Interview with Eric Miscoll, EMSNOW

Published: January 14, 2025

In this information-packed interview, EMSNOW speaks with Victor Meijers, Sr. Vice President of the Electronic Components Industry Association (ECIA), the group that drives TrustedParts.com, the component platform for the authorized channel. Victor explains the many tools now available on TrustedParts to make supply chain managers’ lives easier: the Bill of Materials (BOM) tool that allows you to upload up to 1000 part numbers and set up customized alerts for trends in pricing, lead time, overall supply chain risk, and much more. Global authorized distributors populate the platform with inventory to allow a holistic view of the BOM.

The conversation also covers what’s coming for the platform, including cutting-edge component data like carbon footprint, and a discussion of the challenge of managing obsolescence. Victor urges the EMS community to use the authorized channel to avoid the risk of counterfeit and/or damaged components finding their way into electronic products.

Interview Transcript: ECIA and Trusted Parts at Electronica 2024open in new window

Interviewer (Eric Miscoll): Hello again. Welcome. I'm Eric Miscoll on the show floor of Electronica 2024 in Munich. I have Victor with ECIA, the Electronics Component Industry Association, with me today. Victor, why don't you start by giving a brief overview of ECIA and then roll into Trusted Parts?

Victor: ECIA is a nonprofit trade association, primarily focused on the Americas, but we've got a lot of global members. Our primary mission is to support the authorized channel, to make the channel more efficient, and to drive customers to use the authorized channel as much as possible to avoid counterfeit problems and other related issues.

Trusted Parts was born out of that mission. We wanted to create a platform for people purchasing and sourcing electronic components within a strictly authorized environment. It's a service to the industry on behalf of the authorized channel.

EMSNOW: Can you explain how Trusted Parts works? For example, how can EMS companies use the platform?

Victor: We aggregate information from authorized distributors onto the platform. Users can search by individual part numbers, but most EMS professionals search by bill of materials (BOM). We offer two BOM tools:

A standard tool allowing searches up to 1,000 part numbers
An extended BOM tool popular in the EUS community for managing shortage lists

When you download a bill of materials, you can see:

Pricing breakdowns by distributor
Supply chain risk analysis
Part availability
Stock levels

We also provide stock alerts. Users can set customized notifications, such as:

Price change alerts (e.g., notify if pricing increases by 10%)
Supply chain risk status changes

You can save and share BOMs with other users, and download the data to Excel for further analysis.

EMSNOW: What about obsolescence and expiration dates?

Victor: We provide design risk information with life cycle details. Our platform offers:

Pricing trends and history
Stock trends
Supply chain risk analysis based on aggregated distributor data

Many people misconceive that the authorized channel doesn't handle obsolete parts. In reality, we have distributors who specifically focus on less common parts, all fully authorized and backed by manufacturers.

EMSNOW: Can you give me a sense of ECIA's membership?

Victor: We represent a comprehensive ecosystem:

All major global distribution players
Approximately 125 manufacturers
Independent sales representative community

We have a Global Industry Practices Committee with around 200 subject matter experts covering topics from cybersecurity to environmental compliance.

EMSNOW: One emerging area seems to be carbon data. Can you discuss that?

Victor: This is an exciting development. There's huge demand for carbon footprint data by part number. We're partnering with a third party to develop a methodology that tracks carbon impact throughout a product's entire lifecycle:

Manufacturing
Shipping
Usage
Disposal

This will allow design engineers to:

Calculate total carbon footprint for a bill of materials
Identify components with the highest environmental impact
Potentially choose alternatives to reduce carbon footprint

While environmental concerns may not be the top priority, having this data enables more informed decision-making when all other factors are equal.

EMSNOW: Will this be a global initiative?

Victor: Absolutely. While demand might be strongest in EMEA, the need is global. We'll roll out the carbon footprint tool gradually, initially with controlled access before broader publication.

EMSNOW: Any final thoughts about ECIA or Trusted Parts?

Victor: Our primary focus is supporting the EMS and purchasing communities. We're continuously developing tools to make their work easier and safer by keeping them within the authorized channel. We're expanding our offerings, including CAD tools and models, but always with the goal of simplifying and securing component sourcing.

EMSNOW: Thank you for this informative discussion.

Victor: Thank you.