Collaboration lowers risk and accelerates time to market

The dynamics in the world of industrial component distributors are palpable. Big players being taken over by other big players, often indicating a saturated market, regularly lead to a downward price war and a race for the shortest delivery times. But in the Benelux, the conversations go far beyond price and delivery time. Here it is mainly about innovation within the industrial domain.

Local distributors have a vision where they focus on engaging in projects and adding value through their expertise. Our starting point? Our customers develop systems, and we support them by selecting the right individual components to build their systems. This is all about sharing knowledge, and as a reward we get to supply the necessary components. This is not about the lowest price, but about the right product, which results in fewer risks in implementing the product.

This can be further improved by multi-party collaboration, both horizontally within the market with peers and competitors, and vertically within the chain with engineers and "co-builders. This is essential to avoid unexpected obstacles in the process. Obstacles that others might have anticipated and that cause delays.

Within the various sectors of the Federatie Het Instrument (FHI), the trade association for the technical sector in the Dutch-speaking region, this cooperation, exchange of knowledge and networking is strongly encouraged. Particularly in the industrial electronics sector, many fairs and events are organized, where joint promotional activities are undertaken. An example of this is the "gadget projects" during fairs such as Electronics & Applications and WOTS, organized by FHI.

These "gadget projects" engage trade show visitors with multiple exhibitors and allow them to collect parts to build a gadget. This leads to valuable contact moments with individuals and companies that might otherwise be difficult to reach. The participating companies act as sponsors for the necessary hardware and software. During the preliminary stages of such projects, meetings take place between developers to exchange ideas and suppliers of services and components to realize a working product. During these processes, those involved learn each other's strengths and mutual trust grows.

This forms the basis for further cooperation. After all, these actors also encounter each other regularly in daily business, for example during development projects at customers. If, as a distributor, you are able to refer your customer to a fellow distributor, developer or assembly company, you not only help the customer further, but also your own product. This creates a robust ecosystem in which everyone benefits.

Hans Zijlstra
Commercial director Elincom Electronics and vice president of the Industrial Electronics branch of the FHI