DigiKey & onsemi Power the Future of Supply Chain

Leading global commerce provider DigiKey just released Season 3 of its popular Supply Chain Transformed video series, sponsored by Omron Automation and onsemi. This new season focuses on how innovative technologies like the Internet of Things (IoT) are fueling the future of the logistics industry.

 

In episode 1, “Optimizing supply chain logistics,” DigiKey and its partners dive into the evolving landscape of supply chain and logistics technology. In the video, onsemi’s Mark Seiders, Steve Harris, Ivy Spidale and John Gerard, along with DigiKey’s DeAnna Alby, discuss how technology is being used to improve warehouse inventory management, as well as how companies are modernizing and future-proofing their overall supply chains. 

 

The new video explores how onsemi manages its own complex supply chains while also providing next-generation silicon carbide and sensing technologies that power critical systems across a wide range of verticals.

 

“The expectations and performance requirements of image sensors keep going up and up and up, so we have to up our gear too in our environments and be able to test in more and more stringent situations,” says Seiders. “That's the fun part about working in the technology industry,” Spidale adds. “You are always at the forefront of innovation.”

 

For example, onsemi not only has a fully vertically integrated, in-house supply chain for silicon carbide manufacturing, but it also offers a diverse portfolio of sensors that cover the gamut of different scenarios that someone would encounter in the warehouse or distribution center.

For the industrial market, the company makes sensing technologies, including the image  used to make camera lenses and home security systems.

 

For onsemi, distribution partners like DigiKey assemble packages and then enable end customers with a full suite and solution of components that they need for their applications. By controlling the end-to-end supply chain, the manufacturer can help its customers handle faster customizations, all while ensuring that it remains top of mind for every one of those customers’ silicon carbide needs. 

 

“When we look at some of the big movers in supply chain, a lot of those have depended on the types of products that onsemi offers, especially for robotics and scanning applications,” Gerard points out. “We’ve designed specialized performance and features into the product line to meet the needs of those applications.”

 

DigiKey works with suppliers like onsemi to ensure the widespread availability of the products that drive more efficient supply chains. As a global company, it can serve a wide swath of international customers that want a “localized experience” when placing orders. “Ten years ago FedEx and UPS were coming once a week or month; today they show up every day to pick up orders,” Alby points out. 

 

Spidale says she enjoys working with DigiKey for the company’s warm, inviting culture and team members. She collaborates regularly with various DigiKey team members who “help deliver the latest and greatest new products to the marketplace.” These are important considerations in a business sector that’s continually working to solve its customers’ most difficult problems, and where it can take years of R&D to come up with new, leading-edge devices.

 

“Many innovation projects happening at the collegiate level or research level may not be able to get a one-on-one relationship with a company like onsemi, and that’s where DigiKey can come in and supply that,” Harris explains. “As a result, some of these innovation projects turn into full-blown applications. DigiKey plays a role very early on in that process.”