Whatever the perceived weaknesses of the European economies, there's no shortage of distributors ready to try their luck here.
One of the more recent arrivals is Nu Horizons. It acquired DT Electronics in the UK and moved sharply to gain a foothold in the German market by buying Data-Sud Elektronik. It has now cast its eye further east and opened offices in Warsaw and Budapest to supply the growing electronics manufacturing services companies in those countries. These moves have enabled it to become, in a relatively short time span, a global distributor, a status quickly rewarded by semiconductor company Micrel which has signed a UK supplier agreement with the company, and both parties make it clear this marks the beginning of a global roll-out following success between the two parties in north American and Asia.
Mouser Electronics is not tarrying either. The catalogue-based distributor has watched Digi-Key build a presence in Europe as well as seeing the success of home-town players RS Components and Farnell Electronic Components.
It has started trading in Europe and looks set to cement a physical presence here too. Mouser likes to say it is a step ahead of its competition in introducing new supplier products to the market. In the nether world of engineering forums it is mentioned constantly and in mostly favourable terms by customers of its products. It has invested heavily to meet increased demand. Most recently it opened a new automated warehouse which it says has increased shipping capacity by more than 60%.
Comments