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More Information1986 was an eventful year.
We want to make a difference
Portugal and Spain, which had previously been ruled by dictators, joined the European Union. Mikhail Gorbachev campaigned for the disarmament of all nuclear weapons by the turn of the millennium and at the same time called for more freedom of speech and opinion in his own country – known under the terms “glasnost” and “perestroika”. The United States of America’s Voyager 2 space probe flew past Uranus and took photos of it. The main module of the Soviet space station Mir is launched into Earth orbit. DENIC (German Network Information Center) registered the domain “.de” in the IANA database, which is so important for the Internet age. However, the year was also marked by sad events: The US space shuttle Challenger broke up shortly after take-off. All crew members lost their lives. A nuclear power plant in Ukraine suffered an accident, triggering a catastrophe that affected the whole of Europe.
In a tranquil and peaceful region in the heart of Europe, in the middle of Bavaria, innovative visionaries began building a company in 1986 with the aim of changing the world. This was done with wise foresight and on the premise that since the beginnings of electrical engineering, which led to the digital revolution, everything worldwide has had to do with circuits, capacitors, transistors, processors, etc. These developments of 1986 are directly or indirectly linked to technological achievements without which machines would not work, communication would not be possible, we would not be able to see into the solar system or, and this is the other side of the coin, we would be able to trigger nuclear disasters.
Innovation meets sustainability
A feel for hidden potential
Looking to the future, however, the company founders also saw opportunities in all the upheavals of the time to use electronic components, the heart of today’s digital world, in such a way that everyone benefits from the interaction with the environment, fair distribution and the conservation of our resources. Over the years, a global network has been built up that identifies existing capacities, connects customers and suppliers and always takes care to harmonize this with the economic, cultural and social needs of the respective partners.
Years later, with offices in the US, Mexico, Europe and Asia, ComS.I.T. Inc. has become a key player in bringing developers, buyers and customers together in a service-oriented environment, enabling all parties to benefit from our personal “Green Deal”. Looking back to 1986, the company’s founders and visionaries have shown foresight: Computer chips and sensors have become an integral part of today’s world. Without a sustainable counter-strategy, there is a risk of massive overexploitation of the environment and conflicts. To counteract this, ComS.I.T. Inc. has set itself the task of optimizing the value chain, leveraging potential, building networks, conserving resources and creating a closed economic cycle with the aim of keeping the planet in balance and leaving it intact for future generations.
Without causing much of a stir, we have proven over many years in the heart of Europe, in beautiful Bavaria, that it works. Now is the time to go one step further and utilize the great potential that is available to us and you thanks to our many years of experience.
The team
Meet Sebi Carrasco & Ed Park
So who are the creative minds behind this successful and innovative concept? Introducing Meet Sebi Carrasco and Ed Park. The ComS.I.T. Inc. success story began with them. To date, the managing partners have built up a strong, committed team of internationally active experts at various locations. The goal? Using resources intelligently – preserving the planet!
Sebi Carrasco - Interview
Tell me about your background.
I was born and raised in Germany in the 70s. Like every parent, they tried to provide for their family and a better life when my parents immigrated to Germany. I have two siblings living in different parts of the world who are also thriving. I am very proud of who we became because our parents sacrificed so much for us, and we still carry these lifetime values.
After my academic time was over and two years into my new job, the company I worked for allowed me to extend its semiconductor portfolio. I moved to Spain and opened up an office in Barcelona. I spent six wonderful years in one of the most vivid cities in the world. In 2005, I relocated back to Germany to manage their European operations. Fifteen years later, I knew it was time to move on and start a new challenge in my life. That’s when I joined and became a partner with ComS.I.T. Inc.
You’ve had a lot of exposure to different cultures. What does culture mean for you?
Nowadays, we are very focused on automation and trying to digitalize everything (AI), but human interaction is the central aspect of life. Exposure to different lifestyles and trying to understand and empathize with others on the same level will provide essential values for life and your career. Growing up in Germany gave us a better environment, academic standards, and many other benefits. It was a wonderful childhood, and I thoroughly enjoyed the diversity because it made me who I am today.
When I speak with my colleagues, we’re on the same page regarding background and understanding people of different backgrounds because we know what it means to live in another country, to adapt and overcome things in life. I feel incredibly fortunate to be subject to a variety of societies. You learn the native language and culture and understand and respect their beliefs to create an excellent network for life. I think the success of this company is having the right people doing the right thing and being able to communicate and carry these values.
What’s the relationship between your tattoos and you as a person?
How vital are semiconductors?
What is ComS.I.T. Inc.’s role in the semiconductor industry?
Ed Park - Interview
Tell me about your background.
I was born in South Korea in ’69, and in ’71, when I was three, my father decided to emigrate with our family to the United States. He’d just finished serving in the Korean military, and he decided to try to give me and my sister a better life. His work was in LA, but because we didn’thave a lot of money, my mother, sister, and I stayed at my aunt’s home in San Diego for the first several years. My dad would drive up to LA during the week and then come back down to see us on the weekends.
Because of this, I grew up in California, and I stayed there until ten days after my high school graduation ceremony, when I joined the Marine Corps. I served for a little over four years. And then, thirteen days after I got out of the Marine Corps, I showed up for my first day of college. I did everything really fast because I had to grow up really fast. I didn’t grow up with much money to do otherwise.
For me and my sense of responsibility to my family and for my own future, the Marine Corps provided me with an amazing opportunity through the Montgomery GI Bill. Back then they gave you $25,000 for college if you served, and I’m still grateful. This was a lot for me. Tuition was almost $10,000 a year, and it helped me so much. I still had to support myself through college, so I was also doing a lot of internships back then: first in the textile industry, then in trading. Eventually I found myself at a semiconductor brokerage firm, the sort of thing we do here at ComS.I.T. Inc. All these experiences have really helped me stay moƟvated along the way and still do today.
How was your family’s experience integrating into US-American society?
I remember my father had a really tough time adapting to all the cultural differences and living for the most part away from our family. And he did that for almost five years. Traveling between San Diego and LA wasn’t trivial; it was a three-and-a-half-hour drive. He worked a hard job as an
engineer taking care of machinery for the medical industry. It was amazing for me as a child to see his commitment to work and provide for us.
There was one time he lost his thumb through an accident at work. He had to decide between putting the thumb back on or leaving it off. But putting it back on would require him to stay out of work for two months, and we couldn’t afford it at the time. So he left his thumb off and went back to work after just a week off. I remember seeing that, his commitment to us, his putting us first, and it left an important mark on me. He’s really the catalyst for me: the way I work and the hours I put in.
When I was starting out at the semiconductor brokerage firm, I was employee No. 3, and we sometimes ran 24-hour shifts for five days straight, sleeping on the beds we kept in the office. We’d sleep for a couple of hours, work again, and do this again and again. Honestly my wife almost divorced me back then for it, but I’m really glad we made it through. I was trying to make money and support us, the way my father did for my family. It’s the way I support my family right now, my mother and father, my mother-in-law, my kids. After seeing everything my father did for us growing up, family is everything to me.
Why did you join the Marine Corps?
I’d say I had three reasons to serve. The first was what I already mentioned, the Montgomery GI Bill: the money would help pay for college. But teenage me also cared a lot about following in my father’s footsteps. I wanted to experience the sort of dedication to the country that my father experienced for South Korea when he served in their army. And this connects to my third reason, which was that I wanted to give back a bit, what I could, to the US. America gave me and my
family a lot in terms of freedoms and opportunities. It meant something to me to give back to the US through civil service.
Did your experience serving in the Marine Corps impact you?
Well, my first duty station was Camp Lejeune in North Carolina. Then I was stationed at the 8th, in DC. My first MOS was in accounting, because I scored well on the ASVAB in math, but my secondary MOS was in the security forces. I applied and switched over to security forces, and later I toured abroad, for example, in Saudi Arabia for Operation Desert Storm.
That sort of experience really changes your mentality: how you think, how you perceive situations, everything. I think it was a major plus for me at that age, seeing different things in life, where other people do things that you wouldn’t do. It really taught me to take everything as an educational learning experience. I just had to absorb what I saw, take it in, and incorporate it into my world view. Because of those experiences I appreciate living more. I appreciate where I live, the free environment, the way I live, what I have… I can’t take any of it for granted.
My sergeant also introduced me to something really important I’ve been doing since the time I served: the Big Brother Big Sister program. I remember he wanted to help me alleviate my personal pain after the tours. The program helps underprivileged children that don’t have active role models in their lives, and we step in, like a couple of hours on the weekend to just be there for them. I love seeing the smiles on the kids. I was unbelievably lucky to have my father who showed me so much dedication to our family, but these kids don’t have that. Everything my parents instilled in me boils down to giving back to people that don’t have as much as you do, and my sergeant helped me find a really important way for me to do that. I try to pay it forward with my own kids. As a family we go to soup kitchens during Thanksgiving to serve on the line; we usually bring our own food or help the kitchen out with things. We used to do it in LA and when we used to live in Seattle, and we do it now in Miami. I think it’s really important to teach this to my kids with actions the way my parents taught it to me, so my parents’ impact on me and the Marine Corps’ impact on me has both been really great.
Something I’ve come to not take for granted because of the things I saw while I served—and this is something I really appreciate about ComS.I.T. Inc. , is people treating people as people in a free environment. It feels right, working here, because I see the way the whole company treats their employees, how they back their employees, and listen to them. This place is really phenomenal in that way. They’re keeping the bigger picture in mind, not just the numbers. The whole company really sees the people who work here each as people, see the value in them. My experiences in the military as I was developing into an adult really helped me grasp the importance of that everywhere, and of course also in the workplace.
How has your experience been working with semiconductors?
Well, it’s been over 20 years that I’ve been in this [semiconductor brokerage] business. I learned everything I know from one man, Phil Ginsburg. He worked for Smith & Associates, broke off, and made his own company. He taught me everything. I learned a long time ago that if there is one manufacturer making one semiconductor, then there’s always an equivalent to that one being produced by another manufacturer. I learned really early, you know, not to be close-minded: don’t just look for ABC, but also look for XYZ to see if it fits into the algorithm of whatever it is that people are looking for. If you’re looking for a capacitor, well I know there are five elements to a capacitor, so I ask myself, ‘what can I change in the five elements to get the full functionality the supplier needs?’
I carried this learning forward to my work at ComS.I.T. Inc. now and think it’s a big asset to have in this business. Instead of just focusing in on just one little grain of rice, I’m looking at the whole bag of rice. That’s how I try to perceive and conduct our business on a day-to-day basis. I still have a lot to learn, you know, and I take each day as a learning process. And I have to, in order to keep advancing in what I do and to perform in a way where other people aren’t performing. As the industry keeps evolving, this is going to be ever more important.
How’s the state of the semiconductor industry?
Well, it’s already extremely vital. Everything is going towards automation right now, everything is going to machinery, and machines of course depend on semiconductors. When I moved to Florida over 20 years ago, at each toll booth there were people collecƟng change, right? Now you don’t see a person at all. It’s all machines taking digital readings. And each of those machines need semiconductors. Humans are being phased out and machines are being phased in. People used to do the welding on cars; now robots are doing it and doing it better. Of course, we still have the engineers behind the machines, making sure they’re up and running correctly, but machines are doing most of the work these days.
The industry is going to grow with this phasing, and so semiconductors aren’t going away anytime soon. I think they’re going to be advancing further and further down the road, and it’s going to be where someday they’re going to be making themselves. They’ll know what to make for themselves at a certain point, know what they need.
What is ComS.I.T. Inc.'s role in the semiconductor brokerage industry?
There’s something we do extremely well: bringing in excess inventory at the right time, which is in advance. I think what Sebi does is brilliant. He is bringing in inventory to our warehouses, looking at what components are in the order and that we’re bringing in things that we can supply to our customers at a later point. Is it memory? Is it LEDs? Is it capacitors’ passive components?
Sebi is looking at the whole spectrum and bringing all the components in, no junk. What he’s really bringing in is long-term security and planning. We really specialize in that sort of service for our customers, so that we can secure their supply chain and secure their development.
And I’ll tell you one thing about us, and I think I fit into this picture a little bit: we supply our customers with informaƟon where others can’t access that certain piece of information. It might be a data sheet, maybe a date code, or maybe geƫng the date code from a lock code. Where other vendors can’t do it, ComS.I.T. Inc. does it differently, and we have connections that are a bit better so we can extract that information from the manufacturers and provide it to our suppliers. It’s our asset to them. We’re service-oriented.
It’s a shocker for me too, sometimes. Our connections are even better for this than certain manufacturers! Even if they’re buying directly from the manufacturer, I’ll often be able to get certain information they can’t even obtain. I don’t know if it’s red tape that they can’t cross, but somehow we don’t have that red tape. We can just go in and try to extract whatever information we need for that customer so they can close the deal or help them use the piece on their line to see if it’ll work for them instead of waiting. Then our customers are ahead of schedule with respect to being able to use that certain component for their process. It’s amazing.
Is ComS.I.T. Inc.’s business sustainable?
Yes, absolutely. Let’s say a company is looking for a certain component. The component is almost certainly somewhere in the US already, so instead of buying the component completely new from China or producing them with a high energy bill, a lot of water, shipping, CO2 consumption, all the emissions, we find it for them somewhere in the US. The market is visible to us, so we’re able to organize that component. We tell our customers, here are the components you’re looking for and you can save energy, emissions, and a lot else. I’d say that’s very environmentally friendly.
I guess we’re almost like a recycling company. We’re somewhat in that market as well. We prevent valuable components from going into landfills when we identify them and put them into our warehouses. And when a supplier needs them, we pull them out of our inventory, so that they don’t go to waste. This means that not only are we helping customers get the components they need, but we’re also helping them avoid a higher carbon footprint. We’re very sustainable in terms of more sustainably using manufactured resources and for our customers.
We end every interview with this: do you have a personal wish?
My answer to this goes back to the beginning. I wish my parents could outlive me. I want my parents to have a really good life. That’s my one wish in life. What they’ve done for me, the sacrifices they made for me. I just want my parents to have a long, long, long, good life.
We always want our kids to be better than us or live better than us, and I do understand that concept. But if you think that way for your kids to grow up better than you, why wouldn’t you want your parents to have that same opportunity? I try to go full circle in life with regards to family and everything like that. So yes, my one wish is for my parents to have a really good life.
Our logo
Balancing act between technology & emotion
When looking for a new logo, we tried to create something that would be unusual for many, especially for die-hard engineers and tech nerds. The fact that electronic components are abstract for many people deters young women and men from dedicating themselves to precisely these technologies that are so crucial for the digital world. Without chips, transistors, LEDs or capacitors, neither our journeys into the solar system nor every banal Facebook post would be possible.
So we came to the conclusion – with the significant involvement of the female management – that the logo had to somehow manage the balancing act between sober technology and emotional perception. Because as important as potato chips and the like are for today’s world, we find it sad that young people in particular do not feel addressed by them.
It must be clear to all of us that wind turbines, solar systems, future-oriented environmental technologies, autonomous driving and stargazing would not be possible without electronic components. At the heart of this fascinating world are the so-called “semiconductors”, chips that are found in all the electronic devices we use today and which have changed our lives decisively. This is how we brought our “logo” to life as a friendly, smiling mascot, a fusion of two worlds.
COMSI, as the name suggests, is intended to motivate all those who previously had no interest in electronics to learn more about electronic components. We can only better protect and preserve our planet if we continue to produce engineers who screw, tinker and develop with a smile on their faces to make our home, a huge global village, a better place to live.
Our COMSI motivates us to do just that every day with a smile on his face.
Thank you COMSI
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