Re: Microprocessor question

From: geneguy (gene_at_nothx.biz)
Date: 11/04/04 

Date: Thu, 04 Nov 2004 15:41:37 -0600

On Thu, 04 Nov 2004 09:35:17 +0800, budgie <me@privacy.net> wrote:

>On Wed, 03 Nov 2004 15:32:34 -0600, geneguy <gene@nothx.biz> wrote:
>
>>Good reason to stay away from "independent" distributors - No
>>warranty, suspicious circumstances re how they get their product.
>>Stick with the "franchised" distributors. They get their parts
>>directly from manufacturers.
>
>Not always the case. Here in down-under-land, Maxim (as one example, also
>LinearTechnology) are officially distibuted by Arrow Electronics Australia,
>AFAIK a wholly owned subsidiary of Arrow Electronics in the U.S. Arrow Aus
>order through Arrow in U.S. who in turn order from the factory. While that
>distinction may sound minor, the US-based parent won't move until it has factory
>MOQ orders in hand from its downstream. That means we can wait an indefinite
>time for parts through "our" franchised distributor simply because of their
>organisational structure. We had to wait 14 weeks for a Maxim eval kit that
>was ex-stock Maxim throughout the entire waiting period because of this "food
>chain". We also have to order factory MOQ as this sytem does not warehouse or
>break down factory MOQ at any point.
>
>As an alternative, there is a Maxim distributor next door (in N.Z.) who doesn't
>seem to have the same hangups. His delivery is typically a couple of weeks vs
>many months via the "official" chain - AND we get to order 20 chips instead of
>500. So when we needed 20 chips for a pre-production run, guess which small
>distributor got the business.

I myself have used independent distributors to cover small-quantity
shortages as the original poster mentioned. Other OEMs do the same -
their buyers do this "under the table" so to speak (off the approved
vendor list). If the material is in original boxes then you can safely
say it's ok. All bets are off if the seal has been broken. I had one
batch with dead parts once. Failure analysis showed wrong die inside -
the outside marking was bogus.

>>They also receive full technical support
>>from manufacturers (as opposed to having to ask questions on Usenet)
>
>Not with Arrow Aust. If it isn't on the chip manufacturer's website then you
>may as well forget it - or ask on usenet. Maybe they aren't representative of
>authorised/franchised distributors elsewhere, but they certainly don't support
>your model.

By contractual agreement franchised distributors can refer their
customers to manufacturers for technical support (because the
questions tend to be application-specific and distributors are just
basically warehouses), and manufacturers are pretty supportive about
it in my experience. Independent distributors are not recognized by
manufacturers. As a matter of fact independent distributors are often
considered the cowboys of the industry, peddling parts of unknown
origin. Having said that, there is a place for them in the food chain.
You just have to be really careful.

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