EDDI and I – Supply Chain Data You Need

I know I am always banging on about data, but this is great data and I want to share it with you and give you my own take on it. So, let me introduce you to my wicked smart friend EDDI, or the Electronic Design to Delivery Index, from Nexar, a business unit of Altium.

EDDI is designed to function as a finger on the pulse of the electronics industry. By providing data on the electronic assembly realization process, from PCB design to sourcing and delivery, EDDI gives a broad view of electronics industry activity.

The Spectra EDDI report contains two main sections:

• The Industry Supply Index, which tracks the supply of different commodity categories over time.
• The Industry Demand Index, which measures sourcing demand for different categories of components across time and geographies.

You should read the report to understand the sources and methodology of the data, but rest assured there are millions of data points from the entire Altium and Nexar ecosystems driving this data, which has been collected for many years.  And they have data on even more categories than those listed. Those in need or curious should contact Nexar directly. 

Every number is based upon a baseline from January 2020 (pre-pandemic), so in simple terms, this month’s Industry Supply Index is 85, telling us that 85% of what was available in January 2020 is available now. Yes, that’s over simplistic, but there’s a lot more data.

That Index is broken down into nine categories, for example the index for Integrated Circuits is 70 and for Discrete Semiconductors it’s 56, letting us know that these are harder to find.. Conversely Power Products are at 117 and Passives are at 115 showing an increase in availability. Many of these nine categories are broken down into subcategories, such as Microcontrollers, within Integrated Circuits with an index of 23, a number that has fallen every month since September 2020. And the value really comes in spades when studying the trends as well as the absolute numbers. Every category and subcategory has a graph showing the trend since the start of the decade.

Supply and Demand Out of Balance, But You Knew That!

I know I don’t have to tell you that supply and demand are mismatched right now, but to see how much, the demand index is running at 158, 58% higher than in January 2020. And the breakdown is even more telling. The IC demand index is at 267 (not its peak, that was 274 in February of this year) and the Discrete Semiconductor  index is sitting at 198, about double the baseline. Compare demand and supply indecise and you start to see where the problems are. Supply for Discrete Semiconductors has almost halved and demand almost doubled!

This insight comes from millions of electronic components and millions of daily user interactions across design, supply chain, and manufacturing. 

Each month I’ll be trying to dig into it and see if the trends match what EMS executives are telling me.

This free report provides amazingly detailed insight to: 

• Businesses and industry professionals who want to be proactive rather than reactive in the face of disruptions. 
• Component and Design Engineers can use this report to understand whether their designs are resilient to supply chain disruption, and to decide where to invest in finding alternatives. 
• Business Analysts and Modelers can use this data to demonstrably identify supply chain risk across their entire AVL (Approved Component List). 
• Supply Chain Managers and Buyers can use this data to make decisions about whether to replenish their strategic reserves or optimize their inventory carrying costs. 
• Understanding availability trends can help businesses minimize Purchase Price Variance by recognizing supply crunches as they happen. 

Signing up to EDDI is a piece of cake! Just follow this link and away you go…

I was so impressed that I got Daniel Schoenfelder, Head of Nexar Sales at Altium LLC., on an episode of EMS@C-Level. The show is posted below, but you can easily find the video on YouTube or the audio wherever you get your podcast, or on the homepage of EMSNOW.