Sam Katsuta, new Vice President of Mouser Electronics–Japan. Source: Mouser Electronics
“Japan is a key global market as well as one of the world’s leading markets for electronic design, and is therefore of great interest to us,” said Mark Burr-Lonnon, Mouser’s Senior Vice President of APAC and EMEA Business, in a statement. “With this in mind, we are establishing a Japanese company which Sam Katsuta will run within our global operation. The nuances of the Japan market call for a special model.”
Katsuta will assume full control of Mouser’s customer service, marketing and finance within Japan. He will work closely with Mouser’s manufacturer partners in Japan and will report directly to Burr-Lonnon.
At TDK, Katsuta most recently served as General Manager of Global Distribution for both high service and volume distribution. He earned a degree in Economics at Keio University in Japan before taking his first position with Mitsubishi Chemical Industries. He joined TDK in 1984.
Mouser has seen solid customer growth in Japan—where it opened a customer service center last year in Tokyo—with customers purchasing online through its website, Mouser.com. The global distributor stocks semiconductors and electronic components authorized by more than 600 manufacturers, including the leading Japanese manufacturers Murata, Panasonic, Toshiba, Taiyo Yuden, TDK, ROHM, Hirose, Nichicon and OMRON.
“We see Japan as a strong market for innovative technologies, and the significant growth of design engineers and small- to medium-sized production business fits perfectly with our business model,” Burr-Lonnon said. “We are prepared to strengthen our brand and presence in this key market, and believe the expanded Japan operation will allow us to uniquely establish closer cooperation with Japanese manufacturers to penetrate their products into more designs globally via our platform.”
