Future Electronics to support the Panasonic range of passive components, wireless modules and innovative Grid-EYE sensors across the whole EMEA region
Future Electronics, founded in 1968 by company president Robert Miller, announced that Panasonic has extended its franchise agreement to cover the entire Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) region, following the success of its existing North American franchise.
The new agreement with Panasonic Automotive and Industrial Systems, which is effective immediately, means that customers of Future Electronics can benefit from support for the company’s range of passive components, wireless modules and sensors via any of its branches in the EMEA region.
In addition, Future Electronics will extend to the Panasonic range of components its long-standing policy of holding the industry’s largest stocks of available-to-sell inventory. The broad choice of components stocked in Future Electronics’ EMEA Distribution Centre in Leipzig, Germany will enable OEMs almost anywhere in Europe to order production volumes of Panasonic products for next-day delivery.
Max Jakob, distribution director at Panasonic Automotive and Industrial Systems Europe, said the decision to extend the Panasonic franchise to Future Electronics (EMEA) had been easy to make because of the excellent support that users of Panasonic components had enjoyed from Future Electronics in North America since 2012. He said: “We are confident that, in bringing Future Electronics on board in Europe, we have signed a distributor which can add value to our network. Panasonic believes that Future Electronics can support us in winning new customers and new business opportunities.”
Future Electronics’ new Panasonic franchise in EMEA adds to its already strong passive component offering, which includes products from manufacturers such as Vishay, AVX and Murata. Products, such as its electrolytic capacitors and polymer aluminium capacitors, are expected to be especially popular with Future Electronics’ customers in the EMEA region.
Karim Khebere, corporate vice-president and managing director of Future Electronics (EMEA) also said that customers would benefit from the engineering expertise of its specialist connectivity and sensor sales divisions. He said: “Panasonic is a famous brand with a history of introducing breakthrough products. That’s why we are excited to have the opportunity to help our customers discover the latest products to emerge from the Panasonic research labs, including its unique Grid-EYE infra-red presence-detection sensors and its Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, ISM-band and NFC wireless modules.”
The Grid-EYE sensor and PAN1740 Bluetooth wireless module are both featured in Panasonic’s Grid-EYE sensor evaluation kit, which also includes an Atmel SAM D21 microcontroller. The Grid-EYE sensor evaluation kit can be used as a stand-alone board or as part of an Arduino prototyping system. It is available free to qualified users of Future Electronics’ FTM Board Club, at www.my-boardclub.com.
