Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/1174596
26 DESIGN007 MAGAZINE I OCTOBER 2019 or a variety of different parts that were a chal- lenge six months ago, many of them aren't of great concern at this point from a supply or a lead time perspective. There's so much emerging technology, and as a result, there are so many new suppliers that make up part of the solution that weren't part of the conversation five years ago; it's a dynamic, evolving category. From a Digi-Key perspective, we're blessed to have a lot of in- quiries related to organizations that want to be part of our product portfolio. Last year, we added 80 suppliers, which would be a rela- tively small percentage of the inquiries we re- ceived. Barry Matties: I would think you would have a pretty strict guideline for somebody to be ac- cepted as a supplier. Beeson: We do, and there is a lot of vetting that we go through with our ongoing portfo- lio, but many of these companies are viable on a global basis. Should we try to figure out some means of providing their services if the user community deems them viable? There's a trade-off of the installed base that you have and additional suppliers that you want to add. There's always a blended mix that you want to make sure is correct. It's something that we're always looking at as we move forward. Holden: In light of that, have you had any prob- lem with fake components or is your vetting process thorough enough that you feel that's kept to a minimum? Beeson: We believe in all forms of compliance. We try to have a strong vetting process, even at the front-end ordering of devices from the manufacturers. We don't bring in the whole order, BOM, and all of the components that we would normally stock. We bring in a sam- ple lot. If we're aligned operationally, then we validate and ensure that we received what we were expecting. With the magnitude of the challenge of coun- terfeit parts, our positioning with only buying from the authorized supplier has been fruit- ful for us and ultimately validates that we're a go-to organization that does that vetting. The engineering community feels comfortable en- gaging us because they know that there isn't a lot of noise in our supply chain. That's part of our branding and positioning that we want to make sure we maintain moving forward, as in- tegrity is critical for our organization. Matties: What general advice would you give a circuit designer today? Beeson: I don't know that we do the best job of communicating to all of our users about all the capabilities we provide. It's hard to tell them, "Get to know our website better." Users may not be aware of or tried a lot of the resolutions and solutions that are embedded in our equa- tion. They're conditioned to go to various sites for numerous reasons. As you add new features and capabilities, to what degree are you articulating and posi- tioning that to the user? Back to earlier in our conversation, give us feedback. What would you like to see? What's the obstacle of getting your job done? The more feedback we receive, whether it's positive or more productive, is an opportunity to improve, and we appreciate it. It's our challenge to make sure that we're well- positioned and a good listener. Matties: When you're looking at your business forecasts, what leading indicators do you look at? Beeson: Of course, we look at sales every day as well as the average order size. Like many others, our sales and average order size have changed from last year, but our line items and customer count are continuing to grow. We were looking to trend up because we thought the movement was going in that direction as design and innovation remain strong. Because of our positioning and the role we serve, which are more front-end design, we felt good going into 2019, and we were prepared for that; the same thing was true last year. As we entered into Q1 of 2019, we weren't totally surprised with what the industry was starting to see to a greater magnitude.