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As 2022 comes to an end, EE Times is highlighting memorable stories from each of its editors over the past year. Today’s spotlight is on Barb Jorgensen, editor-in-chief for the supply chain publication EPSNews and correspondent at EE Times.
Barb has covered electronics manufacturing, procurement and business for longer than 30 years. She worked for Gannett Newspapers in Binghamton, NY, as well as for a local newspaper group in Dedham, MA. She entered trade publishing at Electronic Business magazine.
Barb spent most of her career at Electronic Business and EBN. She founded the online publication EPSNews with two industry veterans. AspenCore, a unit of Arrow Electronics, bought EPSNews in 2017.
Here are Barb’s top six stories from 2022:
1. 1972: The Year Everything Changed
Hindsight being what it is, a series of seemingly unrelated events in 1972 set the stage for the electronics industry we know today.
2. Supply Chain Experts Weigh In on CHIPS Act
Though chipmakers continue to announce plans to build foundries in the U.S. thanks to the CHIPS Act, the effort should go well beyond securing a domestic supply of ICs, supply chain experts predict.
3. Design Concerns Shift Toward Component Sourcing
As electronic components remain scarce, the pressure to get a design right the first time increases. OEMs—which always want to reduce time to market—are also keeping the long-term viability of their products in mind.
4. REEs Sourcing Makes Headway in the Americas
It takes a great deal of investment and commitment among manufacturers and suppliers to localize or regionalize a supply chain. In the Americas, developments in the automotive battery and solar sectors indicate such efforts are making headway.
5. Why Design for Supply Chain is Gaining Ground
There’s always been a tug-of-war between electronics designers and procurement. But the global semiconductor shortage has changed all that.
6. Recession is Coming, Electronics Execs Agree
Most electronics manufacturing industry executives see a recession as inevitable, according to electronics trade group IPC.