Digi-Key electronics components, parts, distribution, design, manufacture

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In 1972, entrepreneur Dr. Ronald Stordahl started his electronics components distribution business with a modest inventory; a one-page catalog he marketed through trade magazines for electronics hobbyists, and the goal of providing his customers the best possible service.

Thirty-six years later, Digi-Key Corporation employs about 2,000 people at its headquarters in Thief River Falls, Minnesota; has a product offering of more than one million products from nearly 400 supplier partners, a catalog that exceeds 2,200 pages and the same goal of providing its customers the best service the industry has to offer.

Maintaining a superior level of customer service requires Digi-Key to listen and respond to the needs of its customers and make changes accordingly. One of the first major changes that took place was in the 1980s when Digi-Key expanded its focus to include electronics design engineers, who, like hobbyists, relished the opportunity to purchase electronics components in small quantities.

In the late 1990s, Digi-Key enhanced its focus again and established its Volume Sales Division. Today, approximately 15 percent of Digi-Key's workforce is dedicated to serving volume customers. With capabilities to supply a broad range of customers from all areas of industry and commerce, Digi-Key offers competitive volume pricing along with a full range of supply chain management tools, including Time Phased MRP Share programs, bonded inventory programs, product lifecycle management (PLM), electronic data interface (EDI) and file transfer protocol (FTP) transactions, just-in-time (JIT) replenishment programs, and an email notification program for obsolete components and parts.

Through the years, Digi-Key has also added a number of value-add services and enhancements to the technical services it offers. Digi-Key's three-tier technical staff includes technical support specialists who assist hundreds of customers each day via telephone, email, and live web chat; factory-trained product managers who work directly with Digi-Key's supplier partners and provide expertise in specific product areas; and finally, Digi-Key's new Design Support Services group that provides in-depth application and engineering knowledge and capabilities.

It was in the 1990s, too, that, by sheer intuition, Digi-Key recognized the Internet - dubbed then by scholars as the ‘Information Highway' - as an opportunity for commerce. A pioneer in commercial-based websites, Digi-Key introduced digikey.com in 1995 and updated the site with ordering capabilities the following year.

Today, more than 60 percent of Digi-Key's business is derived via its Website. In a perpetual state of evolution, digikey.com also provides a plethora of information...from knowledge and information about new vendors and products to a growing library of product training modules - Digi-Key's PTM Online...On Demand®. The newest features at digikey.com are its microcontroller and Arm® micro sites and interactive catalog.

While change has brought significant growth, much of the criteria that differentiate Digi-Key from its competitors remain intact. Unlike other electronics component distributors, Digi-Key does not employ an outside sales force. "We know that engineers and purchasers are busy individuals who do not necessarily have time to spend with sales representatives," says Digi-Key President Mark Larson. "Rather than impose ourselves on them with our physical presence, we strive to make doing business with Digi-Key easy. For our customers, time is money. Doing business with Digi-Key on their terms saves our customers time, and in saving them time, we are saving them money."

Digi-Key also conducts all of its business and serves a global economy from a single location, a 600,000 square foot facility in Thief River Falls, Minnesota. Larson does not see the single location as detrimental to customers but rather an advantage. "While our services are continuously being evaluated," he says, "we currently believe the operational efficiencies and economies resulting from a single location enable Digi-Key to provide better service to all of its customers."

Resolute in its commitment to service, Digi-Key knows that individual customers define service differently. "Some customers do business with us because of our broad product selection," Larson says. "Others come to us because of the high percentage of catalog items we have in stock. Many call on Digi-Key because we are easy to deal with and treat our customers fairly. Regardless of the reason, as we continue to grow our sales one customer at a time, our objective will be what it has always been - to offer our customers the industry's best service and value and ultimately, to become the distributor with which customers prefer to do business."