about gateway
About Us
Gateway Electronic Components was founded in 2000 by a team of industry professionals time-served in the franchised components distributor sector. With unrivalled expertise in finding ways of bringing innovative supply solutions to customers seeking to release substantial costs from the procurement process.
Since then, the company now has four specialist pillars that include specialist components, IoT and connectivity, power products and ferrite products all supported by a wealth of technical expertise and resource to assist customers with not only standard solutions but having the capability to design bespoke solutions to meet their requirements. All are also available to order online through the multi-language and multi-currency website with shipping options available around the world. These pillars are supported by the Machine Shop and PCB Design and Manufacturing services.
Gateway trades from Nantwich, Cheshire ideally placed close to ports and airports, freight hubs and the road and rail transport infrastructure. Trading with more than 1000 customers in over 50 countries; the company offers significant profile inventories from its base of world-class manufacturers. As well as this, dedicated customer contract buffers and supply solutions are available to assist customers in reducing their vendor base and helping drive down the total cost of ownership.
Gateway is privately owned, with owner-stakeholders determined to continue to differentiate its service by offering broad product solutions from high reputation manufacturers to customers seeking partnership engagement from their distributor vendor.
Gateway, the distributor with a CanDo spirit!
Our History
The Gateway Journey
July 2000
Gateway secures a 10-year DTI and Local Development Agency funding to support its start-up objectives to fund leasehold premises, purchase office and warehouse equipment, and make the initial investment in working stocks.
Gateway secures the lease for its first premises at Unit 10, Huntsbank Works, Crewe.
Warehouse racking is erected and filled with initial stocking profiles, the office space is refurbished in readiness for the business to open one week later.
August 2000
Gateway commences trading with a team of four full-time and three part-time staff, with a first-month revenue of £51,000, exceeding budget expectations.
April 2000
Gateway Electronic Components Limited registered as a trading entity with Companies House.
May 2000
Gateway commissions the design, develop and implement of a bespoke operating system for the company to platform its transactional databases and interface these with the financial management system.
October 2002
Gateway installs a mezzanine floor to expand its office and warehouse space, and within another 12-months Gateway secures the lease for the neighbouring unit to double its storage capacity.
January 2001
Gateway receives its first BS EN ISO9000:1994 accreditation from United Registrar of Systems. Since its first award Gateway has upgraded its accreditation status and now complies with ISO9001:2015. The company has a blemish free inspection and accreditation history with 19-years of annual inspection audits with no non-conformances.
July 2001
Gateway celebrates its first anniversary with revenues 64% ahead of plan and profitable status being realized during the year.
June 2003
Gateway secures contracts to supply components to key military, telecommunications and security industry contractors using turnkey supply chains logistics programmes that deliver improvements in supply efficiency, leading to significant reductions in total costs of ownership. The line-count of parts supplied to customers in the following 12-months more than doubles.
July 2006
Gateway complies with Restriction of Hazardous Substances Directive 2002/95/EC, (RoHS 1) by designing and maintaining a further level of quality audit procedures to its material procurement and inspection programme. The new ROHS 1 directive is adopted within the ISO audit procedure of the company and is maintained annually to meet the requirements of all subsequent levels of ROHS directive that have followed.
April 2004
Gateway repays its DTI and Local Development Agency funding in full, six years ahead of plan. The company is debt free and remains that way to the present day.
October 2006
Gateway secures a franchise agreement with EPCOS AG to distribute its extensive range of passive components to complement the ranges of products that Gateway already has on its growing linecard. Gateway uses its increasing component portfolio to make further UK market share gains, and now trades with over 1000 customers, of which 23% of the value of turnover is from export markets.
June 2004
Gateway launches its first ecommerce platform www.thecomponentgateway.com to promote its stockholding of products from its franchised linecard of manufacturers.
June 2011
Gateway continues to develop its operating systems capability and online presence with the launch of its second generation ‘Core-2’ operating system which accommodates multi-currency trading to better manage the currency environment with its suppliers and for its UK and overseas customers.
September 2008
Gateway instructs developers to commence the build on new premises in Crewe, however the deal collapses when the developers pull out due to the ‘credit crunch’. Gateway therefore embark on a quest to find suitable new premises prior to the expiry of their lease in six months.
April 2009
The quest for new premises is fulfilled and Gateway relocates to Innovation House, Nantwich, Cheshire, giving a 61% increase in office and warehouse space. For the next 2 years Gateway achieves double digit growth to realise market share gains to further strengthen its position as one of the best-in-class specialist distribution outlets for electronic components in the UK. Gateway’s growth shows its immunity from the ravages of the recessionary economic climate.
March 2013
Gateway secures a contract to manage the supply of products to its largest customers by implementing Vendor Managed Inventory (VMI) solutions on various customer’s premises. The contracts, comprising over 700 lines of electronic components shipped direct-to-line to Kanban stations on the customers production floors, delivered by Gateway staff on a twice weekly replenishments system, was tagged “The Cando man in a Kanban Van”. The solution has realized significant efficiency gains and thereby reduced total cost of ownership for those customers.
April 2013
Gateway appointed by TDK as its specialist magnetic components distributor for the UK. Gateway invests in significant stockholding of Ferrite products, and within 3 months develops and launches its second specialist sibling ecommerce platform www.theferritegateway.com to support the growing base of UK customers. Within the next 18 months Gateway increases TDK distributed ferrite sales revenues by more than 45%.
June 2015
Gateway secures Silver status in the TDK Senten Manten awards in recognition of its achievement on meeting key business performance and customer service standards. The Japanese term Senten Manten means “perfect result”.
June 2016
For the second year running Gateway receives recognition in the prestigious TDK Senten Manten awards programme, this time achieving a coveted Gold award, in recognition that the company’s specialist, service-led, differentiated and value-adding distribution ethos is of appeal to a broad customer base across the UK and increasingly into Europe.
October 2015
Gateway is appointed by Siretta Limited as its UK specialist distributor to promote and sell its range of products for use within emerging IoT and industrial M2M applications in the ever growing smart-world, including wired and wireless network connectivity solutions, antenna, modems, routers and network signal strength analysis products. Gateway develops and launches its third specialist sibling ecommerce platform www.theiotgateway.com to promote and sell the product range.
February 2017
Gateway is appointed as a UK franchised distributor by Ferroxcube, a global leader in high performance ferrite materials. The Ferroxcube range augments the portfolio of products already available from Gateway from manufacturers TDK, Fair-Rite and Magnetics Inc, and strengthens Gateway position as the largest stocking distributor of ferrite core products and accessories in the UK.
December 2017
Gateway launches the Ferrite Machine Shop to provide a core gapping and machining service to support its customers that require bespoke dimensional and/or inductance values to meet their specific application requirements. The significant investment in infrastructure and machinery includes a dedicated Machine Shop environment within Gateway’s UK based headquarters, a 3-axis NC flatbed surface grind centre, and an enhanced operating system to provide a production works order solution that provides full batch traceability for all parts used within the machining process.
June 2017
Gateway employs its first apprentice intake, filling IT and Digital Marketing positions with some highly talented school and college leavers. The initial intake has now progressed to full time positions now making significant contributions to the company’s development. Three further apprentices have been employed in the company in engineering, IT and customer service roles and will all have promising careers with the company.
June 2018
Further Machine Shop investment is made by Gateway as it installs a new Haas Mini-Mill machining centre to be able to provide its customers with even more geometric and dimensional solutions to bespoke machining requirements. Gateway can now manufacture new core geometries from ferrite plate, block, rod, toroid, or button cores and has also developed an expertise to glue multiple geometries to custom-design assembled parts. The phrase “if you can dream it, we can machine it” is born.
September 2019
Gateway further strengthens its Power Gateway offering with the announcement that it is now authorised by Semikron to distribute its range of Power Semiconductor products alongside the ranges of complementary products from existing franchises TDK, Orion Fans, IMO, CamdenBoss, Finder, ABB, and ICW (BorgWarner).
August 2019
Gateway enters is 20th year of trading having developed a unique position in the electronic components supply environment as a specialist, differentiated and value-adding service-led distributor with a CanDo attitude capable of delivering standard and bespoke solutions to customers big and small, and able to facilitate total cost of ownership optimisation with its range of supply solutions and logistics programmes.
October 2018
Gateway launches a new sibling ecommerce brand www.thepowergateway.com to promote products for use in the improvement of power quality solutions and power factor correction, to help drive for efficiency, lower operating costs and faster returns on investment in the power generation, transmission and distribution sector. With a significant new stocking investment in TDK Power Factor Correction (PFC) products, including PFC Capacitors and filters, controllers, and switching devices along with a range of Power Electrolytic Capacitor (PEC) products, Gateway is continuing to develop its specialist and differentiated channels to service key growth market sectors.
