New-Tech Europe Magazine | Q4 2021

and semiconductor space, having held executive engineering roles as well as directed strategy, planning, and development at OEM’s including Apple and Huawei. From experience with directing startup teams of 5 employees to divisions of 200+ with a $50M+ budget, Alan is well equipped to assist partners with their digital transformation goals in the fast-paced electronics and semiconductor industry. Alan is also accustomed to the challenges of advancing innovation with a deep technical background in telecommunications, electrical and software engineering, and hands- on expertise in cloud computing. He has driven key technology advancements within the EDA industry during his leadership roles at Mentor, Cadence, and Synopsys. Alan is also active in professional organizations including IEEE, ACM and GSA. Siemens Digital Industries Software is driving transformation to enable a digital enterprise where engineering, manufacturing and electronics design meet tomorrow. The Xcelerator portfolio helps companies of all sizes create and leverage digital twins that provide organizations with new insights, opportunities and levels of automation to drive innovation. For more information on Siemens Digital Industries Software products and services, visit siemens.com/ software or follow us on LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. Siemens Digital Industries Software – Where today meets tomorrow.

embody their intellectual property (IP) must consider IP security and be wary of counterfeit components. One of the many reasons the genealogy of the component, IP, or the chip must be traceable. Integrating into an intelligent digital marketplace system is also a must for the workflow in terms of electronic components. The current component shortage environment has genuinely exposed the fragility of supply chains and creates a mandate for digital transformation and intelligent decision making. A strong Design-to-Source Intelligence (DSI) ecosystem with engineering and supply chain professionals worldwide can transform how businesses design, source, market and sell products in the global electronics value chain. When all these approaches are used together, they can not only help semiconductor and electronics manufacturers to be more efficient and boost output with their current manufacturing assets, but, more importantly, they now can be resilient and react proactively when the next unknown crisis emerges. Digital Transformation provides the backbone of the smart factory of today and the future and will continue to be a powerful facilitator of advanced technologies, innovative designs, and tighter collaboration. Digitalization can allow the industry to turn design complexity into competitive advantage while continuously improving quality and reliability. Those who commit to a comprehensive digitalization strategy will be in the best position to lead the industry of tomorrow. AlanD. Porter - VP of Electronics and Semiconductor Industry is a 30-year veteran in the electronics

the product lifecycle to improve productivity and cost reduction through digital transformation. If companies can focus on automation and factories can run remotely, they can maintain production, even in the face of another pandemic or other major disaster or disruption. Automation software within the smart factory can collaborate with the supply chain ecosystem to get more real- time insights and companies can act accordingly and react more effectively when disasters strike. The IoT keeps everybody connected to any machine, system, or database in the factory. When combined with a low or no-code development platform, companies are very quickly able to gain insights into their data without having to learn the intricacies of the underlying technologies. Dashboards can be built and shared, while workflows pushed to mobile devices or phones allow employees to respond to their assigned issues in real-time. Then all the players in the chain have access to what they need to know based on their role in the chain. IC shortages also means companies are urgently looking for alternative suppliers. This means that their understanding of the resiliency of their supply chain must be in place to determine first and second sources and to mitigate the risks associated with switching vendors quickly. If a company is desperate to get the product out the door, it might be tempted to skip these concerns. But being smart about which vendors to trust is critical for companies because of security issues and the risk of relying on potentially untrustworthy sources. Additionally, companies whose IC designs

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