Electromechanical components distribution „Customers are at the Centre of all our Activities“

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Bürklin GmbH & Co. KG

MEV Elektronik Service GmbH

SCHURTER AG

Bürklin has built up a high level of expertise in the field of connectors over many decades. The supplier is very close to the customer and knows what makes the market tick. CEO Jürgen Lampert shared some insights into the daily business.

Mr Lampert, you have been in office since February. What has changed today compared to when Dr. Hans Bürklin founded the company in 1954?

I have known Bürklin Elektronik since the early days of my career in the distribution industry. By the way, Bürklin Elektronik, together with Spörle, invented catalogue distribution in Germany in 1954. Bürklin Elektronik is currently in the middle of the transformation from the first and leading catalogue distributor in Germany to a European/international digital distributor based in Munich. Together with our customers, suppliers and employees, we will continue to write the successful history of Bürklin Elektronik and set the right strategic course for future growth.

What are Bürklin's strengths?

We place the customer at the centre of all our activities. A high level of customer loyalty and customer satisfaction are the key to success. So in September we went live with our completely new online shop. Our customers now have a high-performance online shop with a modern, user-friendly, cross-platform design. Furthermore, we have introduced many completely new and further developed func­tions: e.g. greatly improved search and filter func­tions as well as extended customer self-service functions. In addition, we have greatly expanded the topic of ePro­curement and also digitised our internal processes in a meaningful way.

Where do you see potential? What specifically do you want to address?

As already mentioned, we put the customer at the centre of all our activities and are continuously developing the customer and supplier experience. Through customer surveys, the introduction of the NPS and various customer life cycle measures, we are very close to our customers and know what they expect from us. Furthermore, we are very pleased that we were able to win Ms Niemi as CMSO for Bürklin Elektronik. She comes from Conrad Electronic and brings a lot of know-how and experience in distribution on board. She will further push our digitalisation and ensure that we contact our customers with the right message at the right time in the right channel. In addition, we have recruited a CPO (Chief Product Officer). Mr Müller, who comes from Distribution and will intensively support us from the new year onwards in developing our relationships with our strategic suppliers.

Corona, supply chain problems, semiconductor bot­tleneck, raw material bottlenecks, energy crisis: What does the current situation mean for Bürklin?

Continuing bottlenecks and supply difficulties with raw materials, the war in Ukraine, Covid and also geopolitical challenges such as import duties are leading to rising prices and destabilising the market and are contributing significantly to the fact that the situation on the market will not ease in the short term. Our own availabilities have a very positive effect on our business development. We practice stockpiling and purchasing activities on the basis of annual quantities. Our good supplier network plays a central role here. We conclude call-off orders in many product areas at an early stage and thus minimise production losses.

High inventory levels versus price erosion in the coming recession: what is your strategy?

Customers are best served with long-term contractual commitments, a smooth logistics system and clean forecasts. We ask our customers for close cooperation and long-term planning of their requirements, as it is hardly possible to build up stocks at the moment. This is the only way we can become active at an early stage and guarantee delivery reliability for requirements that are, for example, laid down in framework agreements.

One of your credos is: "We are connector specialists." What distinguishes you from other distributors?

Bürklin Elektronik has a high level of expertise in the connector sector, built up over many decades. We only offer high-quality connectors from renowned brand manufacturers. We deliberately do not have any cheap no-name products in our range, as long-term satisfaction with quality components is close to our hearts. Through very close customer and manufacturer relationships, we learn about new trends at an early stage and introduce brand new series. Consequently, our manufacturers are also pleased to receive initial feedback from the market at the beginning of the product life cycle through us in this way.

Which connector types do you have in your port­folio? Or which ones don't?

Almost every conceivable application comes into consideration here. It ranges from PCB connectors, M8 or M12 sensor-actuator connectors, coaxial, automotive, network, audio/video to device and measuring instrument connectors. The range is enormous. We are talking about over 100,000 connectors. These are mostly well-known quality manufacturers from German-speaking countries, where the quality feature is paramount. Our customers need small quantities for test set-ups, quick spare parts or students are looking for suitable options for their study projects. Here, the pure sales price quickly takes a back seat and availability, long-lasting quality and "state of the art" count. However, typical connectors for the military and defence sector are not part of our classic core range.

Which are the most important (best-selling)? Why is that?

Because we work closely with a large number of small and medium-sized companies as customers, covering almost all industrial sectors from mechanical engineering, elec­trical installation, vehicle construction to pharmaceuticals, food production and special chemicals, the electronic connector components are derived from this. The connectors must transmit high-frequency micro-signals with low attenuation, free of interference and free of manipulation. This ranges from coaxial connectors and board-level components to measuring instrument and network connectors. If we move into the pure production and robotics area, the range of M8 or M12 connectors quickly becomes de­cisive. All automated production environments access these industrial connectors, as they can be used to enable complete signalling, sensing and control.

If we turn to our customers in the logistics industry, things quickly become interesting with automotive, valve or platinum connectors for engine control, exhaust monitoring and, of course, increasingly electrical drive control, sensor connection and battery charging control. So there are some connector groups with significant demand in the market. Some connectors have a product life cycle that goes beyond a decade. Others, such as coaxial connectors for 5G, industrial connectors in automation or connectors for renewable energies are taking a larger share of sales due to ever higher data rates and robustness in solar, wind and energy storage applications.

Which manufacturers are particularly in demand?

We notice that in the long run, the manufacturers who prevail are those who have strong innovation, have known the business with customers for many decades and, above all, have been reliably better than average in their delivery performance and have been able to keep prices relatively stable under the current conditions.

Of course, the manufacturers that are successful are those that provide the best value for the customer in their core area. This starts with the important information for product selection, such as data sheets, pictures or CAD files, up to the long-lasting product durability in circuit use. Many customers appreciate these "brand values" and often remain loyal to this manufacturer for a long time.Furthermore, we see an increasing awareness that elec­tronic components are also not shipped halfway around the world, but that well-known local manufacturers from the region or state are preferred. Traditionally, Bürklin Elektronik has a close partnership with manufacturers from the DACH region, such as Lumberg Connect, Harting, ept, Stäubli, formerly known as MultiContact, Schurter, Binder, Telegärtner, Phoenix Contact, Conec, Erni, Fischer Elektronik and many others who hold a strong position in their segments alongside the big names such as TE Connectivity, Belden, JST or Amphenol.

How important will traceability be in the connector sector in the future?

In the general connector market and in mass production, we believe that batch tracking will continue to be carried out by the manufacturer; in the case of connector systems for medical or defence technology, for example, the QR code with the possible information is set as the standard. With regard to product and process improvement at the manufacturer, however, it is enormously important for a series product that runs in very high quantities to trace the individual components back to the raw material. To realise this, a lot of data has to be collected. For the future, the standardisation and digitalisation of traceability data will also lead to more speed and transparency. (kr)

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