Future Electronics I Interview
see ourselves as a transactional company - if the customer wants that, then that’s ok - but we want is to build a much deeper relationship.”
Because of the company’s focus on power Carr believes that it can talk to customers more effectively bringing a greater level of experience, understanding and knowledge to any discussion they may have, for example being able to bring a variety of design approaches geared to help a customer solve a difficult design challenge. “We want to be an extension of our customer’s design teams. We’re not looking to compete with them but to help them better understand the technology, to put the right infrastructure in place and to help increase the efficiency of their designs. Over time we have been able to demonstrate the breadth and depth of our technical knowledge and can offer customers a deep understanding of power electronics, advanced power architectures and topologies.”
Engineering skills At present there is, as Carr acknowledges, a shortage of engineering skills. With fewer analogue engineers available there has been a real loss of expertise available to industry. Fewer graduates are coming through with the necessary skills, and most tend to focus on software.
Carr believes that while this might not be the case with all companies for many the kind of support that Future is able to offer through its Future Power Division will certainly provide it with a major opportunity. “With fewer in-house skills we’re able to fill that gap and with our own set of engineers are able to offer customers a level of power expertise they might not be able to provide if they were to rely solely on their own design teams. It really is a massive opportunity for us.”
A lot of the companies based in the UK with whom Future deals are small and many lack the necessary skills. “With Future Power Solutions we are able to offer them a whole variety of different skill sets to help bring their products to market. We can advise on legislation and regulatory issues which may need to be taken into account.” As Carr explains the power market is very dynamic. “As a market it is evolving all the time. At present the big area of growth and interest is in digital power. The inflection curve may still be a few years away, but there’s a lot of work taking place.“ According to Carr digital power means fewer components and enables design engineers to build greater flexibility into their designs. “Across the sector engineers are focused
on smaller sizes, increased power density and above all great flexibility - these are the key mantra for design engineers.” Thermal management is another area of
research and development with a shift away from the need to use fans or convection techniques. Designs are now coming up that run cool and which don’t need forced air cooling. “Medical customers don’t want forced air convection as that will add noise.” Energy efficiency has also come
increasingly to the fore. “Regulations and standards are driving the market forward in the case of energy efficiency,” according to Carr. “Europe is driving regulations forward but because it’s such an important market for Asian companies they are having to adapt to and address changing regulations. European regulation is having a major impact worldwide.”
Since the launch of the new division in November last year the main challenge for Future has been to get the right skills sets in place and to find enough analogue engineers to service the company‘s growing number of customers. “We’ve worked hard to put the right team in place and the reaction has been positive. What’s been key to the successful roll out of this new venture has been our ability to communicate our intentions to our customers. We’ve worked hard to
engage them, to position new technologies - we’ve signed agreements with Intersil and CUI for example - and it’s all been very positively received.” As Future is a privately held company Carr believes it is in a position to take the long view and to build strong foundations for the future. “We’ve worked hard at developing tools to help engineers better understand how to use new technology. For Future the key differentiator from our competitors is our focus on building long term business relationships that go well beyond simply supplying customers with components. I like to think we work to seed new technologies. We have both the scale and the financial muscle to help manufacturers both in terms of innovation and in distribution.”
Carr believes that Future’s success depends on the company becoming more of a trusted advisor that simply a distributor. “Our aim is to establish a more consultative role”. “We look to engage not only with engineers but with CEOs and CTOS - senior management. If you can open a discussion at the top of an organisation you get to better understand their business and technology roadmap, which means that we’re better positioned to understand that business and what it is trying to achieve. It’s all about different levels of interaction.” ■
www.cieonline.co.uk
Components in Electronics
March 2013 21
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