RS Components recently celebrated 80 years since opening its first business operations in London. Founded as Radiospares, in 1937, the company started as a supplier of parts to the burgeoning radio market, and has evolved to become a global distribution enterprise with operations in Europe, North America, Africa and Asia, offering a diverse portfolio of more than 500 000 industrial and electronic components across 2500 global brands.
RS South Africa opened its doors in 1996, the flagship operation in Africa, celebrating 21 years of distributing products and components to engineers around the continent. Brian Andrew, general manager of RS South Africa commented: “How things have changed. In 2009 we took the decision to print our last paper catalogue. It was a big risk to take in a market where e-commerce was just taking off and where the industry was still quite traditional, with engineers requesting our 3000 page catalogue to search for their favourite parts. We started off with just 5% of sales coming through the website in 2009, and this has steadily grown to 65% of all sales now coming through the website. The shift has been phenomenal with unbelievable efficiencies gained through the use of technology.”
The company’s founding principle of service excellence, with ease of doing business at its core, has been a major factor in its success and longevity. Innovation is another vital keystone for supporting customers and suppliers through the product life cycle, and RS is continuing to develop its DesignSpark engineering community, offering technical support, free tools and inspiration to engineers in the design phase.
Mike England, UK managing director and head of Northern Europe region at RS, commented: “RS has a unique offering and an unparalleled 80-year heritage, which we are proud to celebrate today. Customers are at the heart of everything we do, and our focus remains on service excellence, which we will achieve by keeping abreast of technology and market dynamics. This approach, along with our passion to innovate and to inspire the next generation of engineers, is vital in ensuring that RS continues to prosper for the next 80 years and more.”
Read more...From the editor's desk: Consistently not stupid Technews Publishing (SA Instrumentation & Control)
News
Over the years I’ve followed Charlie Munger. He’s considered to be one of the greatest investors and thinkers on decision making in the past century, and spent six decades as Warren Buffett’s business ...
Read more...South Africa’s space balls
Editor's Choice News
South African engineers are preparing to take low-frequency radio astronomy to the Moon with three locally developed B.A.L.L.S. spheres aboard China’s Chang’e-8 mission. This could pave the way for a 55-antenna lunar array and marks another step in the country’s growing space engineering capability.
Read more...RS South Africa announces 2026 Student Project Fund winners RS South Africa
News
RS South Africa has awarded 13 engineering students with R10?000 worth of products each through its 2026 Student Project Fund, supporting projects spanning renewable energy, robotics, warehouse automation and STEM education.
Read more...Certified gas meter module
News
Sensirion’s next-generation SGM5304 gas meter module has completed certification to the harmonised EN 17526 standard, simplifying MID approval and speeding customers’ route to market.
Read more...Trafo Power Solutions expands market share
News
Trafo Power Solutions is expanding its market share in mining, industrial, infrastructure, data centre and renewable energy applications through technical expertise, application-specific engineering and responsive customer support.
Read more...Trafo Power Solutions returns to Electra Mining Africa
News
Trafo Power Solutions returns to Electra Mining Africa 2026 with a portfolio that has expanded well beyond dry-type transformers into fully engineered electrical power solutions for mining, industrial and infrastructure operations across Africa.
Read more...ESG as a growth lever RS South Africa
IT in Manufacturing
Leading organisations are treating ESG not as a compliance obligation but as a practical tool for operational efficiency, supply chain resilience and business performance, with data and collaboration central to unlocking its value.
While every effort has been made to ensure the accuracy of the information contained herein, the publisher and its agents cannot be held responsible for any errors contained, or any loss incurred as a result. Articles published do not necessarily reflect the views of the publishers. The editor reserves the right to alter or cut copy. Articles submitted are deemed to have been cleared for publication. Advertisements and company contact details are published as provided by the advertiser. Technews Publishing (Pty) Ltd cannot be held responsible for the accuracy or veracity of supplied material.
printer friendly version