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Read the Press Release featuring Heilind Electronics in PRNewswire on June 17, 2010.

2010 Bishop & Associates’ Distribution Customer Survey

Bishop & Associates’ most recently conducted a survey of electronic equipment manufacturers (OEMs), contract manufacturers (CEMs), original design manufacturers (ODMs), and cable assemblers (CA) to determine how the electronic distribution industry is performing. 

The objectives of the 2010 U.S. distribution survey were to:

• Identify how the overall electronic distribution industry is serving the needs of the customers
• Establish an industry benchmark from which we can evaluate individual company performance
• Measure individual company performance in relation to major competitors and the industry benchmark
• Measure performance in selected service areas, identifying where customers believe improvements are required

Survey Methodology and Response

The Questionnaire
Bishop & Associates developed a detailed questionnaire that asked customers to answer 18 questions about 37 distributors.

Twenty-four distributors received sufficiently high evaluations to remain in the final report.

The following table provides a cross-matrix of responses, divided by sales channel and job position.

Distribution of Responses
By Job Function and Sales Channel

The majority of respondents were involved in purchasing (67.6 percent).

Distribution of Responses
By Market Sector and Job Function

All market sectors participated in the survey. The largest number of participants came from industrial controls (12.5 percent) and the telecom/datacom market sectors (10.8 percent).

The following table provides a cross-matrix of responses by company and job position.

Quality of Responses
Many of the companies responding to the survey are leaders in their respective industries. A list of some of the major companies that responded is provided below.

The quality of each questionnaire was very good. Generally, each respondent completed the majority of the questions, and varied evaluations by company and by question. The following provides a sample of the companies participating in the survey.

Evaluation Methodology
The questionnaire was designed to allow the respondent to check a box indicating the level of satisfaction or dissatisfaction with a particular distributor. Bishop & Associates then assigned a numerical value to each evaluation, as shown in the following table.

Using this methodology, scores of 3.50 or lower indicate a degree of dissatisfaction with the distributor. Scores above 3.50 indicate a degree of satisfaction with the distributor.

Questionnaire

1.      What is your overall satisfaction with this distributor’s breadth of component products?

2.      What is your level of satisfaction with the distributor's on-hand inventory?

3.      What is your level of satisfaction with this distributor’s ability to meet your requested delivery dates?

4.      In your estimation, what percentage of the time do these companies deliver on time to your requested date? Options for this question were different; the possible answers were more than 98 percent, more than 95 percent, more than 90 percent, less than 90 percent, and not applicable.

5.       What is your level of satisfaction with technical support and expertise?

6.      What is your overall satisfaction with the field representative’s support of your business requirements?

7.      What is your overall satisfaction with the inside sales representative’s support of your business requirements?

8.      What is your overall satisfaction with the application engineering support of your business requirements?

9.       What is your level of satisfaction with support in obtaining product samples?

10.   What is your level of satisfaction in receiving price quotes in a timely manner?

11.   What is your level of satisfaction with price competitiveness?

12.    In your opinion, which distributor is consistently the most price-competitive?

13.   What is your overall level of satisfaction with the ease of doing business with this distributor?

14.   What is your overall level of satisfaction with the usefulness of the distributor’s website?

15.   What is your level of satisfaction with the ease of finding the connector product you want on the distributor’s website?

16.   What is your level of satisfaction with the availability of technical documentation on the distributor’s website?

17.   How important is it to have the ability to place orders via the website? This question was not covered in this report, but it will be asked in subsequent surveys.

18.   What is your level of satisfaction in placing orders via this distributor’s website?

Survey Results – Heilind #1

Heilind was ranked #1 overall best distributor by customers, scoring 4.728 out of a possible 6.000.

Heilind was ranked:

#1           Best overall distributor

#1           Outside field sales

#1           Inside sales

#1           Providing product samples

#1           Price competitiveness

Heilind was ranked #2 in five additional categories:

#2           Breadth of product line

#2           On-time to requested delivery date

#2           Application engineering support

#2           Timely price quotes

#2           Ease of doing business

Other Highly Ranked Distributors
Other companies that were given high overall customer evaluations or achieved first or second ranking in one or more service areas include:

If you would like to purchase the full 2010 U.S. Distribution Survey results, email bishop@bishopinc.com or call 630.443.2702.