The Internet phenomenon may be putting the electronics industry in the evolutionary fast lane, but OEM purchasers and supply-chain managers still have their hazard lights on as they approach the highway's on-ramp.
Given the number of new sourcing sites cropping up almost overnight, purchasers are quickly learning how to shift their long-standing ways of finding, buying, and negotiating parts. And while cautious about whom they turn to in this brave new world, they are stopping to ask directions. Despite the strong projected growth, the plethora of online companies playing in the e-procurement space has commodity and supply-chain managers wary. A consensus among the participants appeared to be that, while many of the online organizations facilitate transactions and communications between parties, buyers found it difficult to pore through all of the sites without complicating the supply-chain process. Rather, they were seeking a one-stop shop where they could aggregate data, source suppliers, quote prices, and negotiate deals. The Internet companies at the session offer a variety of services, including excess-parts availability, online sourcing, and access to databases. Here are a few specialised electronics websites covering various aspects of the electronics world.
Electronics tutorials
www.basicelectronics.com allows you to browse the subject of ELECTRONICS. If you are just starting the journey of learning electronics, you can make use of the simple nature and graphical content of this site. Feel free to look around. This covers basic electronics concepts, theories and principles. A 'must visit' site for students of physics and electronics.
Electronics articles
Searching for electronics articles and stuff like that? www.electronics.about.com/industry/electronics/library/bl_articlesoffsite.htm gives you an assortment of useful articles from various electronics magazines. It has got a wide range of latest technology articles from digital/analogue signals to micro controllers to test and measurement instruments.
Troubleshooting of home appliances (www.repairfaq.org/sam/ )
This page gives you tips by Samuel M. Goldwasser on repair of consumer electronics from SMPS to Television with schematics and diagrams. This page also gives you links to various 'frequently asked questions' sections.
Good homemade PCBs
If you are looking for a site where you would really want to get an insight into the making of good as well as high-quality home made PCBs, then the following site may fulfil your requirements: www.netcomuk.co.uk/~wwl/pcbs.html
Electronics news
To know the latest news in the electronics industry throughout the world, www.ebnonline.com is a good site for your reference. This site provides you with the most relevant industry specific information available on the Web. It is a tool that allows you to focus your search to selected categories of Web sites. EBN has daily news digest, industry news etc. It also features certain special sections such as Electronics distribution directory, Electronics manufacturing services Directory, Top 50 distributors, Top component suppliers etc.
Electronic circuits
For an electronics enthusiast and those who are interested in making circuits of their own, www.electronicsforu.com is the perfect solution. It is a very attractive site having more than 150 downloadable circuits with their workings, entirely free of cost. Two new circuits are uploaded every month. It has another section where there are more than 1200 circuits for sale available at extremely nominal rates. What's more, you can come up with your own circuit ideas and win prizes!
Soldering/De-soldering guide
You can have an access to basic soldering and de-soldering guide in the web site of EPE Magazine (www.epemag.wimborne.co.uk/solderfaq.htm). This written guide will help beginners and novices to obtain effective results when soldering electronic components. If you have little or no experience of using a soldering iron, then you must practice your soldering technique on some fresh surplus components and clean strip board (proto-board), before experimenting with a proper constructional project. This will help you to avoid the risk of disappointment when you start to assemble your first prototypes.
Electronics jobs
Are you seeking for a job in electronics? Then, www.techcareers.com is your answer. Professionals in the electronics industry converge to match great jobs with the industry's best talents. Enter Job Title, Skills, Location, Company, etc. You can click on the kind of job you require whether in the field of electronics, information technology, communications or software development etc. You can also get an insight into the real life stories on career selection in "Inside Tech-careers". Top jobs in the fast-paced world of converging communications solutions, career news of the day and links to CMP sites Computer Telephony, Call Centre, Tele-connect, Data Communications, Tele.com and Network. The Electronics industry is sizzling with new technology and jobs to match! This will allow staying tuned with trends in training and certification and checking job postings weekly for the best opportunities in the industry. Link to CMPnet leading industry sites EE-Times, EDTN and EE-Zine for the engineering school grad! The ultimate career resource for the professional developer lists job openings from the industry's leaders and brings you news on hiring trends and practices and the job market for specific skills like Java, C/C++, Linux and PERL. For the IT professional, this is the place to start a search for work -- or candidates. For one thing, Tech Careers provides amazing value to its readership with the latest salary surveys and career reporting from CMP Media's TechWeb and Information Week. It has around 50 miscellaneous electronics web links too.
Electronics museum
A funny and abstract electronics site is www.voltnet.com, having articles on older forms of (antique) electrical and electronic appliances. It has an interesting 'humour' section where you can send in your recipes that can be cooked in the 'High voltage zone'. You will have an access to 'Lighting and Bulb collector's page', 'Scientific and medical collector's page', 'Fan collector's page' and 'Radio collector's page'. It also gives you links to several other electronics pages. It also has images sent by other experimenters and enthusiasts. It will surely be a thrilling experience surfing this electronics 'museum'.
Cool learning site on electronics for students
For getting an access to cool science sites and pages full of information worth displaying in science exhibitions, demos, projects, and articles on electricity, just click on www.amasci.com. It is an ideal site for an electronics hobbyist. This gives you links to various other electronics sites
Top B2B site
The B2B horse race is off, and just out of the starting gate are more than 1,000 web marketplaces that have been announced in the past year or so. Each company can be judged on its strategy, its execution, its financial staying power and its website. As older established companies enter the race, it will be increasingly difficult to tell the real B2Bs from the B2B wannabes. You can expect this list to change significantly in a year's time. A report from Forrester Research says that there is an "unsustainable profusion" of B2B web sites. While the researchers say E-marketplace trading will expand rapidly, it won't be fast enough to support all of the current players. There will be less than 200 companies when we're all done with the shakeout, Forrester says; there are believed to be more than 600 in existence now.
www.e2open.com, is an independent, global business-to-business e-marketplace for the computer, electronics and telecommunications industries. e2open.com's electronic marketplace brings together thousands of computer, electronics and telecommunications companies of all sizes, worldwide to plan, manage and execute supply-chain transactions over the Internet. This site can help companies, better forecast and meet customer demand, improving collaboration between a buyer and its suppliers, communication and commerce.
Top B2C site
www.uBid.com is the site, which is taking real steps to attract big and small "suppliers" and expand its inventory beyond just computers and home electronics. It is taking real steps to attract big and small "suppliers" and expand its inventory beyond just computers and home electronics. uBid has launched the Auction Community to demonstrate its recognition of this key sector of the online auction industry. Not only does it give these individual merchants an obvious and easy way to apply to sell on the site, it also affords them special policies.
The Electronics buyer's guide
The Electronics and Electrical buyer's guide (www.electronics-electrical.com) is a good and friendly online shopping site for electronics - from batteries, electronic and electrical appliances, audio and video systems to high tech gadgets, gizmos etc. It also gives you an A-Z bar at the top of the screen to look for products starting with a different letters. You can use the search facility to match products and services that contain the letters that you enter. This will also give you a list of the various dealers dealing in the selected product. It asks for your registration using the 'Register' button. You will be asked to provide some basic information. In case of registered users, one has to have an access to the 'Logon' facility by just entering their valid user names and passwords. Use
Top Electronics company
Samsung is an industry leader in Digital management, characterised by openness, flexibility, and speed. Samsung Group encompasses all key business activities in telecommunications, information processing, home appliances, and semiconductor production (www.samsungindia.com).
Government electronics associations
a) ELCINA (www.elcina.com) represents the voice of Indian electronics industry and promote hardware manufacturing. Apart from this basic objective of promoting hardware manufacturing through active representation and contacts in the Government and other institutions like scientific and industry/trade organisations both in India and abroad, the Association provides a host of professional and value-added services. These services are tailored to serve the best interest of Members and are constantly upgraded to cater to their needs.
b) MIT (www.mit.gov.in/) has been struggling since several years to make India an IT Super power by the year 2008. MIT is responsible in promoting knowledge-based enterprises, Internet, e-commerce, IT based education etc. This site gives you the latest IT bills, acts and events. It covers highlights of seminars and exhibitions too.
The Internet is delivering a big message to Asian electronics manufacturers, distributors and governments: Get online. Trading, Asia's forte, is beginning to go truly global. With small investments and little training, thousands of Asia's small and medium-size enterprises (SMEs) are adopting business-to-business (B2B) e-commerce, positioning them to buy and sell worldwide.
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