This year’s Northwest Electronics Design and Manufacturing Expo on October 7 will feature over 70 exhibitors, along with technical presentations, a keynote address, and a networking reception. We spoke with Meredith Jaeger of Edge Electronics, one of this year’s exhibitors and a certified Women’s Business Enterprise, and she was kind enough to share some of her perspectives with us.
Tell us about one of your favorite things about the NW electronics community.
I like that it’s a smaller community compared to a place like the Bay Area. It is very tight-knit, and most everyone knows, or has at least heard of each other. From a networking perspective I find it very advantageous.
Are there particular changes in the electronics marketplace that you think Edge is especially well-positioned to meet?
With faster time to market becoming increasingly important, more and more customers are looking for “off the shelf solutions,” as opposed to designing from board up. Edge is in a great position to satisfy these needs, with not only our LCD Quick Kits, but also our ability to provide complete solutions including touch-integrated and/or brightness-enhanced LCDs, LCD controller boards, SBCs, SSDs and more.
Supplier Diversity Programs are also becoming more prevalent among both government and corporate entities. Besides having direct supplier diversity goals, the responsibilities are being driven to their vendors and contractors who are required to submit a supplier diversity utilization plan as well parts of their corporate goals and responsibilities. Edge is a certified Women’s Business Enterprise (WBE) and can help our customers meet their diversity goals.
Lastly, with many of the acquisitions that have taken place – there are fewer and fewer companies that customers can turn to for a very personal experience. With 25 years in business as an authorized distributor, we fit right into that sweet spot in business size where we are a very established company, but are still small enough to have advantages when it comes to speed, flexibility and attentiveness.
What are you hoping to get out of exhibiting at this year’s NEDME?
While Edge is a 25 year old company, we are fairly new to the Pacific NW. My hope is to let people know, “Hey, we’re here now! There’s another choice in the PNW for distribution. Come see us at the booth!”