Interview with Mouser’s Mark Burr-Lonnon

Mark Burr-Lonnon,
Senior Vice President of Global Service & EMEA and APAC Business

Mark Burr-Lonnon, Senior Vice President of Global Service & EMEA and APAC Business, helps guide Mouser Electronics’ global service strategy as well as day-to-day international efforts. In 2008, Burr-Lonnon transitioned over to Mouser from its parent company, TTI, Inc. Under his, and CEO and President Glenn Smith’s shared global vision and direction, Mouser has quickly grown from a small U.S. electronics distributor into a global player focused on serving the unique needs of design engineers and buyers worldwide. Today, Mouser has 27 Customer Service Centers strategically positioned around the globe, providing local language, currency and same time-zone support.

In addition to planning, directing and coordinating Mouser’s global growth and expansion activities, Burr-Lonnon provides a leadership role to his multicultural global management team. He takes an active role in cultivating relationships with current and potential electronic component manufacturers, top industry organizations, tradeshows, and media relations. Plus, he is instrumental in ensuring Mouser’s manufacturer base and product portfolio are in alignment with supplying the divergent global demands of design engineers and buyers across Europe, Asia-Pacific and other strategic world markets, complementing Mouser’s global product strategy.

1. Tell us the business outlook for the remainder of 2020 from Mouser’s perspective?

It’s too soon to tell what the full economic impact of the global pandemic will be on manufacturing. But even with the sudden economic downturn, the use of electronic devices and systems seems to be strong worldwide. We are still shipping hundreds of thousands of components weekly. Once market stability returns, the biggest challenge will be keeping up with demand. Product delivery lead times and shortages on certain components could become an issue again as demand ramps up. We saw this with MLCCs last year.  

2. What advice would you give to purchasing professionals for the remainder of 2020?

There’s never been a more important time to buy from an authorized distributor. Purchasing professionals will discover many benefits from doing business with Mouser, like the efficiencies, security and convenience, for starters. We are a Top 10 global distributor and have everything for buyers’ BOMs.

Whether customers are buying online or through one of our trained customer service representatives, we have the professionals and procedures in place to ensure an effective and efficient supply chain, free of counterfeit or gray market products. Some sources are very limited in their component offerings. With Mouser, customers can source their entire bill of materials from us; it’s easy, one-stop buying.

We strive every day to achieve a strong balance of speed and efficiency to consistently provide our customers with best-in-class service and a full suite of online buying tools, like our new Price & Availability Assistant.

3. There is a large amount of counterfeit components floating in the market. How do you ensure that you always provide your customers with genuine components?

Mouser received accreditation to AS6496, making us the industry’s first authorized distributor to be accredited with the aerospace industry’s high standard for anti-counterfeit measures in authorized electronic component distribution. The AS6496 aerospace standard sets requirements for the avoidance, detection, mitigation and disposition of counterfeit products in the authorized distribution supply chain.

 4. How is the Implementation of IoT helping to drive the demand?

The digital revolution is accelerating, and the expansion of IoT will continue to fuel the global need across all industries for semiconductors and electronic components. With 5G, artificial intelligence, robotics, industrial automation, transportation — all will be propelling our industry for the next decade and beyond.

Mouser specializes in the newest products and we stock the widest breadth of inventory in the world. We are seeing new sensor technologies from our manufacturers, as well as the latest in power management and, of course, advancements in microprocessors. Automotive, factory and home automation also will continue to be emerging markets as more technologies are introduced to make buildings, homes and vehicles smarter and safer. We will also see an increased need for components for wireless-, mobile- and telecommunications-related devices.

5. What is Mouser doing to prepare for future growth?

We are just finishing up a major expansion at our 1 million square-foot global headquarters and distribution center in Texas, USA, where we added a new Customer Service Center and additional state-of-the-art automation. Investing in automation systems allows us to expand capacity and efficiency in our warehouse. We are excited to have the largest installation of Vertical Lift Modules (VLMs) in North America, a testament to our belief in working smarter.

VLMs — essentially giant vertical filing cabinets — can store up to 120,000 parts, helping our distribution teams greatly expedite orders for our 630,000 customers worldwide. We continue to invest in inventory with the widest selection of stock in the industry (more than one million different parts from over 800 manufacturers).

6. How are you expanding your global footprint to serve customers? In 2019, we opened offices in Brazil, Philippines, Vietnam and Poland. We now have 27 locations worldwide, positioned to provide local language, currency and same-time-zone support. Mouser believes in being glocal — that’s global with a local presence — to offer our customers best-in-class service. Our focus is on providing our customers service excellence. We strive to do this every day