Arrow Electronics 2000 Annual Report Download - page 8

ARROW discovery
An annual mammogram detects early signs of breast cancer, creating more treatment options and the
possibility of recovery. A CAT scan confirms that a child’s fall caused only a mild concussion. An MRI
helps a doctor find the source of a patient’s back pain. A blood analyzer pinpoints the cause of an
infant’s dangerously high fever. Advances in medical imaging and instrumentation have provided more
information, early diagnosis, and help to millions of people around the world. Growth in the manufactur-
ing of these critical products in 2000 drove an increase in Arrow’s sales to this customer segment of
more than 40 percent year over year.
Manufacturers of medical equipment face unique challenges. Government regulations in most of the
world require extensive approval of the components and products before manufacturing and delivery
of the equipment to the market. Substitution of approved components is not permitted, and this leaves
these manufacturers particularly vulnerable to changes in component supply and computer product
life cycles. Arrow’s design services and end-of-life product management programs ensure that the
approved components and products are available throughout the life cycle of the medical system.
From the time a medical equipment manufacturer first conceives of a new product, our engineers work
with the customer’s design team on technical challenges and solutions. With more than 550 design engi-
neers and dozens of design centers worldwide, Arrow brings the power of our suppliers’ latest technol-
ogy solutions to customers. We have more engineers assigned to support sales teams than any other
distributor. In the early design stages, Arrow field application engineers work with customers to design
and finalize the architecture of the system. They tap into the latest and most advanced componentry and
computer products from Arrow’s premier line card.
As a result of our close supplier relationships with more than 600 leading manufacturers, our engineers
receive early training on products to which our customers have not yet had access. At our ASK Engi-
neering centers in Denver, Colorado, and Thousand Oaks, California, engineers provide immediate
answers to Arrow teams as they work with customer engineers on complex medical imaging systems
designs. All of these resources provide faster access to newly introduced component and computer
product technologies.
A medical equipment manufacturer cannot afford to design in components and products that will not be
available for production after the lengthy government approval process is completed. Arrow has long
offered these manufacturers end-of-life product management services where we purchase end-of-life
products for the customer and hold and manage that inventory–sometimes for years–until the customer
is ready to begin production.
Many manufacturers have been faced with the challenge of procuring components that are rarely pur-
chased or have disappeared from the suppliers’ product lists, causing the components to be unavailable
for the full length of the product’s life cycle. To identify potential product obsolescence issues in the
early phases of design, Arrow launched a new service in 2000, a proprietary suite of web-based, compo-
nent risk assessment tools. Design engineers using this service can access key technology information
and evaluate specific components for pricing, availability, and end-of-life ratings. Each component
entered receives a rating–green for go, yellow for caution, and red for risk. This web-based program
provides engineers and production buyers with information in advance of changing market conditions,
allocations, diminishing sources of supply, and shifts in component usage patterns. As a result, it signifi-
cantly reduces the number of changes to the design and shifts those changes to earlier in the process,
when the overall cost impact is less.
In addition to our field technical resources and web-based support, Arrow has 37 design centers world-
wide for component testing to manufacturer specifications. Our ASIC and Intellectual Property Design
Centers are full-service technology organizations that support custom programmable logic and ASIC
technology needs. Certified ASIC engineers provide state-of-the-art services to test the logic to ensure
that the systems are producible. If faults are discovered during testing, Arrow engineers can provide
alternative solutions, which reduce design re-work and cost overruns.