Lead-times Push Out as Economy Recovers

NPI warns clients that electronic component suppliers see an increase in demand from recent economic activity, which may create supply problems in the semiconductor industry. Texas Instruments is currently reporting lead-times of up to 20 weeks on some of their products. This trend could create major supply chain problems for companies across the world IF the global economy experiences a sharp recovery.

Manufacturing companies reacted to the economic downturn, by eliminating multiple shifts, laying off employees and closing plants. By reducing their production capacity, companies protected themselves from being overexposed in times of economic downturn. The problem with this strategy is that it could take months or even a few years to ramp up production again to pre-recession capacity. To reduce the impact of these market forces, the best thing to do is forecast product demand so NPI Services can place critical orders for long lead parts as soon as possible.

NPI’s clients benefit from economic intelligence reports throughout the quick turn prototype development period. These reports provide invaluable insights that help our clients’ production teams’ better plan and manage their production roadmap. Don’t get caught with your line down, work with NPI on quick turn PCBAs and CCAs for accurate intelligence reports on your bill of materials (BOM) to know which parts may pose production lead-time challenges.

Commitment to Schedule

NPI Project Coordinator Sarie Krant successfully researched an alternate part for a Vectron crystal oscillator that had an 8 week lead time and a MOQ. A Crystek alternative was in stock with no minimum and no NC/NR terms. The customer appreciated NPI's material expertise and resourcefulness to avoid a potential CCA schedule delay. Another example of NPI's commitment to helping our customers meet schedule by delivering ISO quality quick turn prototypes. Our cumulative on-time-delivery for 2009 as of Sept. 25 is 99.9%.

NPI Appreciates Component Distributor TTI, Inc.

Aggressive pricing and quality customer service, two staples of any successful business, have become increasingly important in today’s economy and are why NPI finds great value in working with distributor TTI as a solution for: interconnect, passive, electromechanical and discrete component needs. TTI, a subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway, Inc. offers remarkable customer service through their dynamic sales team: inside sales representative Jill Mullaney, who is always willing to help with samples and outside sales representative Marc Tousignant, who is known for resolving supply chain issues for NPI project coordinators over a couple of Baja Fresh fish tacos. NPI’s vendor relationships are essential to its success and are the reason why the company continues to offer cost effective solutions for quick turn ISO quality prototypes.

Where are the Videos and Pictures?

Imagine coming home to a couple thousand emails, a mountain of snail mail, two exciting new customers and both of your parents’ birthdays (85 and 86), not to mention niece and nephew going away to college etc…. I guess you would call it a mini culture re-adjustment period. For those RPCVs you know what I mean, well they get more intense the older you get. Prior to my wonderful trip to Africa I was advised by a creative “MAC” friend to get an HD video camera; a 15 minute trip to Costco and whalla I was an I-reporter in the making. I had a one day crash course at the San Diego Wild Animal Park and off to Dubai and Africa I went.

The camera came with PMB video software which I installed and processed the 9 hours of video on to my external 500GB hard drive. Lauren, One of my travel companions requested copies of the ACF video clips to use in their non-profit video production. I transferred the subset of ACF clips onto 2 8GB USB drives. The ACF video maker could not use the files in the format I gave her and requested them in MAC format. That’s when I felt like the PC nerd in the MAC vs PC commercials.

When we converted to MAC format, the files grew to 60GB. Ok…..This is where I kept saying something isn’t right here…… Mind you I am still being advised by a MAC creative person who has lived in a world of HW and SW user friendly video games and graphics. He can’t seem to explain why the files grew, so he dashed to Google for consultation and there the world confirmed the same strange phenomena….. Sony video compression SW was not supported by iMovie. After many hours of downloads, file analysis and Sony customer service, I have yet to be able to organize and edit the videos and still photos. My MAC friends think I should just buy a MAC for video and picture applications, but my PC side is saying find a solution and figure it out. I just bought Photoshop and also figured out some features on PMB that might work as well. Standby for a photo album announcement soon………

The Living Lion King

Wildebeests, Warthogs, Zebras, Lions, Leopards, Elephants, Gazelles, Hippos, Topi, Impala, Giraffes and many other mammals, birds and reptiles were observed on our safari. This Great Migration of 2 million animals from the Serengeti in Tanzania to Masai Mara in Kenya covers 25,000 sq km of Red Oat Grass. It’s an amazing demonstration of Mother Nature; I am so fortunate to experience this along with all the other developed country tourists who can afford to safari. There was not one Kenyan on safari and I suspect that less than 1% of the local people ever get a chance. The Masai tribes have been displaced from the plains for the safari camps and struggle to find grazing lands for their cattle. The drought has been extremely tough the last few years which threatens the sustainability of the Great Migration and the nomadic lifestyle of the beautiful Masai people. It would be sad to think that we are the last generation who will witness this marvelous ecosystem.

Once a Peace Corps Volunteer Always a PCV

Today I introduced Father Henry, Pat and Lauren to the Peace Corps. It was an emotional experience for me to walk through the gates of the compound. We met with the Country director, Ken Puvek and the Education Program Manger, Enos Radeny with hopes of developing some synergy between their two Kenyan education missions. I hung out for a while in the “Resource Center” with an IT volunteer who shared his trials and tribulations of his Peace Corps job; his first question was what operating system was installed on the PC I donated.

Later that day I had the privileged of sharing a few Tusker beers with a group of volunteers passing through Nairobi. They were from the Public Health, Deaf Education and Small Business programs. The common problem for all was the excessive corruption throughout all of Kenya. Basically the government has declared the education of its people the job of NGOs around the world. Tomorrow I leave for Safari and don’t know if I will have access to internet, so don’t think I was eaten by a Lion if you don’t see a posting.

Fr. Henry, Judy and Pat at the Peace Corps. Office

Judy with Peace Corps Business Volunteer, Nick

Peace Corps Volunteers letting loose at Havanah's

Peace Corps Volunteers, Tory (Public Health) and Allan (Deaf Education)

Computers and Chocolate Kisses

NPI Services donated a laptop computer and projector to bring technological wonderment to these children. We loaded the system with curriculum software for pre-school to high school along with hundreds of games, encyclopedia Britannica and other mind-expanding educational DVDs. We hope that they will embrace the technology and be inspired to study hard in their math and science classes to help raise the standard of their traditional roles in Kenyan society.

To symbolize my love and compassion for these adorable little orphans whose parents have died of AIDS, we filled the “Pink Trunk” with 20 pounds of Hersey’s Chocolate Kisses. This is the greatest gift of giving: to see the laughter, bright eyes and sense the joy in their bellies of a warm Chocolate Kiss.

The computer NPI Services donated loaded with software to enhance students education

Fr. Henry with the IT Department

Judy and Fr. Henry with students about to open the pink trunk.

Trunk loaded with Hershey Kisses and other goodies

One happy student with a Hershey Kiss

The smile of another wonderful student with her Hershey Kisses!