Feature
DELIVERING SUPPORT FOR EARLY ADOPTERS
The right supply chain partner will provide expertise on new technology backed by a ready supply of justreleased components, says vice president productmanagement, TTI, Lew LaFornara
Incorporating the latest available technologies, differentiating products fromcompetitors, and doing that for the lowest possible installed costs, is the lifeblood of successful companies. Creating the products of tomorrow, however, demands awareness of the latest components, today. This holds especially true for interconnect, passives, electromechanical and circuit protection products. Keeping up with new technology and product introductions and
getting parts in hand for testing and evaluation, can be a daunting task for engineers and buyers. Finding the right distribution partnermakes all the difference inmeeting these demands efficiently and giving end products a competitive edge.
In the know Keeping up with new product introductions (NPI) and detecting those that aremost relevant, can sometimes be like surfing the internet – the information is there, but it takesmore time than you have to sort through it all. That’s why TTI has created a variety of formats to keep customers informed.
TTI boasts a
Monthly TTI newsletter, IP&EMatters, contains up-to-the-minute product alerts
16 |May/June 2013
history of strong relationships with suppliers of interconnect, passive and electromechanical (IP&E) components. Thismeans TTI is first tomarket withmany of its new products and can identify and create themarket for these products as well as service them. This not only helps suppliers bring their latest
products tomarket, but also translates into firsttomarket opportunities for TTI customers. Having a direct
VP of productmanagement and supplier marketing, Lew LaFornara
local sales contact that has supplier and product knowledge is a benefit for engineers and buyers alike and TTI states its people resources are a key differentiator. Themost direct conduit customers have for accessing the latest product information is through their sales representative. These individuals are not only in the know about supplier NPIs, but are dedicated to disseminating this knowledge to their customers in a timelymanner. TTI has also developed a structure wherein corporate product teams are built around specific suppliers and functionalities, to ensure that knowledge is as deep and wide as its inventory. Well organized, updated and reliable online resources and
educational opportunities can also ease the burden of sourcing new products. TTI offers a number of categoryspecific newsletters and product alerts aimed at getting NPI information in front of customers as quickly as possible. Formore indepth product overviews, it produces product quickcasts designed to give engineers critical updates about new technologies. The website features dedicated NPI pages and regularly updated supplierspecificmicrosites, while theMarketEye section shares information about products andmarkets, including key commodity pricing, lead time trends, industry analysis, technology and white papers. Other useful resources include TTI's branchbased connector
productmanagers. Their role in NPI is to keep the branch sales teams informed of new technologies and products. It is also available to customers, giving themaccess to a locally positioned technical resource. These field based resources are all backed by
www.electronics-sourcing.com
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