Mouser Electronics’
new Melbourne office
by Tim Blythman
Mouser recently opened a new Australian Customer Service Centre.
The launch event was held at Hotel Chadstone while the office is
located in the Melbourne suburb of Notting Hill. We attended the launch
event to see what this means for their customers (including us!).
Y
ou might have seen Mouser’s
announcement about their new
Melbourne Customer Service
Centre in the Product Showcase section of the March issue (siliconchip.
au/Article/16169). It is the first Mouser
Electronics location in Australia or
New Zealand. Before that, the nearest
location was in Singapore! To celebrate
this occasion, an event was held in the
Altus East Room at the nearby hotel.
Mouser representatives present
included staff from the Melbourne
Customer Service Centre, as well as
other staff responsible for the Asia-Pacific region. Mark Burr-Lonnon,
Mouser’s Senior Vice President of
Global Service and EMEA (Europe,
Middle East and Africa) and APAC
(Asia-Pacific) Business was there.
Other attendees included representatives from local electronics and
engineering firms. We caught up with
the folks from Microchip Technology,
who are always enthusiastic about
their new and upcoming products.
One sentiment that was discussed
at the event is that we should expect
more innovation over the next few
years. Engineers now need to spend
less time chasing parts and alternatives, as was common over the last few
years. That’s certainly a relief!
This artist’s impression, based on an aerial photo, shows the past and future expansions of Mouser Electronics’
headquarters and distribution centre in Mansfield, Texas. The new distribution centre nearly doubles the warehouse size;
the three-storey building uses the latest robot pickers to pick orders (1000ft2 is 92.9m2).
106
Silicon Chip
Australia's electronics magazine
siliconchip.com.au
A rendering
of the robotic
storage/
picking
system inside
Mouser’s
expanded
Global
Distribution
Center.
Source: https://
youtu.be/
FDCS9qSLVpY
We have also noticed a lot more
products in stock these days; it’s
almost back to the pre-COVID situation.
We met several of the Mouser customer service staff who work at the
Melbourne Customer Service Centre.
Their general message is that they are
now able to provide a local presence
in the same time zone, language and
currency.
Previously, the alternative would
have been to contact someone in Asia,
a few hours behind our time zone.
There was no mention that any local
stock would be held, but Mouser’s
shipping options are generally quite
fast, even with most products coming
from the USA.
Mouser Electronics was founded
(as Western Components) 60 years
ago, in 1964, by Jerry Mouser. He sold
electronic equipment and parts to students in California before moving the
company to Mansfield, Texas in 1986.
Mark was keen to point out that
Mouser is still supplying parts at
small-to-medium volume for design,
research and development. Mouser
continues to focus on engaging with
students, makers and engineers.
Much of the presentation included
the typical slideshows and spreadsheets, but there were some interesting insights. Nearly half of Mouser’s
sales in Australia and New Zealand
for the last few years has consisted of
semiconductors, including devices
like embedded hardware and sensors.
Facility expansions
Mouser Electronics has greatly
grown their inventory in the last few
The presentation
The main presentation at the event
was from Senior Vice President Mark
Burr-Lonnon. He is originally from
the UK, but has spent over 20 years
in Texas in the USA, where Mouser
Electronics is based. His accent is
remarkably like that of an Australian.
Mark provided some background on
Mouser and its sister and parent companies. Mouser Electronics is a subsidiary
of the Berkshire Hathaway group, and
Mark joked that he is only a few rungs
down the ladder from Warren Buffett!
Mouser’s sister company, Braemac,
is an Australian-based components
distributor. It also has offices in the
same location in Notting Hill.
siliconchip.com.au
A slide showing the hierarchy of staff in Mouser’s new Melbourne office.
Australia's electronics magazine
October 2024 107
Ideal Bridge Rectifiers
Choose from six Ideal Diode Bridge
Rectifier kits to build: siliconchip.
com.au/Shop/?article=16043
28mm spade (SC6850, $30)
Compatible with KBPC3504
10A continuous (20A peak),
72V
Connectors: 6.3mm spade
lugs, 18mm tall
IC1 package: MSOP-12
(SMD)
Mosfets: TK6R9P08QM,RQ (DPAK)
21mm square pin (SC6851, $30)
Mouser’s part inventory peaked in late 2023 at over two billion items (blue
bars). The red bars indicate products they had on order at the time.
years; that is good evidence that the
parts shortages of recent times have
mostly subsided. Mark noted that they
will continue to increase their inventory, anticipating that the demand for
electronic components will continue
to increase in the near future.
Another slide highlighted just how
many unique products Mouser has in
stock from many well-known suppliers. We counted over thirty suppliers in this list, including names like
Microchip Technology, Texas Instruments, Analog Devices, Vishay and
Renesas Electronics. Mouser states
that they currently have nearly 1.1
million different parts in stock.
Mark also discussed Mouser’s ongoing expansion of its headquarters
and distribution centre with modern
automation technology, including the
AutoStore robotic picking system.
The distribution centre has nearly
doubled in size. It can be seen at
in the video at https://youtu.be/
FDCS9qSLVpY
The Mouser AutoStore installation has 225,000 bin locations served
by 119 robots, and the robots can do
both restocking and picking. You can
see a YouTube video of the AutoStore
robots and system at https://youtu.be/
mQU2BVrnuH4
Another point that was mentioned
was their measures against counterfeit
components. Mouser wants to ensure
that they only sell authentic parts.
108
Silicon Chip
Our interview with Mark BurrLonnon in the October 2022 issue
(https://siliconchip.au/Article/15514)
also covered the accreditation and certifications that Mouser has earned to
fulfil those requirements.
Networking
One of the reasons we had heard
for choosing Melbourne for Mouser’s
Australian office was the thriving tech
community and manufacturing base,
including manufacturers and related
services.
After the main presentation, there
was another opportunity to network
with other attendees. We spoke to
representatives of a few different
companies. It was interesting to hear
of the diverse engineering and manufacturing companies operating in
Melbourne that use Mouser products.
Conclusion
We are finally seeing a return of
in-person events in place of the virtual events that have been occurring
over the last few years. We were glad
to meet the Australian Mouser team in
Melbourne, as well as catch up with
some other familiar faces.
It’s promising for the electronics
industry that Mouser Electronics is
taking the opportunity to expand its
inventory, operations and distribution
centre. We look forward to see what
they plan to do next.
SC
Australia's electronics magazine
Compatible with PB1004
10A continuous (20A peak),
72V
Connectors: solder pins on
a 14mm grid (can be bent
to a 13mm grid)
IC1 package: MSOP-12
Mosfets: TK6R9P08QM,RQ
5mm pitch SIL (SC6852, $30)
Compatible with KBL604
10A continuous (20A peak), 72V
Connectors: solder pins at
5mm pitch
IC1 package: MSOP-12
Mosfets: TK6R9P08QM,RQ
mini SOT-23 (SC6853, $25)
Width of W02/W04
2A continuous, 40V
Connectors: solder
pins 5mm apart
at either end
IC1 package: MSOP-12
Mosfets: SI2318DS-GE3 (SOT-23)
D2PAK standalone (SC6854, $35)
20A continuous, 72V
Connectors: 5mm screw
terminals at each end
IC1 package:
MSOP-12
Mosfets:
IPB057N06NATMA1
(D2PAK)
TO-220 standalone (SC6855, $45)
40A continuous,
72V
Connectors:
6.3mm spade lugs,
18mm tall
IC1 package: DIP-8
Mosfets:
TK5R3E08QM,S1X
(TO-220)
See our article
in the December
2023 issue for more details:
siliconchip.au/Article/16043
siliconchip.com.au
