Distribution I Solid State Supplies interview
Punching above your weight
John MacMichael, Managing Director of Solid State Supplies, talks to Neil Tyler about how smaller distributors can succeed in a market dominated by a shrinking number of global players
S
olid State Supplies, which is part of the much larger Solid State group, is one of a growing list of smaller distributors who are focused on delivering a more personal and technically-focused level of support to
the electronics OEM community in the UK. While the company represents a limited number of suppliers who manufacture semiconductors, related electronic components and modules it
focuses on being able to provide an in-depth understanding of those products and an outstanding level of commercial and technical support. Solid State Supplies
sells products that include those for embedded processing, control and
communications (both wireless and wired), power management, and LED lighting. Formed out of
International Rectifier in the 1970s the company saw steady, if unspectacular growth, focusing heavily on the military sector. In the 1990s it bought Steatite bringing a
manufacturing capability to the business but began to lose its way in the late 1990s.
Perplexing
because at the time Solid State Supplies’ customers perceived it has having a good reputation and it was seen as a distributor able to offer impressive levels of technical support, but despite that it was struggling to attract new franchises. A spiral of decline seemed inevitable.
Fast forward to 2012 and the business is in the process of being transformed and that is in no small part due to its managing director, John MacMichael.
Appointed two years ago after working as the company’s commercial director he has raised the profile of the business and set it on a course of profitable growth. “We had been too focused on a
John MacMichael 26 March 2012
narrow sector of the market and while our core strength was our reputation –
Components in Electronics
people who I spoke too thought of the
company as being old fashioned but good at what it did - we as a company were far too inward looking. And while we had tremendous continuity in terms of our personnel we weren’t making the best of the experience that was available to us. We were too entrenched in our approach to the market, suppliers weren’t seeing enough of our sales people and we lacked sufficient product.”
A description then of a business that was being overly defensive and retrenching, rather than one looking to grow.
“As soon as I was appointed I knew we’d have to look at representing bigger
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