Jamie Furness, UK general manager at TTI Europe talks to Electronics Weekly about how his view of the distribution business has changed since his move from a catalogue house.
Since you have recently moved from a catalogue house to a focused volume distributor, could you outline the main differences?
Jamie Furness: The business models are, of course, very different. Whereas the catalogue houses seek to service, essentially, the small order market, as a specialist distributor we address a much smaller customer base. However the relationship we have with our customers and suppliers is incredibly close, and that’s probably the biggest change for me, personally.
As a specialist volume supplier of a product portfolio, which includes connectors, passives, discretes, relays and switches, it is important that we have this kind of partnership with our suppliers and customers
High service/value add is a term that is bandied about a lot. What specific services is the market demanding?
Jamie Furness: Right now when for various reasons – the tragic Japan earthquake and subsequent Tsunami and the quicker-than-expected recovery plus possible double-dip recession – some components are in short supply.
Naïve or unscrupulous suppliers may not be being as vigilant at checking for counterfeit components as they should be, so customers are demanding that we supply COC and manufacturer’s COC as well as date code to ensure that they are not put at risk.
We never supply any product that was not bought directly from our manufacturing partners. It is also important to adhere to the latest regulations such as REACH (Registration, Evaluation and Authorisation of Chemicals).
Other value add programmes include the provision of labels, barcodes and invoice with shipment.
What do you believe to be the important market growth sectors?
Jamie Furness: Key growth markets in the UK are defence, high-reliability, lighting, renewable energy power, industrial, automotive and non-automotive transport, in-particular electric vehicles.
You’ve been very active in social media – how do you see that moving forward?
Jamie Furness: I think we have seen that certain sites – which have been billed as online engineering communities – haven’t really lived up to the hype. I think this is a shame and maybe we’ll still see an engineering social network emerge, but my guess is that it will come from someone independent, not a major existing player.
But that doesn’t mean you can’t offer more than just a flat website. For example, we use the website to provide up-to-date market information on the interconnect, passives and electromechanical components industry.
This information can be accessed through free component-specific articles and technical webcasts. But users can also purchase research reports on passives, connectors and electromechanical products from industry experts.
With social tweeters already distributing the content through standard non-industry-specific web2.0 platforms such as Facebook and Twitter, the industry’s growing use of such media platforms is clearly one to watch.