Arlington’s Ray Kennedy, national sales manager (right), recently presented French with this plaque to commemorate French’s long partnership with Arlington.
Archive for the ‘Channel Chatter’ Category
Larry French receives award from Arlington Industries
Border States names new CFO
Border States Electric (BSE) (Fargo, N.D.): Jeremy Welsand is now chief CFO and a member of the company’s executive council. He was an audit partner in the Minneapolis, Minn., office of Grant Thornton, where he led client relationships for annual audits, due diligence and transactional engagements for private and public companies. He was also responsible for providing U.S. and international accounting expertise for a variety of assurance engagements while serving as the U.S. resident specialist for Grant Thornton UK LLP from 2005 to 2007.
ElectroRep to rep Southwire and Klein Tools for mining markets in western U.S.
Electrorep, Inc., Sausalito, Calif., is expanding into the mining market in the western U.S. and has entered into agreements with Southwire Co. and Klein Tools to act as their sales rep servicing the mining companies in this region. ElectroRep will initially focus on the mining markets in Wyoming, Utah, Arizona, Colorado and Nevada, and the company has employed a sales resource based in the Denver area to help expand their presence in the mining market.
“We see the mining market as an excellent source for diversity and growth within our organization, we are committed to this investment for the long term and will build the premier outsourced field sales model for this marketplace over the next three years,” said Kelly Boyd, the company’s president. “Electrorep will call on end users in the mines as well as traditional mining distribution companies and/or electrical distribution serving the mines. We see a lot of synergy between what have learned in 51 years of selling to the electrical channel being very applicable to the mining markets, and we are looking forward to the challenge of breaking new ground for our company and the companies that we represent.”
Details to follow in the next issue of Electrical Marketing newsletter.
20 major upcoming construction projects
Reed Construction Data recently published this list of huge construction projects now on the drawing boards.
DDI System launches software package for distributors with less than 10 users
DDI System has announced the launch of Inform SBE – their new Small Business Edition software. DDI’s Inform SBE is a full-featured solution geared towards distributors with less than 10 users. Details
Grainger sees double-digit 2012 sales growth but plans to close 25 branches
This Chicago Tribune article says W.W. Grainger Inc. is bullish about 2012 but plans to tighten up its branch network.
NEMA backs bill to promote investment in energy storage
The National Electrical Manufacturers Association (NEMA), has endorsed legislation that will spur the deployment of cutting-edge energy storage technologies. “The ability to store energy during times of low demand and deploy it during peak demand reduces costs, improves efficiency, and precludes the need for new electrical generation,” said NEMA President and CEO Evan Gaddis. “By remaining technology neutral, the STORAGE Act promotes competition in the electroindustry and allows the marketplace to determine which technologies are best suited for any given application.”
Senators Ron Wyden (D-OR), Jeff Bingaman (D-NM), and Susan Collins (R-ME) introduced “The Storage Technology for Renewable and Green Energy (STORAGE) Act of 2011” (S 1845), a set of investment tax credits to promote adoption of the spectrum of energy storage technologies. Batteries, flywheels, superconducting magnetic energy storage, and other technologies would all be eligible under the legislation. S 1845 would offer a 20 percent investment tax credit to energy storage used in connection with the power grid, with no project eligible to receive more than $40 million. To promote efficiency and distributed generation in the commercial and residential markets, the bill offers a 30 percent credit (up to $1 million) for on-site application of energy storage. Details
GE now offering smart grid as a service
Your town wants all the benefits of a smart grid, but doesn’t have the computing power on-hand to make it happen. No problem, says GE in this report at www.seekingalpha.com
Malvizzi appointed NAED Eastern Region incoming V.P.
National Association of Electrical Distributors (NAED) (St. Louis): Marc Malvizzi, electrical division manager of Eastern Penn Supply Co., is NAED’s incoming vice president-elect of the Eastern Region. He has been in the industry for 27 years and has served on NAED’s Eastern Region Council since 2008. Malvizzi has also served in his local community – he is a 31-year veteran of the Laflin, Pa., volunteer fire department (12 years as fire chief) and is also a former mayor of Laflin.
Grainger October sales up 16% YTY
W.W. Grainger Inc., reported that its Oct. 2011 sales increased 16 percent versus October 2010. Results for the month included a 5 percentage point contribution from acquisitions. Excluding acquisitions, organic sales increased 11 percent, including 9 percentage points from volume and 3 percentage points from price, partially offset by a 1 percentage point decline from 2010 oil spill related sales.