> ERA Quick Connections – Jan. 2025, Vol. 1
January 2025, Volume 1
MANUFACTURING DATA REPORTS
Manufacturing data reports from the Institute for Supply Management (ISM) are released at the beginning of every month and can be accessed at ISM. The latest report says economic activity in the manufacturing sector contracted in November for the ninth consecutive month and the 25th time in the last 26 months.
However, the electrical equipment, appliances & components sector did report growth. Read the full report.
INDUSTRY NEWS
> The U.S. Commerce Department and Natcast — the operator of the National Semiconductor Technology Center (NSTC) — this week announced the selection of Arizona State University as the site of the co-located NSTC Prototyping and NAPMP Advanced Packaging Piloting Facility. It is the third of three CHIPS for America research and development flagship facilities, and the one with the largest financial investment. Read more.
> Forbes presents its top supply chain trends for 2025. Read more.
> Leaders: Whether you’re stepping away from a role, retiring an old strategy, or letting go of habits that no longer serve you, remember that every new beginning waits on the other side. Read more about practical leadership insights on letting go and moving forward.
INDUSTRY TRENDS SURVEY
The January ERA Electronics Components Industry Trends survey is now in your inbox! Check your inbox and fill out the survey today.
Please note: ERA sends this survey monthly to one contact from each ERA member firm via email. Please be on the lookout for this survey in your email inbox. Help us make this survey a valuable resource for you and the rest of our members by taking 5 minutes to complete this each month. The results are visible only to ERA members and gives us a great cross-section of what our members see on the horizon for the near and long term.
VIEW SURVEY RESULTS
ERA NEWS
>REMINDER: The deadline is January 31 to apply for a ERA Mark Motsinger White Pin Internship award! ERA recommends searching for interns on Handshake.com. (It is free to create an account and post!)
This internship program offers a manufacturers’ rep (who is an ERA member) a chance to hire a college student as an intern, with ERA and the White Pin group subsidizing a substantial portion of the anticipated internship cost. ERA aims to give out FIVE monetary awards in 2025. Awarded rep firms will be announced mid-February! Read more and apply.
> Announcing the 2025 ERA Conference breakout session and speaker line-up! Conference breakouts sessions are the highlight of the event, and these 13 informative and interactive sessions will not disappoint.
ERA is also excited to present the Conference’s line-up of speakers who will present the keynote, general and breakout sessions and are sure to provide our attendees new insights, inspiration and knowledge.
> Place your company name and brand in front of ERA’s 4,000+ industry contacts by advertising with ERA in 2025!
Read more about options, sizes and prices in the new 2025 ERA Media Kit. View the digital flipbook or view PDF version.
Advertise in this e-newsletter and reach 3,500 industry professionals!
Find out more.
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The 2025 ERA Conference is an educational and networking event that offers the only opportunity for electronics industry reps, manufacturers and distributors to learn together from many experts in an environment dedicated to sharing proven best practices in field sales and marketing. Complete with keynote speakers, breakout sessions and networking events, this do-not-miss event offers a collaborative and energetic environment where all attendees can learn, connect and grow. 
The 89-year-old Electronics Representatives Association (ERA) is the international trade organization for professional field sales companies in the global electronics industries, manufacturers who go to market through representative firms and global distributors. It is the mission of ERA to support the professional field sales function through programs and activities that educate, inform and advocate for manufacturers’ representatives, the principals they represent and the distributors who are reps’ partners in local territories. Visit 
> Join Walter E. Tobin, CEO of the ERA, at the Electronics Life Cycle and Supply Chain Summit as he explores the pressing issue of the electronic components supply chain being buried in inventory. Whether you’re a seasoned expert or just starting out, this session will provide insight into unraveling the complexities of our current supply chain challenges. 
> EDS 2025 space registration is now open! Registration for returning companies who wish to rent weekly meeting space at EDS 2025 (Executive Meeting Rooms, Hotel Meeting Suites, Lily Ballroom space) is now open. If your company wants to rent space at EDS 2025 for the first time or after a gap of a few years, check out the space options on the 
Link.ai users: there are incredible new features on the ERA SearchLink.ai engine! In this 
MONTHLY POS REPORTS
> ERA is thrilled to announce Nikolas Badminton, futurist speaker and best-selling author, and Melissa Dailey Fairbanks, financial analyst in the semiconductor and IT supply chain sectors, as General Session speakers at the 2025 ERA Conference in February! Read the 
> ERA offers a few benefits to its members you may not know about, including a 
The Electronics Representatives Association (ERA) announces that Erik Qualman, top technology speaker, #1 best-selling author and futurist, will be the keynote speaker at the 2025 ERA Conference, taking place Feb. 23-25, 2025, in Austin, Texas.
> ERA proudly introduces 
> There is still time to register for ERA’s annual 
> Don’t forget to secure your spot at the 2025 
> ERA 
> ERA is now accepting reservations for ad space in the Fall 2024 issue of 
Automation is at the heart of modern industries and is driving forward the digital transformation in almost all sectors. 
— Kate Van Hise has joined ERA as Events Manager to replace Erin Collins who recently left ERA. Kate resides in Rockford, Ill., and is a graduate of Illinois State University. Kate joins us with superb experience in managing different types of events and conferences, facilitating sales training and listening skills courses. Kate will be managing the 2025 ERA Conference in February 2025.
— Natalie Zullo has joined ERA as Operations Specialist, a new position for ERA. Natalie is a graduate of East Carolina University and resides in Greenville, N.C. She comes to ERA from the healthcare industry with a specialty in family and community services and child development. Natalie will be involved in many different areas of ERA, supporting the team with her strong operational and organization skills.
— Ama Derringer, Membership Services Coordinator, will be taking on the role of ERA Chapter support and supporting the efforts of the various ERA chapters. She will be partnering with Cam English to facilitate COLT training on October 6-8. She will also represent ERA at electronica in Munich, Germany on November 11-14.
> The entire detailed list of training sessions for 
> What does recovery look like?
FROM THE TOP
What does recovery look like?
by John O’Brien, CPMR
ERA Chairman of the Board
How many of us are asked in meetings, “What do you see for recovery of the electronics industry?” Let’s face it, everyone is skeptical about when a recovery will occur, most people not venturing out more than two quarters to look for the growth we all know will return. Our industry is so cyclical that we often go through great periods of growth followed by short periods on flat or contraction. For those who have been around awhile, we can look back at the dotcom bust or the allocation periods, for example.
What I believe we are experiencing this time around are multiple forces driving our industry, but not always in the same direction. Going back to 2019/2020 and the COVID-19 era, expectations when COVID-19 first hit and everything shut down were that our industry would face a big downturn. I remember a meeting in March 2020 when we discussed how we would adjust to an anticipated drop in sales and revenue. As our people moved to work-from-home, it drove a surge in the very products we supply to support his new work model. As concerns arose over testing and treatments, our medical markets began to thrive.
Then 2021/2022 hit and the disruption in supply chain started to take hold. Customers bought usages going out a year so they could try to maintain their production. Then when they couldn’t get parts, they opened up their BOMs to cover build demands.
2023 rolled around and everyone was sitting on too much inventory. Everywhere throughout the supply chain, distributors, CEMs and OEMs all had raw materials inventory and in many cases, finished goods, that outpaced the end customer demand. So, throughout 2024, we’ve been tracking inventory work-downs. We’ve been watching end customer shipments but up until recently, design efforts were limited to sustaining engineering. Recently, we’ve started to see an increase in new product designs. These new designs are definitely taking longer and there are fewer going on at the same time.
So do these factors signal a recovery? I’ll get back to my original premise, “How do we define recovery?” If we look at recovery as a return to sales numbers equal or greater to the heights we’ve seen (for us that was 2022), then I believe we are still a ways out from there. Price pressures from the OEMs are causing lower overall sales, but, with similar volumes we’ve seen prior. Most recently, I’ve spoken to a number of folks at principals, distributors and CEMs and many are looking at 2019/2020 as a comparative time frame to 2024 and beyond. Everything I outlined previously in the article “artificially” inflated our numbers, so a comparison to a more stable time may help provide greater insight into what’s happening.
No matter how you define recovery, we all learned a valuable lesson over the past four years. We are a resilient industry that touches so many markets that help offset downturns. We are also an adaptive industry that sees these changes and can react quickly. Working together as reps, manufacturers and distributors, we will recover and be stronger than before.
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