Rutronik launches new business division

With this move, Rutronik is extending its position as a system and solution provider far beyond the actual distribution of components. Thomas Schneider will be taking over as manager, who, in order to take on this assignment, has moved from a leading components manufacturer to join the executive management of Rutronik. Schneider has a wealth of industry-specific experience and sound knowledge of the display segment. By setting up the new business segment, Rutronik will be looking to exploit the vast potential this burgeoning market has to offer whilst also taking account of its special requirements with regard to financial aspects, distribution and technical support. The competence centre specially set up for this and the technical know-how that already exists ensure that customers receive a high level of support. The successful launch of the new business division is being ushered in by the Pan-European franchise agreement concluded on 9 September 2005 with the leading display manufacturer SHARP Microelectronics Europe. The agreement encompasses Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Belgium, Holland, UK, Ireland, France, Italy, Spain and Portugal. For these regions, Rutronik has the entire Sharp range of displays, LEDs and opto-couplers in its portfolio. "The market we will be operating in with this new division is growing by an annual rate of some 30 per cent. This signifies a challenge we would very much like to meet! Thanks to pan-European structures and our wide-ranging expertise, we will be looking to significantly expand our shares in this segment," explains Thomas Schneider, divisional manager Displays and Embedded Boards. "An important step in this direction is the signing of our recent franchise agreement with Sharp. This enables us to offer our target group one of the world's leading manufacturers, whilst greatly expanding our customer base. Our goal is quiet clear in this regard - namely to play a key role as a solution partner within the display market." Besides Sharp, Rutronik also has complementary franchises for boards and touch panels. In signing this agreement with Rutronik, Sharp is primarily looking to increase its market shares in Europe compared with the competition. "Rutronik convinced us with its impressive growth throughout Europe along with its technical expertise as a system supplier," explains Maximilian Huber, president of Sharp Microelectronics. "We are anticipating interesting new customer potential both through Rutronik's current customer base and also Rutronik's pan-European distribution set-up."