The limitations RS Components perceives with a typical field application engineer (FAE) aren’t personal; an FAE’s role demands servicing an almost untenably large number of clients and thus, they have to split resources thinly between them. To the vendor, this methodology means a high cost per touch, so it’s not the best strategy for them either. FAEs also often have a single line card of expertise, meaning they aren’t able to discuss the wider design implications of other manufacturers components within the same design.

RS Components believes its RS Digital Application Engineer (DAE) changes everything, armed with rich and relevant design-in content, a massive customer reach, and constant availability. It achieves this by localizing that support and keeping its DAE supplier-agnostic. For RS, this translates to a lower cost per touch, so there can be many more of them.

Both the DAE and the client are heavily supported by their gargantuan DesignSpark portal. Functioning as an interactive design partner, it holds the design engineers hand from project inception to prototyping, and through to manufacture. Their IoT greenhouse is an example of a functioning product that can be designed with relatively little experience from that support.

Keep an eye on their new products section. The IoT Bluetooth pen that transcribes your handwriting directly to the cloud particularly caught my eye. I have yet to test this, but if any technology can accurately read my handwriting, then, once I’ve got up off the floor, it has the ultimate thumbs up from me!

RS Components will be exhibiting at electronica 2016 in Munich November 8-11th.