Latest Articles

This was my first time at the Hong Kong International Lighting Fair (Spring Edition), and the 11th occasion of this event, which was organized by the Hong Kong Trade Development Council (HKTDC).

Survey Says Ontario dominates the electrical sales market with 37% of electrical products sold in Canada. Quebec represents the second largest market with 22%.

Whats At Stake As a distributor, you face an ever-changing competitive landscape. If your organization uses time-consuming manual processes or relies on software that doesn’t fit your specific needs, you’ll struggle to compete and grow.

Born in Saint Johns, Newfoundland, David Blake grew up and now resides in Windsor, Ontario. David has been married to his wife Joyce for 44 years, and works as a components specialist for Electrozad.

Canada has worked hard to open international market access via free trade agreements in North America, Asia and Europe. The elimination of tariffs between these regions enables companies to re-examine their structures and has resulted in a global supply network.

Jeff Mowatt What words do you think customers would use to describe what it’s like when doing business with your company — responsive, easy, approachable? Or are they more apt to say rigid, robotic, bureaucratic? Customers of course prefer to buy from suppliers who are easy to work with.

Wholesale Economy Wholesale sales increased 0.3% to $63.7 billion in February, the third consecutive monthly gain. Higher sales were recorded in two of seven subsectors, led by the motor vehicle and motor vehicle parts and accessories subsector. Excluding this subsector, wholesale sales declined 1.5%. In volume terms, wholesale sales increased 0.3%.

Total investment in building construction increased in February, up 3.8% from January to $15.3 billion. This increase was primarily due to investment growth in the residential sector (+5.4% to $11.0 billion), while the non-residential sector remained unchanged at $4.4 billion.

Workforce productivity can be defined as the amount of services or goods a workforce produces within an expressed time and budget. Senior leaders, when setting their expectations and measures for organizational success, must factor in workforce productivity with respect to what influences it both positively and negatively.

Not every showroom will be the ideal fit for offering smart home products, but as the fastest-growing category in lighting, it deserves careful consideration.

Open Letter to the Canadian Electrical Industry: Our Supply Chain

Rick McCarten With an outstanding record turnout at this year’s EFC Conference in Quebec City, delegates were asked to attend a workshop on our supply chain.

Delegates voted on several issues that would help advance our industry towards digitalization, improved performance, ease of doing business, and improved data.

Why?

Why do we need a workshop for our industry? All of our research over the years to supply chains customers shows that brand loyalty is mixed — it’s almost 50/50 between the manufacturer and the distributor.

NEMA and ISA Working Together on New Building Systems Cybersecurity Program

Cybersecurity During a recent Industrial Control Systems Joint Working Group meeting, representatives from the National Electrical Manufacturers Association (NEMA), U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) and International Society of Automation (ISA) outlined a new program to address the growing risk of unprotected and under-protected building control systems in the U.S. and abroad.

Building owners, users, and manufacturers of control systems continuously work to find practical ways to create safe and more secure environments.

IDEA to Offer Customer Training Plan for the IDEA Connectors Launch

Idea IDEA plans to introduce an online learning management tool, the IDEA Learning Portal, to train customers on the new IDEA Connector, which will launch in late September. This portal will contain comprehensive training information and documentation on the IDEA Connector, a master data management (MDM) platform that enables distributors to securely access accurate and timely product and pricing data directly from manufacturers.

To complement the portal, there will be four training session devoted to manufacturers and distributors at eBiz. These training sessions will dive deeper into specific content to ensure a complete understanding of important functionality.

2019 LFI Innovation Awards Spotlight Excellence and Creativity

The celebrated LFI Innovation Awards marked the opening this week of the 2019 Lightfair International Trade Show and Conference with a dramatic showcasing of the industry’s most innovative products and designs introduced during the last 12 months.

The 2019 awards and trade show opening mark the 30th anniversary of the world’s largest annual lighting and technology event. The 2019 awards saw entries spanning 14 categories, with each submission judged by an independent panel of lighting professionals. Winning entries exemplified the best in innovative design and thinking.

Want to Win Customers? Think Like a Consumer

By: Thomas Donato, Rockwell Automation

We all are consumers. We all have expectations of quality and service.

When I talk to our customers, I do so with that experience and mindset. If we don’t deliver – we lose. Maybe not immediately, but eventually. It’s as simple as that.

I just lived through a great example of this. Every morning I use our blender. One of the parts broke, and the manufacturer made it quite difficult and cumbersome to get a replacement.

Westburne Appoints Divisional Sales Manager, ...

Richard Do joined Westburne’s Senior Leadership Team as the new Divisional Sales Manager for ...

Changing Scene

Peers & Profiles

Looking Back

Copper $US Dollar price per pound