Manufacturer Reputations and Characteristics?

[ruku]

So I'm in the market to start stocking up on some passive components. Nothing that I'm going to send to space or the Sahara Desert, but I also don't want to pick up cheap components that fail. I've seen a ton of companies when buying parts, and some names are sticking. Vishay / Dale, Rohm, Panasonic. I've also seen some weird off brands, "Yuego" for example. Unfamiliar with that one. I'm just wondering if any of you with industry experience have formed any opinions on manufacturers, or whether I'm being silly with this.

An example would be Maxim. They have the MAX 232 chip, and a whole bunch of expensive weird specialty products. I usually filter them out when looking for jelly beans. Analog, Linear, and TI are great for op amps, but I wouldn't necessarily look to them for linear regulators and the like. Perhaps National Semiconductor.

The above opinions are only loosely held, I haven't had much time in the industry.

[Zad]

What do you intend using the components for? An amateur / hobbyist has vastly different requirements to someone designing a product that may sell in the hundreds of thousands. Don't worry about Maxxim if you only need 1 or 2 components.