October 2024 Connector Industry News
Upcoming industry events, as well as recent award, partnership, promotion, personnel, facility, distribution, standards, association, and certification news from across the connector industry.
October 2024 Connector Industry News
October 2024 Connector Industry News > Event News
DigiKey’s popular Back2School Prize Giveaway offers college students a chance to win DigiKey store credit to purchase products for building and designing the next generation of solutions. Winners will be randomly selected for nine prize giveaways including one grand prize of $1,000 USD in DigiKey credit; three Tier 2 prizes of $500 USD in DigiKey credit; and five Tier 3 prizes of $250 USD in DigiKey credit. The sweepstakes is open to any student with a university or college email address, and entries may be made in students’ local language. The contest continues until October 18, 2024, and winners will be announced around November 15, 2024. Learn more about DigiKey’s free educational tools and academic resources for coursework and projects.
October 2024 Connector Industry News > Award News
Linda Johnson, executive vice president of operations for DigiKey, received the WE Unity Award from Women in Electronics (WE). In 2021, the industry organization began distributing the WE Unity Award to individuals who consistently advocate for the WE mission of expanding opportunities for women in the electronics industry, industrial industry, and related markets. Recipients are selected for consistently demonstrating a leadership style of civility, ethics, and humanity. Johnson and other recipients also serve as role models within the WE community, their organization, and the industry. Johnson has been a member of WE since 2018, when DigiKey first became a sponsor and partner of the organization, and has served on the Advisory Council since 2019. She has encouraged women in the industry to get involved in the organization and participates in education opportunities. She has also been a speaker at WE’s Annual Leadership Development Summit.
On September 4, DigiKey announced it received Panduit’s 2024 Top Global E-commerce Distributor Award for the seventh consecutive year. On September 19, the company announced that its branding agency, Lippincott, was awarded Gold in the Graphis Design Awards 2025 global design competition for DigiKey’s brand refresh.
Sager Electronics received Cincon’s 2023 Outstanding Contribution Award. The honor was presented at the 2024 EDS Leadership Summit held in Las Vegas in recognition of Sager Electronics’ collaboration with and significant contributions to Cincon sales growth.
The Electronics Weekly Electra 2024 award finalists have been announced in ten product categories, three people categories, and three company categories. The awards spotlight and celebrate the exceptional achievements of esteemed companies and remarkable individuals who have positively impacted the global electronics industry. The winners will be announced at an event at IET London, Savoy Place, on December 10, 2024. Finalists include Molex MX-DaSH data-signal hybrid connector portfolio, nominated in the Automotive Electronics product category and as Passive/Interconnection Product of the Year; TTI for Best Electronics Workplace; and Smiths Interconnect for Manufacturer of the Year.
Greene Tweed received the Best Innovation Award at the RoTIC Symposium 2024, the Middle East’s leading Rotating Machinery Technology and Innovation Technical Conference and Expo. The accolade recognizes Greene Tweed’s significant contributions to improvements in maintenance and reliability in rotating equipment, and its impact on plant performance. Greene Tweed’s award-winning presentation, “Improving Centrifugal Pump Performance by Replacing Metallic Wear Components with Composites,” highlighted the company’s innovative composite solutions aimed at enhancing centrifugal pump performance. These solutions offer longer lifespans compared to traditional metal components and promote sustainability while reducing maintenance costs and manufacturing downtime.
Newark has been recognized as TDK’s best-performing global distributor for fiscal year 2024. The prestigious Global Performance Award, given to only one distributor worldwide, was recently presented to Newark in recognition of its outstanding partnership with TDK and its contribution to significant growth in TDK product sales. The award celebrates Newark’s broad product portfolio and its extensive range of TDK inventory. Newark’s ability to support early design-in of TDK products into new developments, as well as its capability to meet the growing demand for electronic components, has been instrumental in this achievement. Newark recently expanded its TDK product range in North America, adding over 1,000 new lines. With more than 10,000 TDK product lines in stock globally, Newark offers a diverse selection of components, including capacitors, circuit protection devices, EMI filters, and sensors.
October 2024 Connector Industry News > Personnel, & Acquisitions News
The Northern Technologies Group of Companies has transferred the business of the Northern Group to the EDAC Group. Both groups design, manufacture, and supply interconnect products for the data communication and medical industries. The Northern Group includes Northern Technologies Corp. and Lanpar Technologies Inc. The EDAC Group includes EDAC Inc., EDAC (Europe) Ltd., MH Connectors, and NorComp Connectors.
LUXSHARE became a shareholder in LEONI AG and its Wiring Systems Division (WSD), significantly enhancing market access, technological innovation, and financial stability. Simultaneously, the LUXSHARE subsidiary TIME Interconnect Singapore will acquire the Automotive Cable Solutions (ACS) division from LEONI AG. A legally binding agreement for this strategic partnership was signed with the agreement that LUXSHARE will acquire a 50.1% stake in LEONI AG, which was previously fully owned by Pierer. LEONI’s strong connections with the European and American automotive industries, combined with LUXSHARE’s presence in China, will enable both companies to maximize their market potential. LUXSHARE’s expertise in connectors and electronics will further enhance LEONI WSD’s ability to provide integrated solutions to its customers. In return, LUXSHARE will leverage LEONI’s extensive knowledge and leadership in the wiring systems business. LEONI’s operational strengths in Eastern Europe, North Africa, and the Americas, alongside LUXSHARE’s extensive production capabilities in China and Vietnam, will enable both partners to meet regional customer needs with flexibility while maintaining global competitiveness. This partnership will also accelerate LEONI Group’s financial stabilization, reinforcing the progress achieved over the past year. The execution of the legally binding agreement is subject to antitrust review and approval.
October 2024 Connector Industry News > Facility News
The Austrian company Bachmann electronic, which specializes in automation technology for maritime applications, renewable energies, and industry, is expanding its international footprint with a new branch in Norway. The office is in the Helsfyr district of Oslo, the Norwegian capital. Jonas Helness, an experienced sales engineer and account manager, will act as office manager and key account manager for Norway, where Bachmann has operated since 2014. Norway is known worldwide for its technology and innovation, particularly in the maritime industry. Norway is a major shipping nation with the sixth largest merchant fleet in the world. The move towards sustainable solutions and innovation in the marine industry is also leading to a growing demand for programable logic controllers (PLCs). These factors make Norway an important market for Bachmann electronic.
October 2024 Connector Industry News > Partnership and Distribution News
Waldom Electronics, in collaboration with Molex, planted 160,000 mangroves along the Kenya coastline. Mangroves, known for their rich biodiversity and critical role in coastal ecosystems, provide essential services such as carbon sequestration, shoreline protection, and habitat for numerous species. The long-term impact of planting these 160,000 trees will be substantial: 39,424 tonnes of CO2 sequestered over time (the equivalent of 8,570 cars removed from the road annually) and 320 workdays provided to local workers. Waldom Electronics and Molex will collaborate with veritree to monitor the planting process and show stakeholders the trees being planted in real time. This joint effort underscores the strong commitment of Waldom Electronics and Molex to environmental stewardship.
Newark is now an official global distributor for Silvertel, a designer of Power-over-Ethernet (PoE), telecoms, DC-DC converters, and battery charge modules. Silvertel has been an advanced electronic power module design pioneer since the company’s inception in 1997. Its innovative designs include some of the highest functionality, smallest size, and highest efficiency electric power solutions in the market. Silvertel products are designed and manufactured in the UK using the latest high-speed surface mount technology. Designing and manufacturing in the UK enables Silvertel to remain cost-competitive and provide consistent high quality.
October 2024 Connector Industry News > Technical Resources
The MIPI Alliance, an international organization that develops interface specifications for mobile and mobile-influenced industries, released MIPI A-PHY v2.0, the next version of the automotive high-speed asymmetric serializer-deserializer (SerDes) physical-layer interface. Version 2.0 doubles the maximum available downlink data rate from 16 Gb/s to 32 Gb/s on a single channel, as well as adds an additional uplink gear with an eight-fold speed boost to support up to 1.6 Gb/s. These enhancements are designed to support the higher bandwidth requirements for zonal and other emerging architectures in next-generation vehicles. MIPI A-PHY provides high-performance links between automotive image sensors and displays and their associated electronic control units (ECUs). It was developed to simplify the integration of greater numbers of onboard sensors and displays for applications such as advanced driver-assistance systems (ADAS), modern digital cockpits, in-vehicle infotainment (IVI) and autonomous driving systems (ADS). A-PHY offers a reach of up to 15 meters, unprecedented reliability with an ultra-low packet error rate of 10-19 over a vehicle’s lifetime, high noise immunity and ultra-low latency, along with very low bandwidth channel requirements. It also forms the foundation of MIPI’s Automotive SerDes Solutions (MASS), an end-to-end framework for connecting cameras, sensors, and displays with built-in functional safety, security, and data protection. The program is being introduced in a phased approach, with the next test event scheduled for early December 2024.
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