Anglia’s marketing director, John Bowman, explains how distributor-led supply chains unlock innovation, reduce risk and achieve competitive advantage.
Diverse and inclusive supply chains are more competitive, able to unlock innovation, provide access to new markets and deliver socioeconomic impact in local operating markets. So says Rod Robinson, a 25-year procurement veteran in a 2021 article in leading business magazine, Forbes, titled Why diverse and inclusive supply chains are needed and three tips to make it happen.
A diverse supply chain is also important because it reduces reliance on a single source, making a company more resilient to disruptions, natural—such as the temporary cessation in air traffic caused by Iceland’s Eyjafjallajökull volcano eruption in 2010—or commercial. The latter category might include lengthening lead times during periods of shortage which are all too common in the electronics components sector or even a change in direction by a strategic supplier.
Over the last couple of years, we have seen the rise of e-shops amongst a small number of key suppliers. Sophisticated e-commerce platforms are now not just the preserve of huge logistics operations such as component distributors, they are also available to any company prepared to pay for the software. And this should not be an issue; surely a plethora of e-shops will simply broaden the supply chain and encourage competition?
Perhaps eventually this may indeed be the result, but one ugly side of the initial emergence of e-shops is that some manufacturers are acting as if they believe that e-shops can replace distributors. Certain components manufacturers, perhaps envious of distribution or misunderstanding its role in the business ecosystem, have begun to determine the margin their franchised (authorized) distributors can add, and have cut their distribution partner network in favour of e-shops. This is bad news for end customers.
Let’s nail the margin issue straight away: distributors must be competitive or customers will simply find another supplier. Good distributors use reasonable trading margins to invest in FAEs and innovative customer support programs that differentiate themselves from their competitors. If there is no margin, the distributor’s role is reduced to that of a mere logistics company—they might just as well be shifting bananas as electronic components.
By cancelling long-standing contracts with effective, innovative distributors and hoping to rely on e-shops, manufacturers are reducing the ability customers have to build a resilient supply chain. There is also an increased risk of counterfeiting since customers may be forced to look for parts on the grey market.
Finally, good distributors bring much more than just product availability. Anglia, for example offers a number of specialised services, such as Ezysample, the no-questions-asked free sample service that makes it easy for designers to access the latest component technologies. Login with an Anglia Live username and password and users can start selecting free samples straight away, without the hassle of having to supply details about a project. Another example is BOM+, the fastest online bill-of-material rapid-quote tool in the industry which spits out a fully costed BOM in less than two minutes. Then, of course, there is Anglia’s commitment to providing customers with design and technical support, both from in-house product specialists and FAEs, and product experts at its manufacturing partners.
www.anglia-live.com
