Heard in the Channel: Distributors go global with new services

April 30, 2012
Arrow opens new integration facilities in Brazil and India; Premier Farnell launches LED lighting project in Tanzania

Arrow Electronics announced this month the opening of new custom computer integration system facilities in Sau Paulo, Brazil, and Bangalore, India.

The integration centers provide advanced original equipment manufacturing (OEM) services, ranging from system integration and hardware solution design to custom packaging and diagnostic and functional testing.  They also provides pre-design and market delivery services, including process analyses, material planning and sourcing, order automation, land-cost optimization, global pricing, and compliance consulting and transportation services.

Arrow operates similar facilities in Arizona, Mexico, Hungary, China, and Israel.

In other news, British distributor Premier Farnell announced the launch a new LED lighting project to benefit remote communities in Tanzania. The distributor will send self-assembled solar-powered LED lighting kits to communities in the region as a way to provide a sustainable, environmentally friendly and cost-effective alternative to the liquid fuel-powered lighting they use now.

The program’s ultimate goal is for local communities to purchase and assemble the simple kits of parts. Premier Farnell is preparing to ship sample kits to a nominated Tanzanian engineering company, and will begin shipping large numbers of the kits to communities throughout the country once local workforce training needs have been addressed.

Premier Farnell is partnering with the environmental collaborative United Bank of Carbon, Fauna and Flora International, and the local Tongwe Trust to deliver the program.

“This is an ambitious and important project that Premier Farnell is ideally positioned to support and drive,” Charles Denham, Premier Farnell’s sustainability manager said in announcing the program. “Solar-powered lighting is the ideal solution for remote village communities and can save them significant cost versus other forms of lighting that use fuels that must be purchased and transported over long distances.”

Closer to home, the Electronic Components Industry Association, which represents manufacturers, distributors and sales representatives in the electronics industry, recently expanded its regional reach by forming a Southern California chapter. The chapter will meet regularly to network, address local industry issues and review association progress on a variety of initiatives.

This is ECIA’s second such move; the group formed a Texas chapter earlier this year.

The first Southern California chapter meeting drew about 25 attendees, according to ECIA officials.

“There is a lot of energy and excitement about this new chapter and the value ECIA offers,” said chapter president Jim Harper of rep firm Harper and Two. “For rep firms in particular, the association provides a means to work together with our business partners to achieve mutual goals and improve the business climate for the authorized sale of electronics.”

Separately, ECIA announced the launch of a new mobile version of its industry-owned inventory search site www.ECIAauthorized.com.  Users can now use their smart phones and tablets to search for components from 44 authorized distributors of electronic components.

And finally, ECIA and others are preparing for next week’s Electronics Distribution Show in Las Vegas. Held for the first time at one of the strip’s newest venues—The Cosmopolitan—EDS 2012 is expected to draw more than 3,000 electronics industry professionals.

Don’t miss EDS or some of these other upcoming industry events:

EDS 2012
May 7-10, 2012
Las Vegas
http://www.edsconnects.com/

Avnet Smart Energy Forum
May 16, 2012
Online Event
http://www.em.avnet.com/smartenergy

ProcureCon 2012
October 15-17, 2012
Atlanta
http://www.wbresearch.com/procureconusa/home.aspx

ECIA Executive Conference
October 28-30, 2012
Chicago
http://www.eciaonline.org/meetings/ExecutiveConference/2011/index.htm

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