Interconnection
Support for customers through challenging times
By Ian Wallace, director, EMEA business development at Digi-Key Electronics
Ian Wallace B
rexit, Incoterms, trade issues and COVID-19 have been throwing multiple wrenches in businesses
around the world, including the electronic components industry. Digi-Key is here to support our customers in the UK and beyond with the products and tools needed to continue innovating through the most challenging of times. Brexit and COVID-19 in particular have
been unsettling to many companies and while the world is still sorting through the implications of both, one constant is true: our customers need reliable, steady supply chains to successfully continue their businesses. Consistency is the key, and customers need partners who deliver on time, provide competitive pricing and are easy to do business with to remove risk and variability. With a long-standing
business model trusted by customers around the world, Digi-Key delivers consistency and continuity, providing more than 10 million products globally, with more than 2.2 million in stock and available for immediate shipment (within 48 hours to UK customers), from over 800 quality name-brand manufacturers. Our commitment to providing the broadest selection of products and high levels of inventory to support customers with what they need when they need it, combined with an online model and customer service, all contribute to a reliable and consistent customer experience through turbulent times. Digi-Key’s centralised, US based
warehouse serves all of our customers globally, providing consistency and efficiency. An added layer of support comes from our strong relationships with logistics partners. Customers ordering online can count on their order to be picked, packed and shipped out in 20 minutes, arriving to them in just 48 hours in the UK. We continue to invest in our customers and in the future through new tools, support, adding more than 200 new suppliers and 300,000 new products, and building an expanded 2.2 million square foot Product Distribution Center that will provide even more power, automation and efficiency. Real-time application programming interfaces (APIs) are another set of tools from Digi-Key that provide automation for customers via a machine- to-machine connection. Digi-Key’s API solutions allow purchasers to get a price more quickly. With Digi-Key’s API solution, pricing is updated in real-time and prices can be honored for 30 days by generating a digital quote. With these reduced hard costs of product prices, as well as the soft costs of time spent on invoices, quotes and
returns and the cost of stock, companies who utilize API solutions can expect significant cost savings. Incoterms have also seen changes as of
January 31, but those that Digi-Key currently uses – DDP, CPT, FOB and FCA – have only minor changes and will not impact delivery service. In conjunction with that, we are in constant communication with our logistics partners to ensure consistent, reliable service.
Online scheduling in local currency To further support our customers, we’ve recently launched online scheduling - providing customers the convenience to plan and place orders up to six months out in their local currency. For contract manufacturers, OEMs and other customers seeking quantities above and beyond their normal engineering or prototype quantities, Digi-Key’s new online scheduling helps to manage planning and deliveries. There’s no minimum order amount and any quantity can be scheduled across multiple dates from a single order. Online ordering helps customers to streamline project planning, take advantage of lower prices at higher
price breaks, and secure future product stock in advance. To get started, customers simply need to register online. We implemented online scheduling as a
result of customer requests, and we encourage customers to continue sharing their feedback and insights so we can best support them now and in the future. As we navigate these challenging times together, Digi-Key will continue to be a trusted partner, providing reliability in product selection and availability, as well as delivery and support. Ian Wallace is Director, EMEA Business
Development at Digi-Key Electronics where he leads the company’s global expansion by supporting new and existing customers and supplier partners in the region. Wallace’s career spans 25 years in the electronic component industry. Digi-Key is one of the world’s largest, full-service distributors of electronics components, offering more than 10 million products with over 2.2 million in stock and available for immediate shipment, from more than 800 quality, name-brand manufacturers.
digikey.co.uk
34 April 2020
Components in Electronics
www.cieonline.co.uk
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