DistiBlog - the EPN Distribution Blog

Chelsea fan wins promotion

As some small consolation for John Terry's missed penalty, Chris Shipway has been named as country director of Avnet Memec's UK operations. The Chelsea season ticket holder joined the Avnet organisation following it's acquition of Azzurri Technology earlier this year. In his new role Shipway will report to Bill Walker, regional VP sales Northern Europe.

RECS can right wrongs

The Chinese electronics market has attracted plenty of flak on the issue of counterfeit components  so it is good to report it has established a Reliable Electronic Component Suppliers system (RECS), and chirpy news for Avnet which has become one of the first distributors to be granted certification under RECS .

Save the Last Dance for me

It's always a nice moment. You jump in the car in the morning. Listen to the news - get depressed, so turn to a music channel. And there, bingo! First song you hear is an absolute cracker.

Here come the judge(s)

Wow! That's a stellar group of judges Farnell has booked for the 2008 outing of its EDGE awards. Last year's winner John Noble is of course there.

Cake and candles time (but no diamonds)

It's come to my notice that TTI and Harwin the connector company are celebrating their tenth anniversary this month.

Anders arachnoid solution

Reduction in effort. Shorter time to market. Words which are music to any engineer's ears (and indeed those of the boss) and which according to UK-based Anders Electronics aptly describe its Spider TFT evaluation platform,

Digi-Key catalog test of strength

Quick Pick - a timely trick

Nice move from the Godalming, UK-based Hawco Controls which has published what it calls its Quick Pick focus product guide which details product ranges that are always available off-the-shelf for immediate delivery.

What goes around comes around!

Specialisation has always been a key element in a distributor's strategy whether dictated by customer or supplier. Goodness me they were all at it 30-odd years ago when US suppliers wouldn't share a distributor's shelves with its main competitors.

All a-board

Reference boards and development tools were once the domain of suppliers. Not any more... and Arrow has provided further evidence unveiling an evaluation board for designers looking to develop FPGA-based display applications.

Top 3 execs in component distribution

First up, this list is restricted to distributors, so the vendors miss out, though I'm sure there were folk there who had a beneficial impact on the business. And, if I'm honest, limited to my 30-year experience of the business. So feel free to disagree.

European distribution sales down in 1Q08

The European component distribution market received bad news tinged with a hint of good according to the latest DMASS numbers.