Electrical Marketing's LiveWire

Burndy (Manchester, N.H.): Industry veteran Stewart Gale has been appointed senior product manager. For the last four years, Stewart has owned and operated Force 9 Consulting, providing a portfolio of marketing services ranging from sales leadership training, strategic planning, market analysis, customer loyalty programs, project management and public relations. Prior to that, Gale led the marketing effort for Affiliated Distributors as V.P. of marketing and business development. He began his career in the electrical industry with Rockingham Electric Supply, Newington, N.H

Cooling is a key consideration in the design of LED lighting. Heat build-up can shorten the life of LEDs and limit their usefulness, especially in retrofit applications. Switch Lighting, San Jose, Calif., has an innovative solution: rather than the array of fins we see on many LED lamps, they’ve gone with a liquid-cooled design, which they claim gives the lamps better efficiency.

It sure looks cool.

We found it via Jetson Green

Graybar Electric Co., St. Louis, will open a new 13,000-square-foot branch full-service branch in Lincoln, Neb., on Jan. 16. The branch is located at 3300 North 35th St., and will serve the Lincoln metropolitan area as well as Lancaster and Seward counties. Lincoln is Nebraska’s state capitol and home to the main campus of the University of Nebraska. The company also has another branch in Omaha, Neb., approximately 50 miles east of Lincoln. Area Manager Tom Walz and Corey Dyrstad branch manager, sales and service, will lead the branch’s five employees.

Mersen (Newburyport, Mass.): Roy Ball is now V.P. of research and development, USA/Mexico and will be responsible for new product research and development and sustaining engineering. He comes to Mersen from ABB where he held a number of positions, including operations and quality manager and senior design engineer. In his latest position as engineering manager, he was responsible for the development of protective relaying products and auxiliary devices, and revamped the product development process for ABB.
Ball holds a M.A. in business and manufacturing from the University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK, and a MBA with a specialization in international business from the University of Miami. He earned his B.S. from the Universidad Nacional Pedro Henriquez Ureña, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic.

This posting at Business Insider says 14,000 SAP employees now have iPads. Korea Telecom is reportedly the only company using more iPads – Business Insider says the company gave iPads to all 30,000 of its employees about a year ago.

Geez…. San Diego already has some of the best weather in the nation. But according to this article in the San Diego Union-Tribune, it may also have one of the best construction climates in the United States over the next four years, with more than $13 billion in construction either underway or on the drawing boards. These projects include a new courthouse; major projects at hospitals & colleges; expansion of the convention center and the city’s main airport; a new downtown football stadium for the Chargers; and all sorts of smaller commercial and military projects.

Electrical Construction & Maintenance magazine’s Product of the Year competition was established in 2000 to honor excellence in new product development in the electrical industry. Now in its twelfth year, the prestigious awards program showcases the most innovative products of the past year and recognizes the talent and commitment of the people involved with every aspect of development, from concept through sales. If you are an electrical manufacturer who introduced a new product from Jan. 1, 2011 to Dec. 31, 2011 check out the competition by clicking here.

Dynalectric Los Angeles, a Los Alamitos, Calif.-subsidiary of EMCOR Group Inc., Norwalk, Conn., won the electrical contract for a retrofit of the Los Angeles Hall of Justice in Los Angeles. Dynalectric will install electrical and low-voltage systems in the retrofit of an existing 12-story structure, originally built in 1922 as a jail, which will now become the new Los Angeles Hall of Justice. Additionally, Dynalectric will be responsible for the installation of all electrical and low- voltage systems in a neighboring new 10-story parking garage. Scope of work will include maintaining and/or restoring historical elements, including light fixtures, stairs, floors, courtrooms and a jail cell. Details

Pike Research, a cleantech-focused market research firm, released a report last week suggesting that consumers’ interest in plug-in electric vehicles (PHEVs) has declined over the past two years, during the time when many, if not most, of the world’s automobile manufacturers have been gearing up to offer PHEV models. Pike found that 40% of consumers in their study were “extremely” or “very” interested in purchasing a PHEV, down from 44% in 2011 and 48% in 2010.

Respondents cited cost, concerns about driving range and the desire to see the technology prove itself as key reasons for their reluctance to embrace EVs.

Given that many of the top electrical manufacturers have been rolling out electric vehicle supply equipment (EVSE) to satisfy demand for places to charge electric cars, the cooling of interest in the vehicles themselves could have a chilling effect on EVSE sales. Pike suggests that 2012 will be an important test of the commercial viability of PHEVs.

Pike’s release

Reports surfacing today in several of the Business Journal chain of newspapers say PayPal is working on a pilot program with Home Depot to test out an online payment system for retail shoppers.