Del Mar Electronics Show 2012 Review

Located at the idyllic beach side site of the Del Mar Fair Grounds
in Southern California, The “Del Mar Electronics Show 2012 Review”
is about what attracts Contract Manufacturers (CMs), Original Equipment
Manufacturers (OEMs) and Original Design Manufacturers (ODMs)
to the sunny Southern California trade show every year.

Buyers and engineers as well as folks that
were “just browsing”, attended the free show which showcased
what is new and available for anything related to electronic manufacturing.

Attendees and exhibitors gathered to exchange ideas for designs, find companies to assemble and manufacture
products, locate new suppliers, see what is new and
talk to test houses about their capabilities.

I walked the trade show on Wednesday to visit booths and
chat with fellow exhibitors to find out what they do and what types of
products and services they have to offer. As I rounded the
corner at the end of building 3, I came across a booth full
of realistic heads of people created by using 3 dimensional
printing technology.

One of the Highlights of the Del Mar Electronics
Show 2012 Review includes learning more about Rapid
Protoyping and 3D printing.

3D prototyping and printing is used as a design tool,
communication aid and a way of testing form, fit, and
product functionality.

I discovered that ordering a 3 dimensional prototype of a product
before rolling it into production is cost effective and smart.

Also, 3 D printing is flat out cool. I’ve embedded a video below
from 3D Systems showing 3 D printing in action.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ltSu5PQHIM]

The trade show had three buildings filled with exhibitors.
Wednesday, May 2nd, 2012 was busy with attendees walking up
and down the aisles. I can’t say that the show is the busiest I’ve ever attended.

Ron Jiron, President and Mike Rogoff, OEM Account Executive took over on
Thursday at the Del Mar Electronics Show.

I’ve discovered over the years that it isn’t always the quantity
of people that walk up and down the aisles but the quality of the contacts.
It’s such a pleasure to run into the real players in the Southern California region and talk
shop for awhile.

The value of gathering at these types of events can’t be underestimated.

Inland Empire Components

exhibited because we were anxious to get out of the office and socialize with our fellow electronic industry comrades. Honestly, we haven’t gotten out much over the last 3 – 4 years and it was time to show our faces at the local Del Mar Electronics Show 2012.

I can’t tell you how valuable
it is to meet with current customers face to face and then
have potential new customers say “hey…I didn’t know you
existed”. I guess I need to work on my marketing.

In this Del Mar Electronics Show 2012 Review

I found that The Del Mar Electronics Show 2012 offered
Inland Empire Components the opportunity to meet new buyers and share insights
with current customers.

The Del Mar Electronics Show had several informative seminars and workshops.
The workshops were hosted by exhibitors who provided attendees an opportunity
for a closer look at the benefits, products and services available to buyers
and engineers seeking electronic manufacturing solutions.

Michelle Moore, OEM Account Executive at Inland Empire Components,
attended the Anti-Counterfeiting seminar titled “Counterfeit electronic components
are no longer a threat; they are a reality.”

Attendees learned how the proliferation of counterfeit
components in the electronic manufacturing supply chain has
accelerated over the last 10 years.

According to the speaker, Dr. Bill Cardoso of Creative Electron, Inc.,
“the number of counterfeit incidents for all electronic part types
in the US climbed by 240% from 2005 to 2008*.
Therefore, a well-designed line of defense is
vital to protect you and your customers against
counterfeiters.

Michelle discovered how to leverage the latest tools in the detection and identification
of counterfeit electronic components.

Inland Empire Components recently added an X-Ray Inspection machine to our
warehouse for inspection of incoming and outgoing electronic components.

The counterfeit seminar reinforced the importance on how inspection personnel and component engineers, can utilize state of the art equipment enabling participants to drastically improve their quality control programs. The seminar focused on utilizing X-ray Inspection, Decapsulation, and Microscopic inspection to perform visual packaging inspection marking permanence and blacktopping tests.

The speaker, Dr. Cardoso, formerly led the Electronic Systems Engineering Department at DOE’s Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory. Dr. Cardoso is on a subcommittee of the G-19 as a subject matter expert on the coming regulation concerning counterfeit component avoidance.

Another hot topic of conversation around the trade show was on electronic manufacturing companies in the United States.  The focus is on bringing manufacturers back to our shores as well as keeping the electronic manufacturers here in America. Having a business in the State of California can be challenging enough, moving manufacturing overseas has turned out to be troublesome because intellectual property laws don’t always harmonize with the United States.  Also, rising costs in Asia (particularily China) is making electronic manufacturers take a closer look at their income statements and balance sheets.

Michele Nash-Hoff, President of ElectroFab Sales, an independent manufacture’s representative agency, wrote a book titled “Can American Manufacturing Be Saved?” 

And, Ted Fogliani of Outsource Manufacturing, Inc. – Made In San Diego titled his seminar “Why aren’t you building your product in San Diego?”.   

Both Ted and Michele Nash-Hoff ask great questions. Michele makes some great points in an exerpt from her book:

Manufacturing is Critical to our National Defense

Manufacturing ensures that the U.S. has a strong industry base to support its national security objectives. We need to preserve out national and homeland security to be able to produce the goods that allow us to defend America.

Manufacturing Supplies Millions of  Jobs

Many may not realize that while the U.S. has lost millions of jobs in manufacturing in the last 20 years, manufacturing jobs are still the foundation of the U.S. economy and the basis for its middle class. Manufacturing provides high-paying  jobs for more than 14 million Americans and creates an additional eight million jobs in related industrial sectors. The five states with the largest manufacturing workforces  are: California, Texas, Ohio, Illinois, and Pennsylvania.   California’s manufacturing workforce of more than 1.5 million is almost the size of the Texas and Illinois manufacturing  workforce combined.

Manufacturing Jobs Pay Higher Wages than Service  Jobs

Manufacturing wages and benefits are approximately 25 percent higher than in non-manufacturing jobs. Manufacturing compensation averages more than $65,000, compared to an average of $53,000 in the remainder of the economy.

Dana Jiron says,

“While others ran off to manufacture in Asia and other countries, Ted put a stake in the ground right in San Diego and set up his successful contract manufacturing company, Outsource Manufacturing, Inc. in 1997. Yep, not every business owner runs screaming for the hills and out of the state.  Some of us love California (well maybe not the politics) and plan to stay strong.”

The Del Mar Electronics Show 2012 Review

concludes with an invitation to visit next year.  No, we have not booked our booth yet, but whether we exhibit or attend, we plan to be there in 2013.

About Inland Empire Components

Established in 1989, Inland Empire Components supports electronic buyers and engineers from OEM, ODM and CM manufacturing service providers.   Electronic manufacturers and distributors utilize our solutions to procure obsolete and diminished supply parts as well as commonly available products. Headquartered in Lake Elsinore, California Inland Empire Components stocks active, passive and electromechanical components from most major part manufactures.

Our commitment to continuing improvement and quality includes certification to ISO 9001:2008 & AS9120A. We are also certified by The Components Technology Institute for Counterfeit Components Avoidance Procedures (CCAP-101).

Inland Empire Components offers a level of quality and service that exceeds the industry’s highest standards. With our local ESD compliant warehouse packed with millions of parts ready to ship today and billions more available from around the globe,  we’re recognized as a preferred vendor to some of the world’s largest OEMs and Electronic Manufacturing Service (EMS) providers.