HILLSBORO, OR – OCTOBER 30, 2025 – The NW Electronics Design & Manufacturing Expo (NEDME) 2025 once again brought together the Pacific Northwest community for a full day of learning, networking, and industry connections.

Hosted at the Wingspan Event and Conference Center on October 22, the expo welcomed hundreds of attendees from across Oregon and Washington, including engineers, purchasing teams, and business leaders representing a wide variety of local manufacturers—not only in electronics, but also in materials, equipment, and related industries. The show floor featured over 50 exhibitors, with manufacturers demonstrating capabilities that spanned the full ecosystem of design, production, advanced materials, assembly, testing, and integrated solutions.

Adding to the energy of the event were special participants from education and research: the Portland State University Rocket Team, the Beaverton School District Robotics Program, and Oregon Museum of Science and Industry (OMSI). Their presence highlighted NEDME’s commitment to connecting industry with education and inspiring the next generation of innovators.

“For more than two decades, NEDME has served as a cornerstone event for our region,” said Mike Foresee, NEDME Steering Committee member. “It’s not just about technology—it’s about creating a space where manufacturers, innovators, educators, and students can come together to share knowledge, build partnerships, and strengthen the Northwest ecosystem.”

The technical program featured sessions on topics ranging from advanced PCB design practices to supply chain resilience and AI-driven engineering tools. Speakers emphasized practical takeaways for companies of all sizes, while exhibitors highlighted innovations tailored to the unique needs of Northwest manufacturers.
Exhibitors and attendees alike praised the show for its approachable format and community focus:

“The seminars were not only helpful, but what stood out was the balance of topics—they didn’t just focus on manufacturing, but also included valuable management insights. That broader perspective made them especially worthwhile, and I look forward to seeing more of this approach in the future.” Tom Hauge, President, Fusion EMS.

Special Thanks to Our Sponsors

The success of NEDME 2025 would not have been possible without the support of its sponsors: ASC Sunstone, Screaming Circuits, Citizens Bank, Polar Instruments, QTexAI, Westco Group, MCX, Inc., EPB&B Insurance, Stoel Rives LLP, and Opsahl Dawson. sponsors. Lunch was generously provided by the Electronics Representatives Association (ERA).

BROOKLYN, NY -- Cofactr, the electronics procurement execution platform, today announced the launch of its free to start, complete procure-to-ship service that eliminates procurement busywork for agile hardware manufacturers. Simplifying procurement for complex manufacturers with a free-to-use full-service procurement solution. Hardware teams can now upload a bill of materials (BOM) and let Cofactr's AI agents and warehouses handle sourcing, optimizing for best price and lead times, ordering, traceability, storage, kitting, and delivery to their manufacturer.

The new service addresses a critical bottleneck for hardware companies: engineering teams spending valuable time on procurement tasks instead of product development. With Cofactr's end-to-end execution model, manufacturers get authenticated components delivered production-ready while their teams remain focused on innovation.

“Looking over the last few months, we realized the most accurate representation of our mission is to make Cofactr's solution as accessible as possible," said Phillip Gulley, CSO & Co-Founder at Cofactr. “We believe that at this moment it is imperative that hardware manufacturers be able to move fast. There were two ways we could do that; offering our core electronics solution with no friction to adoption, and by making search access to the core Supplier Discovery database free. At this moment, more so than any in our lives, Cofactr believes that hardware deserves to thrive with as little obstacles as possible.”

Complete Procurement Execution

Cofactr's service combines AI-powered procurement agents with physical warehouse infrastructure to deliver:

• Intelligent Sourcing: AI agents analyze BOMs, source components across verified supplier networks, and negotiate pricing automatically
• Supplier Discovery: Search over 450,000+ verified suppliers to eliminate single-source supplier bottlenecks and find custom components
• Smart Warehousing: Components arrive at Cofactr facilities for authentication, inspection, and storage with complete chain-of-custody traceability
• Custom Kitting: Exact quantities split, spliced, and kitted for each build—eliminating excess inventory and partial reels
• Direct Delivery: Production-ready components delivered to contract manufacturers on schedule
• Real-Time Visibility: Complete tracking from quote to delivery in a unified dashboard
• TAR Compliance: Compliant storage and handling for defense and aerospace contractors

The service requires no upfront investment or platform fees. Customers pay only for components and services used, removing traditional barriers to procurement modernization.

Cofactr’s value to manufacturers has always been at the point of connection - selecting, buying from, and tracking parts from different suppliers. As OEMs and suppliers react to tariff hikes and market volatility we’ve seen surges in demand for this connectivity. Enabling trusted, verifiable connections between OEMs and suppliers as part of the entry level Cofactr offering will not only help manufacturers deal with short term shocks, but will build more robust US and regional supply networks in the long run.

"Hardware teams shouldn't need procurement expertise to build great products," said Phillip Gulley, CSO & Co-Founder at Cofactr. “We've developed a platform that lets manufacturers focus on design and final assembly. Procurement and management of electronics should be a turnkey solution, and that's what we provided. Onboard easily and quickly, upload your BOM, and with a few pieces of information, Cofactr handles everything from sourcing through a kit of materials showing up for PCBA with no upfront costs."

Built for High-Mix, Low-Volume Manufacturing

Cofactr's approach is purpose-built for the complexity of modern electronics manufacturing, particularly high-mix, low-volume (HMLV) production environments in aerospace, defense, medical devices, and robotics. The platform handles multi-variant BOMs, obsolescence management, and compliance requirements that typically consume engineering resources.

About Cofactr

Cofactr is a procurement execution platform that handles the complete procure-to-ship process for hardware manufacturers. By combining AI agents with warehouse infrastructure, Cofactr executes sourcing, negotiations, storage, kitting, and delivery—allowing engineering teams to focus on building products instead of managing supply chains. The company’s platform is in use by organizations that build everything from rocket ships, satellites, and drones to robotics, autonomous vehicles, and wearables. These companies not only need to produce and source fast while navigating stringent corporate processes and policies, but those in regulated industries additionally need to comply with governmental requirements. Within Cofactr’s single unified platform, they can now automate and manage the complexities of everything from parts sourcing, supplier procurement, payments, and shipping to cross-vendor logistics, stock availability, and government regulations. Cofactr is ITAR and SOC 2 compliant and runs entirely on AWS’s Government Cloud to meet the requirements of high-compliance industries.

Cofactr is backed by Bain Capital, Y Combinator, Floating Point Ventures, Broom and DNX.