Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/1174596
OCTOBER 2019 I DESIGN007 MAGAZINE 23 or something like that—the problem is that they're going to be doing this stuff, but they don't necessarily have the formal education. Beeson: That's a good point, and it's related to what's the scope and scale that any distribu- tor can provide. We have live, embedded re- sources around the world to support various questions that we receive, but even with that, we're trying to engage and grow the ecosys- tem. We use the phrase "design service pro- viders." There are a lot of different resources out there globally. We can connect the dots. If we can't answer a question, can we align you quickly with someone who can? The concept of expanding our ecosystem is critical for us. We'll continue to build out our design service providers so that they can get as detailed and technical as one would want to support the user community. Over time, and because of scale, it becomes a daunting task to think you can do it all yourself, so we're look- ing for means to expand. Holden: Can we expect to see Digi-Key people at industry trade shows, roaming the aisles or sitting in on presentations? After all, this is kind of your ecosystem now. Beeson: We've always been supportive of mak- ing sure that our in-house resources are tech- nically competent and up to speed. Typical- ly, we have three or four different suppliers in a day that we're having that discussion with. We are trying to get out a little bit more as well and making sure that we have people that are attending the appropriate functions that will provide us more insight and educa - tion on the movement of the industry. I don't think there's an obstacle for us to do that, and we're making sure that we're resourced to do that as well. That's why we can do it direct- ly or through some partnerships to make sure that we have that true support of the ecosys- tem aligned. Johnson: About six months ago, we had some news coverage on parts shortages in the sup- ply chain and the issues. We spoke with COO interesting. When I look at my golf bag, there's a reason I have 14 clubs and not just one. In the world of EDA, we're trying to provide a wide assortment of tools because everyone's situation is a little bit different related to what problem we're trying to solve. From our per- spective, we want to make sure that we have a very broad offering that's aligned and focus on what's most popular, practical, and scal- able from a global perspective while also hav- ing some variety. Then, we need to support the solution. We're north of 1.9 million stocked parts; a few years ago, it was 600,000. It's nice to have the EDA tools, but what's the practicality of even supporting all of that design activity at the component level? Our mindset is to contin- ue to have a broad offering at the component level because one feeds the other, such as de- velopment boards and overlays back into the solution that the customers are seeking. Holden: You're a parts distributor. Now, you have EDA tools and all of their libraries. Doesn't that add a big overhead burden and eat into the whole overhead, profit, and all of these other aspects you have to support? Beeson: It's an opportunity cost if you don't. So, what's the trade-off? Do you want the op- portunity cost or the ability to support? We look at the business a little bit differently than many. As a private company, we do things that we hope are deemed contrarian. Due to our po- sitioning in the global market, we're able to do things with a long-term perspective. Even with isolated transactions, one would ask, "Does it make sense not to have an order minimum to take a $2 order when it costs you a lot more than that to process, for instance?" It's one of many things that we look at more holistically and incorporate into our solutions. When we do that, we have greater clarity related to our readiness and the overall support to the user community we're trying to serve. Holden: Is there any tech support on some of these things? Especially if they're a maker or not an electronics company—such as an OEM