Credit: Electro Rent
NEWS TEST & MEASUREMENT
Merger of European T&M providers powers Electro Rent’s global ambition Recently, it was announced that three European electronics testing and measuring (T&M) equipment companies were joining forces. Now that Electro Rent Europe, Microlease and Livingston have consolidated, what impact will it have on Benelux customers? Collin Arocho
J
ust a couple of years ago, you may have heard, NPO 2’s Top 2000 radio show received a typical call from a group of excited listeners. As it turned out, this call was anything but ordinary, it was a group of laboratory engineers from NXP calling in to say they were tuning in on the most expensive radio in the country. The callers explained they were using a large network analyzer and amplifier to demodulate the radio signal and amplify it across speakers in the lab – estimating that, in total, their radio was using around half a million euros worth of surplus equipment.
Apparently, the test project they were conducting had ended, but the no-longer-used equipment was just in storage. “It was told as a funny story, but this shows exactly what type of issues with inventory management many companies are facing,” describes Reinier Treur, Electro Rent’s VP of EMEA Product Management & Sourcing. “Companies are purchasing high-end pieces of equipment for projects lasting only half a year. But as the technology develops, it moves on or gets outsourced and the expensive equipment ends up just sitting in a warehouse.”
Asset optimization
As part of Electro Rent’s rebranding, the T&M equipment provider is keen on expanding its scope from a rental company to a total solutions provider. Electronics becomes ever more complex and specialized testing equipment is exceedingly more important – and expensive. But for companies, managing inventory is a chore. This is where Electro Rent believes it can make a difference. “We operate heavily in the telecom sector, but more recently, we’ve expanded to the semiconductor, aerospace and defense industries that use high-end equipment in the RF micro 2 19
