Losing my mind with component suppliers and OEMs... How to do this? - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: viper
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: September 13, 2025, 12:05:10 am
content: IDK if many have had to source components at higher volumes and try to pin down products lately, but this is insane! I haven't had to do this in over a decade and I'm finding OEMs blow you right off now and on the friggin phone they tell you to just email them. How am I supposed to understand the product line without a little chat? At least with one big switch OEM, they ARE the only contact in the USA. Like there is no list of distributors. I am just pizzed. Top it all off, I worked with a rep that told me out of the 50 OEMs they rep, none could serve us, including Omron. I make one call to Digikey and they pinned down a target.....Omron device....I literally called 3 OEMs in a row today, they all said "send us an email with your needs".... I can only imagine the BS if I ask for samples. Seriously just trying to get in the know how med qty commercial buys get done anymore? I remember talking to Vishay, working things, and getting numbers from them so I could forecast.I looked on some other vendors like Futura and doesn't look like they stock anything. Is mouser and Digi the only plays?Solid props to Digikey though. Actually talked to someone, they helped, actually put me right on the spot to what we need, but wrong OEM thus price point is not in budget.

author: loki42
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: September 13, 2025, 12:06:23 pm
content: Has emailing worked? I'm annoyed how many want you to chat when they could just put a price on their website. If you're a stencil or pcb supplier and you don't have an online pricing thing i don't care about you.

author: viper
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: September 13, 2025, 04:10:47 pm
content: No, I haven't emailed anyone yet because their website super sucks and their own catalog conflicts with their other web pages. IE, a part number and spec sheet for a component that doesn't even exist in their catalog. Then you have like 50 very similar components we would could use any of them. Sometimes a particular model has very good pricing due to being mass manufactured for something else. That is usually where a 'rep' can communicate that pretty quick.I firmly agree on pricing though. One of these OEMs has no known stock I can find in the USA, no pricing, yet it appears they build what we need.Then you have all the PN variants and letter codes, for like pins on this side or that side, which form factor, etc. I probably want to know which is best stocked, cheapest, and most likely to remain available!I'm just mad that customer service is just dead! Even the two engineers I talked to had zero sense of humor and could not get off the phone fast enough. Really odd.

author: Rat_Patrol
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: September 13, 2025, 05:48:18 pm
content: Email so the offshore India reps can deal with you, I'm sure.Cheaper though!

author: Kean
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: September 13, 2025, 06:45:08 pm
content: Initiate contact via email and you have a good chance that the right person will be able to chat with you on the phone after some vetting.Management has probably dictated to make use of email for various reasons, including use of off-shoring, and CRM/newsletter targets.

author: loki42
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: September 14, 2025, 01:44:26 am
content: Yeah I've found lots of brands really helpful once they know you're not a time waster. There's a lot of people that one to buy 1 part for their project.

author: thm_w
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 15, 2025, 09:01:21 pm
content: Quote from: Rat_Patrol on September 13, 2025, 05:48:18 pmOr so the question can be tagged to go to the right person without wasting/interrupting multiple people on the phone?Quote from: viper on September 13, 2025, 12:05:10 amSo they basically wasted their time talking to you then.Its not even clear what you want, a quote on a part in volume?

author: Smokey
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 15, 2025, 10:47:42 pm
content: I do the vast majority of my designs based around major western distributor inventory (Digikey, Mouser, Arrow, Avnet).If some manufacturer has a cool widget but it's not available in at least one, if not hopefully multiple, of those distributors then it probably won't make it into a design. I'm not doing anything crazy specialized so I don't really need to worry about parts that don't go through normal distribution.If I need a Chinese source for something, chances are they knocked off the most popular western parts anyway so there is a good chance it will exist in China supply too. This is certainly true for connectors.