Now that we are into the fourth quarter of 2009, the end of the year cannot come quick enough for most of us. The end of 2009 will mean we can put what has been labeled the worst economic downturn since the great depression behind us and look forward to better things in 2010. 2009 will be remembered as being the year the world got turned on its head economically and opened everyone's eyes showing us that the global economy is as fragile as ever, probably even more so due to globalization.

The electronics industry has especially been hard hit with consumers not spending their hard earned cash on electronic devices which causes a ripple effect through manufacturing and the supply chain. The electronic sales for 2009 were predicted to fall ten percent. This doesn't seem a lot, however that leaves expected global sales at $1.38 trillion dollars, a down turn of $138 billion dollars. Numbers like these have a large impact on company sales. The semiconductor industry alone is expecting a 23% drop in global sales to approximately $200 billion dollars. Along similar lines the passive component market which includes capacitors, resistors and inductors is looking at an 18% fall in sales to 20 billion dollars.

With the economic downturn electronic parts and component supplying companies have to rethink their business strategies and are now concentrating more on their core business to be able to weather the economic storm. It has also been an important time to invest in assurance and quality inspection processes. As a result of the electronic component supply downturn it has been easier for the manufacturers of substandard and counterfeit parts to get their hazardous product into the marketplace and into electronic devices. It has become easier for these illegal manufacturers as suppliers look for cheaper products and shorter lead time suppliers. This is why many established electronic parts suppliers are putting a lot of investment and time into their quality inspection methods and processes to ensure they are supplying top quality products to the market and into protecting their customers from hazardous substandard and counterfeit parts.

With all the economic doom and gloom aside there is a light at the end of the tunnel and sales expectations are predicted to improve towards the end of the fourth quarter of 2009 and even more into 2010. With consumer confidence returning, sales of electronic devices will begin to increase and will kick start the manufacturing and electronic parts and component supply chains and aid in the economic recovery we hope to see in 2010.