Urgent need for web data to bridge information gap, says Farnell

UK design engineers need more detailed technical and commercial data, and they want it served over the web. So concludes independent research conducted on behalf of electronic components and industrial products distributor Farnell. The research, ‘A Survey of Design Engineers’, conducted by Metrica, surveyed 100 design engineers in the UK via telephone. It found huge time pressures, pace of technical change and shorter product lifecycles – particularly in the electronics sector, but increasingly also elsewhere – as problems driving an urgent need for more accurate and easily accessible information sources. Respondents identified the web as their preferred channel, with 71% saying it is important – just ahead of colleagues (70%). Data provided by manufacturers and distributors is also rated highly, with just over 50% specifying information provided by distributors (58%) and manufacturers (54%) via the web also as important. Obsolete and replacement parts are the major issues in Farnell’s target market – primarily electronics – with more than half those questioned saying this is the information most difficult to acquire. Second is information on lead times, followed by quality of technical information. By contrast, getting basic information on pricing and product range is not generally seen as a difficulty, with just 11% and 16% respectively citing them as problematic. Commenting, Gary Nevison, head of product and supplier development at Premier Farnell, says: “It is clear from the findings that supplementary support from distributors, particularly the provision of high quality technical information, is increasingly important, in addition to the products themselves. “Getting timely information on obsolete items, for example, is the biggest issue in Europe for design engineers and very few distributors are doing it well. It’s clear that the web and e-mail are crucial channels for people in this role, and the industry needs to get smarter about how it exploits these channels to get this information to them.” Farnell now offers assistance through its searchable global database of 100,000 products, technical support, datasheets, application guides and development tools.