-first values.

Please contact your Program manager, sales or customer service representative if you have any questions.

 

Time to Prepare for Shortages

Shortages and price increases are hitting the supply chain again. Some of the greatest effects are occurring in raw materials used in PCB fab and metal fabrication. Silicon components and capacitors are also showing increases in lead times and pricing.

Supply Chain Challenges are on the Rise Once Again

The global electronic component market is experiencing an increase in lead-times on many commodities. We report that about 70% of the commodity lead-times we track, are seeing an increase. The range of lead-time increases vary depending on manufacturer; they range from 2 weeks to 20 weeks.

Currently, Analog Devices and ST Micro are reporting lead-time increases into the 24 to 26-week range with warnings that all demand for 2021 will need to be placed soon to guarantee product. Some of the active commodities are also experiencing price increases in conjunction with the lead-time increase. The increasing demand along with the current coronavirus surge will continue to have a negative affect on the entire supply chain.

MLCC (multi layer ceramic capacitors) lead-times have also shown an increase, up to the 20-week range once again. The increased demand – due to 5G networks, smart phones and electric cars – is putting an extensive strain on this commodity.

The bare PCB commodity is also experiencing supply chain challenges. Both lead-times and pricing are being affected:

Upstream raw materials, such as copper foil, glass fiber, epoxy resin and solvents, for copper cladded laminates manufacturing have been in short supply. The situation is getting worse with several industrial accidents that occurred in the upstream chemical factories. As a result, the supply of copper clad laminates has become unstable, and longer lead-times and price increases are on the horizon. In some cases, allocation or a refusal to confirm delivery has happened.

 

Here are some market trends affecting those raw materials mentioned above:

Copper cladded laminated > 50%

·       Cost up in June 2020

·       Cost up in Aug 2020

·       Cost up in Sep 2020

·       Cost up in Nov 2020 x 3

RMB vs USD exchange rate increase by 6% since June

Gold price from $1500/ounce in Q1 of 2020 to >USD $1800/ ounce now 20% up

Nickel price from $5500/lb. to > $7000/lb. now 27% up 

Another commodity being affected is metal work. Steel stock, HR (hot rolled), GALF (galvanized) and plate, went up again on, or around December 12, 2020. There was also a notification that material pricing will be further increasing starting in the 1st quarter of 2021. Aside from the rising costs in material – lead times for securing some of those materials may also affect projects.

This is a quote from a metal supplier; “Steel Service Centers are more concerned with Mills being able to fulfill the supply pipeline. They have requested that we get as much product on order to meet our 2021 requirements.  We just need to commit to the tonnage. We would need to take receipt of the material sometime in the first quarter or early second quarter.”

Please see the listing below of some of the reasons from a news bulletin from one of the main vendors for steel:

·        Mills have now restricted tons booked

·        Mills have started pulling deals

·        New orders are subject to Mill acceptance and price in effect at time of ship from Mill

·        Continuation in pricing upward this week

·        No mills are currently entertaining any new spot orders

·        Mills are still trying to fill late orders, some items have trickled in, very limited amounts

·        Mills limiting future booking

·        New Mill orders are into March

·        Continued Market constraints

·        More price increases expected over the next 30 days

·        Lead times are out up to 12 weeks

·        Steel production takes an upward trend not seen in some time

·        Scrap price went up

·        Steel suppliers NLMK (Novolipetski) and CSI (California Steel Industries) have raised coating extra due to high Zinc pricing

·        US Steel finalized the purchase of Big River and startup of IN blast Furnace

 

We are Here To Help

During times like this, it is important to keep in close contact with your EMS Program Manager to manage supply and lead times. We may recommend changes in purchasing volumes and forecasts to mitigate risk.

Prototype Supply Will be Affected Too

While smaller prototype volumes may seem less likely to be affected, that may not be the case. As in past periods of allocations, some whole categories of components may come in and out of stock with little to no notice.

To better prepare you should:

 

·        Move to smaller passive component sizes if possible. Suppliers will often allocate more fab time on the smaller package sizes due to the lower raw materials content.

·        Double check your bill of materials to make sure the components you have selected are available at your chosen distributors as the last thing you do before sending your files in for an order.

·        Be ready with substitution options. Quick response to our request for a substitution can save days in the build process.

As always, we will continue to monitor all supply chain challenges, and reach out to customers accordingly.

 

Gary DeGrave, Corporate Director Supply Chain

Milwaukee Electronics

 

Please read our latest Milwaukee Electronics Newsletter, which includes:

  • A Year of Resiliency – A Message from Mike Stoehr, CEO
  • IoT Products Fill Out New Business
  • New Choice-Production Service Offered
  • Milwaukee Electronics India Office Expansion

Milwaukee Electronics Newsletter Q4 2020

Please read our latest Milwaukee Electronics Newsletter, which includes:

  • Tecate Facility Adds New SMT Line
  • A Message from Rick McClain, President & COO
  • Mitigating Supply Chain Disruption Through Transfer of Work
  • In Memoriam – Remembering Art Cannon

Milwaukee Electronics Newsletter Q3 2020

Milwaukee Electronics is open to support your manufacturing needs.
Including Milwaukee Electronics,Screaming Circuits and San Diego PCB
Design

Autumn is upon us, and we continue to work at near full capacity with our staff
at-the-ready in this current business environment. This includes a return to the
fundamentals.

Living with COVID-19 does not change our mission of Perfect Product. What
you want, when you want it. As always, we are monitoring all health authority
advisories and trends, as well as all current supply chain constraints.

As a family, here at Milwaukee Electronics, we have as a group, started to
notice some positive unintentional consequences of this pandemic. Among
those, includes our quest for the constant updating of any supply chain issue.
We are expecting change, especially now, and finding there is little to
report. While “little to report” is a good thing for all of us, we recognize change
may be around the corner. In that case, we will always immediately alert you.

In our facilities, self-policing with regard to masks and social distance has
become another part of our company culture. While frustrating at first, our staff
has become comfortable with the one-way hallway to lunch, as one example.

Even though we eat lunch with our teammates at separate tables, the
comradery continues!

Staff who are working from home, are finally getting over the “camera shy”
aspects of video meetings and some have even enjoyed meeting fellow teammates’ four-legged extended family members.

We are finding positive unintentional consequences here at our facilities and in
our homes, and we hope you are too!

Stay healthy, and if you have any questions, please reach out to your Program
Managers.