Electronica 2008 - Read our full show coverage from Munich
It is important to point out that you can’t simply treat Europe as a single, homogeneous market. The one thing that is common however is that electronics is becoming all pervasive in established markets and a growing part of new emerging markets. Constant innovation is driven by an ever growing number of designers right across the world and contrary to many commentator’s views, Europe.
While recognising that there are concerns over the economic climate, the electronic design engineering (EDE) segment is already more design than manufacturing centric as a result of the technology downturn and production shift to the near and far east at the start of the decade. Indeed, with the global EDE segment conservatively estimated to grow at 6% to 8% and with significant growth anticipated in much of Eastern Europe there are significant opportunities for the multi-channel high service distribution model.
The web reduces time to market allowing engineers to get what they need quickly, in the formats they need it, We have seen an exponential growth of visitors to our web portals. Increasing business by the web is fundamental to our business strategy. E-commerce sales now account for an ever growing percentage of our total business globally, with some countries transacting well in excess of 50% online.
In fact the levels of web activity in mainland Europe now equate to us receiving an order via the web every 10 seconds. We see no signs of this acceleration slowing down.
The web is helping us to more efficiently deliver the latest technology from existing suppliers as well as different products from emerging global electronics companies.
Historically being able to update products twice or four times a year in a catalogue was enough, now the pace of development has increased dramatically and time to market pressure is at unprecedented levels. We can get new products to EDEs every day rather than quarterly or bi-annually. This is what they want to see with design cycles measured in weeks rather than months.
Andy King is president of Farnell Europe
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