An Interview with Kevin Hess of Mouser
J.P.
of electronic components. Their headquarters are located in Mansfield,
TX — a suburb of Dallas/Fort Worth. The 432,000 square foot facility
is maintained and operated by 550 employees, making them one of the
largest national companies in the industry.
Mouser features over 900,000 products online from more than 335
manufacturers. Their nearly 2,000-page catalog is published every 90
days, providing designers with up-to-date data on the components now
available for the next generation of electronic devices.
They ship globally to over 280,000 customers in 170 countries from
their new state-of-the-art facility. In addition to its print
catalog,Mouser’s website makes it easy for design engineers and
hobbyists to browse and buy from over 900,000 products online. They
provide daily updates and continuous refinement of the website with
many userfriendly tools, such as the Project Manager and
Bill of Materials features. Customers can view more than 677,000
downloadable datasheets, as well as over 1.5 million cross-referenced
parts.
We recently posed some questions to Kevin Hess, the Director of
Marketing & Business Development.
He responded as follows:
Marvin: When was your company founded and by whom?
Kevin: Jerry Mouser, a Physics instructor who needed components for a
newly formed electronics program at his school, founded Mouser
Electronics in 1964 in El Cajon, CA. He couldn’t find small quantities
of the components he wanted to use in teaching his students, so he had
to buy larger quantities and store them in his garage. As other
educators heard he had components available, they would buy a few
pieces from him and Mouser Electronics was born! In 1983, a branch
office was opened in Mansfield, TX, located 20 miles south of the
Dallas/Fort Worth Airport. As the electronics industry significantly
expanded, the Mansfield branch grew rapidly and by 1986, the company’s
executives moved the corporate headquarters to the Mansfield location.
M: Who are the principal executives? How long have they been with
Mouser?
K: The principal executives of Mouser Electronics are: Glenn Smith,
President since 1988 and then appointed CEO in 2004. He has been with
the company for over 33 years. Our Vice President of Product Marketing
is Barry McConnell. He has worked for Mouser for more than 22 years.
I’ve been herefor more than 17 years and am presently the Director of
Marketing & Business
Development.
M: What are the names of your most popular products? When were they
introduced?
K: As a broad line catalog distributor of components across the
board,there are too many to possibly zero in on, but we do focus on
semiconductors, optoelectronics, passive, and interconnect products.
We continuously update both print and online catalogs with new
products from over 335 suppliers.
M: Are you a publicly traded company or privately owned?
K: As of March last year, we are a subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway,
the Omaha firm headed up by Warren Buffett.
M: Finally, can you summarize the marketing philosophy of Mouser?
K: Mouser’s explosive growth is due in part to its broad-based line
card of electronic components from well over 335 premier industry
suppliers. Mouser is an authorized distributor of product lines that
include semiconductors, optoelectronics, passives, circuit
protection,interconnects, wire and cable,electromechanical,
sensors,enclosures and thermal management, power sources, test, tools,
and specialty products. In addition to the broad product line-up,
Mouser keeps strengthening its supplier base to include some of the
most well recognized manufacturers in the industry. New suppliers and
their respective product lines are continually added, making Mouser
the design engineers’ one-stop shop for all the board-level components
necessary for total product design projects. We are the fastest
growing catalog distributor in the industry and the only major catalog
distributor to publish a new catalog every 90 days.
MOUSER ELECTRONICS
1000 North Main St.,
Mansfield, TX 76063
Tel: 800-346-6873
Email: sa...@mouser.com
Web: www.mouser.com
112 June 2008