Time for 2nd Source Approvals

Sourcing in times of poor availability of electronic components is challenging because allocation and long leadtimes keep purchasers busy. But developers can support their sourcing departments by hardening their designs against shortages and by spending some time for 2^nd source approvals.

Harden your design against Shortages

Hardening the circuit against shortages already starts in the design phase. Do select components with known 2^nd sources wherever possible.

Many components like resistors, capacitors, discrete semiconductors and even integrated circuits come in a several different packages. Check if it is possible to layout the PCB in a way that you have the option to populate the board either with the component in package A or with the component in package B. The flexibility in the package type gives you an advantage when the production capacity of a specific package is fully utilized (package allocation).

Find 2^nd Sources

Spend some time on finding 2^nd sources. Standard discrete components are usually available from a multitude of manufacturers. Take chip resistors for example. Rutronik carries standard chip resistors from seven different manufacturers, see picture from our Linecard by Category. The logos on the linecard by category give you a first hint on where to look for product alternatives.

Rutronik’s manufacturer options for standard chip resistors

Ask an expert for help. Rutronik have experienced product managers in their staff. They have an overview on several suppliers for a given product/function. Please contact your Rutronik sales person or FAE for support.
Use our parametric component search engine on Rutronik24. The engine finds matching components to your parameter entries.
Find equivalent components from other manufacturers online. Most manufacturers like

- DIODES,
- KOA,
- Panasonic,
- Panjit,
- Pulse,
- ROHM,
- Rubycon,
- STMicroelectronics,
- TDK,
- Toshiba,
- Vishay, and
- Yageo

provide online-tools for cross-referencing competing products to their own.

Options for immediate Demand

When the component you need is out of stock try the following:

Check if the same component is available

in another packing unit. E. g. tray instead of reel or reel with 15,000 pcs instead of reel with 5,000 pcs.
with tighter specifications. E. g. same resistor series but with 1% tolerance instead of 5%.
with a higher quality grade like wider temperature range or automotive quality.
with more memory inside. Applicable to microcontrollers and memories.

In all cases make a careful analysis of the part numbering system of the component to find the next superset -> Ask an expert for help.

Find more Options with

Last update 20210430