EW@60: Look for the opportunity

Dick Skipworth

He writes:

When needs must – the devil drives. In 1965 saw the first downturn in the market for semiconductor devices. I needed a better car. I got a new job, as a salesman in the semiconductor industry, with a car. The next seven years saw semiconductors develop from two‑lead devices (diodes) through three‑lead devices (transistors) to an amazing fourteen‑lead (16‑bit monolithic memory).

If you had what customers needed then selling was easy and sales grew year-on-year. By that time a diversified customer base had developed and annual sales were reported at $—-m.

In 1972, I was made redundant.My employer had fallen behind with product development and the market had turned down. I needed a job. I had become specialised in both semiconductor product knowledge and customer service, just at the time when manufacturers were cutting back.

Encouraged by one of my customers, I became a rep, selling for my former employer on a commission‑only basis. That was an opportunity created by the market downturn and the cut‑backs. It was a dynamic and changing market with future growth being fuelled by the adoption of microprocessors from an expanding customer base.

In 1974 we formed Memec as a specialist distributor of semiconductor memories. We supplied PROMS programmed to customers’ specifications as well as many other components for interfacing with microprocessors.

For the next 26 years Memec continued to grow, year-on-year, through several cyclical downturns in the overall semiconductor market. Much of that growth can be attributed to a growing semiconductor market.
Market dips created opportunities for regional expansion and alignment with new companies engaged in the development of new components. They needed us to address a large number of customers. We needed their components to service our customers and generate future sales.

Today we have the Covid 19 pandemic. A world trade recession is unavoidable. Nations will become more inward‑looking and more concerned about environmental issues. That will accelerate design changes and changes to working practices and the consumption of manufactured goods.

I am an investor in ‘IsmoSys’ (independent, sales, marketing operating systems) which has been around for over 20 years, operating in Europe as a rep for semiconductor manufacturers. Trading as a rep has enabled it to develop a customer database, which includes both the major manufacturing companies and design companies.

Will this reset in the market expose an opportunity for it to find a trading partner, which it needs to scale its business?