How Private Label Complements Its Branded Counterparts in Industrial Automation and Control
An article by Tom Darkins, Global Product Segment Leader, Farnell.
Private Label products for the manufacturing control environment have experienced a remarkable surge in popularity across various industries in recent years. Companies seeking to maximise their budgets without sacrificing quality have found that Private Label offerings are an attractive alternative to using only higher-cost branded options in their manufacturing processes.
Despite the increasing demand for Private Label products, some businesses remain sceptical about their use. Concerns about their reliability, performance, and overall quality still deter some potential Private Label buyers, even though their use could significantly help to resolve cost and supply chain challenges. By striking a balance between market-leading brands and Private Label products, manufacturers can achieve real benefits that can enhance their competitiveness.
The Benefits of Private Label
The use of Private Label products as part of a component mix has made them a viable and trusted option for many businesses, which have delivered a range of tangible benefits:
Cost Savings
Private Label products enable manufacturing facilities to reduce overall production costs by replacing low-risk components with complementary, lower-cost alternatives. Strategically balancing Private Label and branded products ensures that critical, high-profile equipment can be purchased from market-leading brands while everyday components can be sourced more cost-effectively.
Availability
A significant advantage of Private Label products is their availability. High-end distributors, such as Farnell, have strategic sourcing teams in place to manage market factors effectively, ensuring that Private Label products are more readily available. This reliability is crucial in maintaining a consistent supply chain to meet production schedules.
Technical Support
Private Label suppliers, including Farnell, provide robust in-house technical support. This ensures that any queries or issues can be addressed swiftly and reliably, minimising downtime and enhancing operational efficiency.
Versatility
Private Label products can be used in various industries, from automotive to food and beverage to electronics. This versatility makes them a practical choice for businesses operating in different manufacturing environments.
Supply Chain Resilience
While supply chain challenges can impact all products, Private Label offerings tend to face fewer allocation issues. This is due to the broader range of sourcing options available to overcome supply chain disruptions, ensuring a steady supply of necessary components.
Benefitting From ‘Best of Both’ Opportunities
Private Label products, although beneficial, often lack the reputation of market-leading branded names as the 'brains' behind process and control equipment. This perception can create hesitation when it comes to adopting Private Label solutions for critical applications.
However, by integrating Private Label products for low-risk applications, such as switches, relays, wires, and sensors, engineers can take advantage of the best of both Private Label and high-end products. At the same time, manufacturers can achieve significant cost savings.
This balanced approach of using a mix of complementary components allows budgetary resources to be directed towards high-profile equipment, such as Human-Machine Interfaces (HMIs), Programmable Automation Controllers (PACs), and Programmable Logic Controllers (PLCs), which many companies prefer to source from well-known, brands.
Filling the gap with Private Label
Some high-end distributors offer a comprehensive range of products and technology to complement branded products in industrial system design, maintenance, and repair. For example, Farnell’s Multicomp Pro range, a Private Label portfolio of reliable alternatives designed to complement high-profile branded products, includes passive and electro-mechanical components, interconnects, sensors and transducers, test and measurement equipment, and other tools and consumables.
Value Proposition
Distributors are bridging the gap between branded and Private Label products by offering low-cost, low-risk, and high-availability Private Label alternatives. This helps partners and customers better manage their budgets while not abandoning tried and trusted brands for deployment on business-critical functions.
Balance Is Powering Competitive Advantage
Where Private Label versions of components can be substituted for branded products, with confidence, without compromising quality and without incurring penalties, they can provide a strategic advantage for manufacturers.
Reliable Private Label alternatives, such as those in Farnell's Multicomp Pro portfolio, offer high availability and quality that complement the market leaders, which remain the preferred choice for critical, high-profile equipment. Striking that balance is helping companies of all sizes to achieve a competitive advantage by maximising the return on investment.
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