An R&D firm I know is constantly spinning low volume prototype designs with wildly different BOMs; they treat Arrow reps like North Korean spies.

But another crank-turning design firm I know trusts Arrow to do BOM reviews because of how many times they’ve come through with a reel of hard-to-find parts, making a design manufacturable in a pinch, unlocking sales.

The exact same Arrow rep serves both firms, I’ve never figured out why he is treated so differently.