1) Look at who is actually franchised to sell the manufacturer in your region, cross check with MFG website. You can buy non-franchised, but if something goes wrong don't expect the local guys to help.
2) Do your engineers/customers need technical support with any of these products (ie. FPGA's DSPs, Micros), or are they already receiving it? If so narrow down it further. Don't expect to get free local support if you buy elsewhere.
3) Set up a vendor rating system, allowing you to quantify how good your suppliers actually are, based on hard metrics like OTIF, Quality, certification.
4) Try and build your relationship with the supplier, and with their manufacturers - then when you need price or technical support you can pick up the phone. Also when the evils of allocation hit you will be firmly in the queue for product.
5)Turn down all offers of hospitality, it will compromise you. Also we want all our suppliers spending money on stock & systems not beer.
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