RS Components

RS Components

Type	Subsidiary
Industry	Electronic components
Founded	1937
Headquarters	Corby, UK
Area served	UK, Europe, Asia
Parent	Electrocomponents
Website	http://uk.rs-online.com

RS Components and Allied Electronics are the trading brands of Electrocomponents plc, the global distributor for engineers. With operations in 32 countries, they offer around 500,000 products through the internet, catalogues and at trade counters to over one million customers, shipping more than 44,000 parcels a day. Products are sourced from 2,500 leading suppliers and include semiconductors, interconnect, passives and electromechanical, automation and control, electrical, test and measurement, tools and consummables.

Electrocomponents is listed on the London Stock Exchange and in the last financial year ended 31 March 2014 had revenues of £1.27bn.

History

RS Components Trade Counter, Leeds.

RS Components was founded by J.H. Waring and P.M. Sebestyen in 1937 in London under the name Radiospares supplying radio repair shops with spare parts. When televisions became popular, television parts were added to Radiospares' product list. By the end of World War II, the company had evolved into a large national distribution company. In 1954, the founders of Radiospares expanded the company's focus from shops and home users to the industrial sector and began selling electronic components. The company rebranded as RS Components in 1971. Sourced from 2,500 Global suppliers, the broad product range includes electronics, automation and control, test and measurement, electrical and mechanical components. RS now has operating companies in 32 countries, including France, Italy and Germany, with operations as far afield as Chile, New Zealand and China. Offering around 500,000 products through the Internet, catalogues and at trade counters to over one million customers, the company ships more than 46,000 parcels on the same day the orders are received.

Milestones

• First electronics and maintenance company to have an own label range (1937)
• First distributor to offer free next day delivery (1937)
• Corby distribution centre opened in 1984
• First catalogue distributor to introduce a CD Rom version (1995)
• Nuneaton distribution centre opened in 1997, adding half a million square feet of warehouse space in the UK
• First transactional website in the industry, launched in 1998
• First free-to-access PCB schematic tool, DesignSpark PCB, in the industry (2010)
• iPad version of customer magazine, eTech, launched in 2011
• First to launch a specialist app, MyLocalRS, for its branch network (2012)

^[1]

Operations

RS Components Trade Counter, Corby.

RS Components Trade Counter, Aberdeen.

RS Components is part of the Electrocomponents group, which trades as RS except in North America where it trades as Allied Electronics. The group distributes more than 500,000 products, including electronics, automation and control, test and measurement, electrical and mechanical components, to over one million customers.^[2]

Electrocomponents has operations in 32 countries. The company uses a variety of channels to market including selling via eCommerce, catalogues and trade counters.^[3]

The group has 16 distribution centres across the world.^[4]

In 2003, RS Components was awarded 'E-Business Strategy of the Year' by the UK National Business Awards.^[5] In 2011, the company was named 'Distributor of the Year' and 'Company of the Year' at the 2011 Elektra European Electronics Industry awards.^[6]

The RS Components site in Corby is the town's largest employer.

In 2013, both RS and Allied became one of the main manufacturers and distributors for the Raspberry Pi.^[7][8][9]

Products

RS Components stocks around 500,000 products across its regional warehouses. It also sells and distributes Raspberry Pi computers worldwide.

The major product categories and ranges include:

1) Semiconductors

1. Microcontrollers
2. Power management
3. Development Kits
4. LED’s
5. Data converters
6. Discretes
7. Raspberry Pi

2) Automation & control

1. Sensors
2. Contactors
3. Machine guarding
4. Enclosures
5. Electric motors
6. Circuit protection
7. PLCs’ HMI

3) Electrical, test & measurement equipment

1. LED lamps
2. Electrical cables
3. Cable accessories
4. Multi-meters
5. Oscilloscopes
6. DC-DC converters

4) Support

1. Batteries
2. Tools & tool storage
3. Safety & security
4. Fasteners & fixings
5. Adhesives

See also

• Allied Electronics - Sister company in the US
• DesignSpark PCB - DesignSpark PCB is a schematic capture and PCB layout tool provided by RS Components.
• Electrocomponents plc - Parent Company of RS Components.

References

External links

• RS Components Homepage
• RS Automation & Control centre
• Designspark - Electronics development community
• Customer facing international website
• RS-Storemanager vendor managed inventory from RS Components
• RS UK Trade Counters
• RS Components in Russia