2009/2010 - The Industry Review and Preview - Mark Burr-Lonnon, Mouser Electronics

Top industry executives set aside their holiday shopping when the Disti Blog questions landed on their desks so we can all learn about their views on just how bad it was in 2009 and whether there are any portents for fairer climes in 2010. I'll keep these on top of the posts right through the holiday until the New Year so you can dip in and out if you don't fancy reading them all in one go.

Mark Burr-Lonnon, vice president, EMEA and Asia/Pacific, Mouser Electronics

 

Review 2009 for us. As awful as it looked or not as bad as painted?

 

Industry wise for sure its been a tough year, maybe awful for some,but the back half has helped many companies back to respectability. Mouser in recent years has been accustomed to 25% + growth so for us we have been disappointed to be on a run rate to end the year 4.5-5% down however in the current market I am sure all outside commentators would deem that a wonderful success.

We have been helped by our focus on new designs and the engineering market not volume .The number of projects continues to rise and that is great news for the industry as we climb off the bottom of the market.

We continue to  attract new customers at a phenomenal rate and that  drives the growth in all geographies

Geographical growth  is key and in November Internationally our sales accounted for 30.8% of our business up from 11% in Jan 2008.In a tough year we will see Asia grow by over 45% and Europe by over 25%. The Americas is rebounding well but the year started out very tough

Mouser has seen growth every week since mid April 2008 and recently quickening pace. Like many I agree it is at almost “overheating” rates today but for us it’s a lot of small orders so do not expect too much soft ordering and with few long term schedules (that’s not our model) our business looks strong

 

 

How do you view prospects for 2010? Do you foresee any hurdles to the potential growth next year e.g. a double dip recession, lengthening lead times

 

2010 is still crystal ball time. Budgeting is about as much fun as it gets this year.But I will take it over last year when the market was crumbling around us as financial Armageddon hit us all.The biggest hurdle  is the Marco economic climate and that could lead us into the feared double dip but I would not forsee a second dip being as severe so more like a high right sided W.

WE have seen many lead times extend and that continues.This is actually probably good news as currently most manufacturers have held back from adding new fabs at a rate that the market can long term not probably sustain---we have been there before and its not pretty so long may this common sense prevail as hard as it can be for some manufacturers looking to take market share!.

For sure we expect to grow with double digit growth in 2010

 

What would make life easier in 2010?

 

For us new products. Mouser Is driven by new products and Technology

Availibility of products in general will be paramount

Marco economics will need to continue with todays better growth signs

A few new killer applications will be nice although for us many engineers are working on finding those “killer applications” its just that we don’t know which ones will succeed!! So the more who try the busier we are servicing the needs of them all

 

What will make 2010 for your company?

 

Strong demand and new projects/designs

New high tech parts

Continued Global expansion

New local Customer service centres

Further Internet enhancements

Local web sites in more languages

Ensuring Mouser has the best web based catalogue offering