Identifying the Top 10 Connector Companies – It’s Harder Than You Think

Design engineers and purchasing personnel want to use the best connector companies for their design and purchasing requirements. However, identifying the best companies is not an easy task. Asking the following questions helps narrow the field.

• Which companies offer the required products and services?
• Which companies offer faster delivery, shorter lead times, reasonable prices, and higher quality?
• Which companies offer the best customer service?
• Which companies can you count on when there is a problem?
• Which companies best understand their customers’ needs, goals, and products?
   

The answers to these questions are not always obvious. It takes experience. It takes time. Only the experience of directly working with companies will provide the answer to the question, “Which companies will become valuable parts of our supply chain?”

The first step is to identify the most successful companies. We believe identifying the top 10 companies, using different definitions of what constitutes top 10, is the logical starting point for identifying the best connector suppliers. Specifically, who are the:

• Top 10 in world sales
• Top 10 in each geographic region
• Top 10 in products manufactured
• Top 10 in markets served
   

This article will provide you with the names of the companies in the above four classifications. You may further refine your selection to consider which companies are uniquely qualified to become part of your supply chain. For example, what are the largest companies that offer:

• A specific type of connector in North America, Europe, etc.
• A specific type of connector in the U.S., England, France, Germany, China, Japan, etc.
   

A more granular approach is required, but the designer or buyer should always start by examining the largest companies first. We believe that achieving size suggests a level of success. After all, customers have rewarded them with their business for a reason.

The remainder of this article identifies the largest companies in total world sales, sales by regions, sales by market sector, and sales by product manufactured.

Top 10 in World Sales

We identified the top 10 in world sales in the October 2016 Bishop Report, issue #287.

Top 10 by Geographic Region

We identified the 10 largest connector companies by region in the November 2016 Bishop Report, issue #288.

When the definition is top 10 by region, 25 companies earn a top 10 ranking.

Top 10 by Market Sector

The following table identifies the top 10 in the 11 market sectors.

When market sector is used as the definition, 39 companies achieve top 10 ranking.

Top 10 by Product Manufactured

The following table identifies the 10 largest manufacturers of the 12 major product categories.

When “products manufactured” is the definition, 43 companies achieved top 10 ranking.

Companies with Top 10 Status

The following table identifies the 48 companies that have a top 10 ranking using sales by regions, markets, and products. The table also notes the number of top 10 mentions under each of the three definitions.

We identified 48 companies with a top 10 ranking. We believe this information is very useful to the user community in identifying, researching, and selecting the companies with whom to partner.

Other levels of information are also important. For example, what are the leading companies in Germany, the United Kingdom, France, Malaysia, Taiwan, etc.? What leading companies in Germany supply military circular connectors or have heavy-duty power types?

The quest for the right supplier for your company is not easy. However, identifying the companies under various definitions makes a difficult task easier.

Bishop & Associates compiles more than 700 connector company profiles on a special website designed to make your research and decision-making easier. www.wccreport.com can help you determine which companies will best meet your requirements. The site provides informative profiles that can be sorted by annual sales, region, country, markets served, and products manufactured. Each sort prepares a report that may be downloaded and saved.

Contact Lynda Nolen at lnolen@bishopinc.com for a demonstration of how www.wccreport.com can help your company search for the providers that can best meet your requirements. The “Go-to-Meeting” conference call requires about 30 minutes. Those 30 minutes could save you hours, even days, in your search for that perfect partner.

No part of this article may be used without the permission of Bishop & Associates Inc.