US Digital and PEWATRON sign European Partnership Agreement

After a long informal cooperation US Digital, a developer and manufacturer of innovative Encoders and Inclinometers, has formalized a European distribution partnership with PEWATRON, a leading distributor of Sensors, Power Supplies, E-Components and Drives.

US Digital’s precision position sensors and inclinometers are used in a wide variety of places: stepper motors, concentrated solar and solar thermal, manufacturing machinery, medical devices, gas dispensers, automation, robotics, and many other automation applications requiring position feedback. Their innovative building blocks include absolute and incremental optical encoders, inclinometers and PC interfaces.

David Madore, CEO, US Digital, commented: “With PEWATRON we have an experienced and proven partner, one that provides us with the confi dence to continue the successful distribution and support of our products in Europe. We are certain that with PEWATRON’s sales and marketing support we can expand the sales of our products in Europe.”

“Our signing of an agreement with US Digital gives recognition to the high quality and innovation level of US Digital products.” says Stephen Neff, CEO, PEWATRON, who also added “US Digital is an ideal partner in order to offer our customers state of the art products at competitive prices as well as providing new innovative networked products for the solar energy market. We are very pleased that US Digital has chosen PEWATRON as their fi rst offi cial partner here in Europe.”.

» Contact Details for PEWATRON AG

New micro connector from Aerco saves space

The latest addition to the Binder push-pull family of connectors, the 420 series, extends the Binder push-pull family to a micro version and is now stocked at Aerco. This new connector will give greater flexibility to engineers and designers by creating more space while maintaining the same high standards of electrical integrity.

Easy and quick mating and ideal for use where space is restricted, the 420 series is capable of sealing on 3 to 4mm diameter cable and will find use in many applications including test, data logging and medical equipment. The low cost and high performance makes it an ideal replacement for more expensive options currently used in this type of equipment.

Available in three, four and five way formats the mating face of the socket insert is only 6.8mm in diameter and IP67 rating is achieved by the use of an ‘O’ ring on the mating face and a simple gland and nut on the rear.

» Contact Details for Aerco Limited

Avnet Wins Hirose Distributor of the Year Award for 2008/9

Avnet Abacus today announced that it has won the Hirose Distributor of the Year Award for 2008/9 in the UK, for the fourth year in succession.

Brian Cullis, General Manager, EMEA Distribution at Hirose, commented, “The Avnet Abacus team once again delivered truly exceptional performance, in a year that has been challenging for the industry as a whole, and saw considerable change within their own organisation. Through their focus on design in and on providing outstanding service to the customer, they have managed to maintain very high levels of business and increased their overall share of the network. I congratulate Felix Corbett, Alan Sadler and the whole Avnet Abacus team on this success.”

Alan Jermyn, vice president of marketing for Avnet Abacus responded saying, “We are delighted to receive this accolade from one of the best known names in the connector industry. Hirose has a reputation for high levels of quality and standards of service, and we are delighted with this very positive recognition of the work that we have done in taking their products to our customers.”

» Contact details for Avnet Embedded

Linear & circular LED power arrays exclusive to RS, available direct-from-stock

RS Components, the leading distributor of electronic, electro-mechanical and industrial products, today announced the launch of 26 new solid-state lighting products from Way Forward Technologies. Way Forward is the UK market-leader in the back-lighting of outdoor advertising panels using ultra-efficient LED arrays, and has appointed RS as its exclusive global distributor, with the range available globally through all RS operating companies.

The Way Forward range includes linear and circular LED arrays with integral drivers as modules or complete ready-to-use units. The flexibility offered enables designers or installers to realise LED based lighting for their own needs. The range has simple fixing and connection methods, so users can benefit quickly from high light output with low power consumption and long life.

Simon Whittle, founding director of Way Forward Technologies, said: “We are delighted to be working exclusively with RS Components in the offering of our products to a potentially huge number of customers and we are confident that the thought and care that has gone into our arrays will make them easy for designers and engineers to incorporate into their own designs.”

For RS, Paul Webster, Head of Product Management – Electronics, stated: “RS are pleased to be able to bring Way Forward Technologies into our offer. We are committed to providing electronics design engineers with leading-edge optoelectronics products that can increase energy-efficient solutions in new designs. Our worldwide reach and high service levels will enable Way Forward to expand their presence, and support design engineers across the globe.”

The full Way Forward Technologies range available from RS can be found online at rswww.com/electronics, where customers can link straight into the product range and supporting technical information, then select and order direct-from-stock.

» Contact details for RS Components

Digi-Key Maintains Industry Presence through Recession, Resumes Hiring and Surpasses 2,000 Employees

Local businesses have begun recovering from the effects of the recent global economic recession. Digi-Key Corporation has maintained its presence in the electronic components industry and recently resumed hiring new employees and surpassed the 2,000 employee mark.

As of January 3, 2010, Digi-Key had 2,020 employees. “If our projections for 2010 materialize, we would expect to see a significant increase in this number,” said Digi-Key president and COO Mark Larson.

“The recent year was challenging, both for Digi-Key and our industry,” Larson said. “While most of our competitors implemented major layoffs, Digi-Key chose a different course. We eliminated overtime hours. We reduced our labor force by attrition, (in other words, when somebody left the company we elected not to rehire) and we sharply trimmed marketing costs.”

Digi-Key’s sales decreased from $984 million in 2008 to $926 million in 2009. Larson said this six percent decrease in total sales does not accurately convey the drastic decline and rise in sales throughout 2009.

“In the first six months of 2009 we saw our sales plunge more than 20% when compared to 2008,” Larson said. “However, by the second half of the year we saw signs of improvement. In October it was almost like somebody flipped a switch and sales turned up just as sharply as they had turned down at the end of 2008. So 2009, which looked like a total disaster in the first part of the year, finished strong with record sales months. We believe that once industry numbers are known, we will see that Digi-Key gained significant market share for the year.”

With increasing sales, Digi-Key has also been able to increase the number of employees in its workforce. Since 2002, Digi-Key has created more than 860 jobs. The average age of a current Digi-Key employee is 41 years with an average length of employment at Digi-Key of at least six years. Approximately 58 percent of Digi-Key’s employees reside in Thief River Falls, Minn. while the remaining 42 percent live in surrounding communities.

“We consider the quality of our workforce and our employees a differentiator in our industry,” Larson said. “Enduring the downturn without layoffs also gives us a competitive edge in our industry. We’ve been able retain the substantial investment we’ve made in training and developing a quality workforce. In many cases, our competition has to rebuild their workforce.”

Digi-Key provides its employees with ongoing training and career development opportunities; an above average health coverage plan; dental, life and disability insurance; a 401(k) profit sharing plan and a clean, comfortable working environment.

» Contact Details for Digi-Key Corporation

New Omnipolar Magnetic Position Sensors from Honeywell

Mouser Electronics, Inc., known for its rapid introduction of the newest products, today announced it is stocking new product from Honeywell Sensing & Control.

The Honeywell Omnipolar Hall-effect Digital Position Sensors, SS351AT and SS451A, are small, sensitive, versatile sensors that are operated by the magnetic field from a permanent magnet or an electromagnet. They are designed to respond to either a North pole or a South pole. With a typical operating point of 85 G at 25ºC (77ºF), the Honeywell position sensors are available in two package styles: the SS351AT in the subminiature SOT-23 SMT, and the SS451A in the leaded, flat TO-92-style package.

» Contact details for Mouser Electronics, Inc.

Lowest price 32-bit MCU solution on the market

Electronic components distributor Digi-Key Corporation, recognized by design engineers as having the industry’s broadest selection of electronic components available for immediate shipment, today announced it now stocking NXP’s new LPC1100 family of ARM® Cortex™-M0 based microcontrollers.

Bringing higher value than existing 8/16-bit microcontrollers through unprecedented performance, simplicity, low power, and more importantly, dramatic reductions in code size for all 8/16-bit applications, these new microcontrollers are in stock and available for purchase on Digi-Key’s global websites. Additionally, these products will be featured in future print and online catalogs.

Dave Doherty, Digi-Key vice president, semiconductor product, said, “We are very pleased to offer this new low-cost, high-value microcontroller solution to the thousands of design engineers who rely on Digi-Key to provide them with the latest and most innovative products for their designs.”

“The LPC1100 provides design engineers a tremendously valuable building block for addressing their increasingly complex and cost-sensitive challenges,” said Stevan Dobrasevic, international product manager, microcontroller product line, NXP Semiconductors. “With the immediate availability of over 10 members of the LPC1100 family and LPCXpresso, which is NXP’s new low-cost development tool, engineers can get everything they need at Digi-Key to begin their LPC1100 developments today.”

» Contact Details for Digi-Key Corporation