New Ally In War On Counterfeit, Defective Electronic Components

In their mutual quest to mitigate the growing problem of counterfeit and defective parts, 1-Source Electronic Components, Inc and ChipChecker Ltd have teamed up to provide a suite of material management services for wholesale buyers of electronic components.

1-Source Electronic Components is a 7-year-old company with a history in electronic components distribution dating back 14 years.
ChipChecker Ltd, a wholly owned subsidiary of ChipChecker, North America, specializes in inspecting, sourcing, and procuring electronic components for major electronics manufacturers (OEMs and CEMs) and for independent distributors and component brokers.

Under their L-15 Inspection and Third-Party Testing services, 1-Source and ChipChecker are providing quality inspection of both products and suppliers in Hong Kong, mainland China, and North America. They are offering these services to distributors and brokers as well as to buyers of electronic components, in addition to related services such as sourcing, procurement, logistics, and fulfillment. The two companies said they are leveraging their combined global reach, decades of experience, and proven track records to deliver the services to their extensive list of existing customers, such as original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), contract electronics manufacturers (CEMs), and government contractors, including such high-profile companies as Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, Raytheon, BAE Systems, Benchmark Electronics, and Plexus.

"The problem of counterfeit and defective components has been a serious and rapidly growing one in both the components distribution and electronics manufacturing industries in recent years," explains Robert Lodato, Executive Vice President of 1-Source. "Off the top of my head, I can think of at least $50,000 that our company alone has lost just on bad parts we received from disreputable companies. And that doesn't include shipping parts back and forth to Asia that we were actually able to return, and sales and customers we lost due to the delay these issues caused."

Lodato recalls a time when 1-Source received a shipment of chips supposedly made by Philips. "They looked beautiful, as did the packaging. It all looked original. But, on further inspection, they turned out to be counterfeits with non-functioning cores. And there was nothing we could do to get our money back, which was a considerable amount."

From that experience, 1-Source learned and developed ways to protect itself.

"Today it's reached the point at which many distributors and especially manufacturers are afraid to buy parts from China," Lodato says. "As a result, business with China has declined sharply and honest businesses on both sides of the Pacific have been hurt. Yet there is plenty of good product there, if only people knew how to ensure they were getting it rather than the junk."

Some manufacturers have had their assembly lines shut down due to lack of parts availability; others have re-engineered their products to use different parts.

"Either way, its a huge expense to the manufacturer, and its hurting the economy," notes Lodato. "This is a really big problem and people are saying that it's about time someone did something about it. Well, we're doing it. And I believe this will prove to be a turning point in the war on bad parts."

One of the important services that ChipChecker offers is investigation of the supply and suppliers within the Asian marketplace -- or what Jon Mayfield, ChipChecker's Operating Director, calls the "brick-and-mortar" test. He says it is imperative that manufacturers know that the brokers with which they work are more than online fronts.

"1-Source and ChipChecker make sure that product from Asia or North America comes from suppliers that have a physical presence, a warehouse, and proper handling practices," Mayfield explains.

"The combination of 1-Sources customer base of OEMs, CEMs, and distributors -- combined with ChipChecker's feet-on-the-street solutions and local resources -- has created a partnership that is uniquely positioned to provide a valuable service that large companies desperately need," says Bruce R MacArthur, Chief Operating Officer of 1-Source.

"We now have the ability to offer with confidence vetted, inspected, and tested supply out of the Asian marketplace to all of our customers," notes MacArthur. "Our 15-step inspection and functional testing services will do much to gain the confidence of manufacturers around the globe and bring a real quest for quality out of this region to the global distribution chain."

L-15 Inspection services are being led by Jon Mayfield, a seasoned executive formerly with ASC and Racal-Datacom. ChipChecker is currently engaging with large customers on a contractual basis to provide services targeted at improving the hard-to-find, long-lead-time product, and ensuring the integrity of supply and supplier.

www.1sourcecomponents.com
www.chipchecker.com