{"id":7572,"date":"2014-11-06T10:14:09","date_gmt":"2014-11-06T10:14:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ewnews.co.uk\/?p=7572"},"modified":"2014-12-04T16:43:39","modified_gmt":"2014-12-04T16:43:39","slug":"electrical-distributors-have-a-new-champion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ewnews.co.uk\/index.php\/electrical-distributors-have-a-new-champion\/","title":{"rendered":"Electrical distributors have a new champion"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Marg\"<\/a>This summer, the Electrical Distributors\u2019 Association (EDA) celebrated its centenary with a fantastic industry lunch at Kensington Palace and in April, MARGARET FITZSIMONS took over as EDA Director from Ray Evans (who this year, received a Lifetime Achievement Award in the first ever Electrical Wholesaler Awards). Editor, DEBBIE EALES met Margaret \u2013 six months into her new role \u2013 at the Association\u2019s Tunbridge Wells offices, to find out what\u2019s on her agenda.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Electrical Distributors\u2019 Association is the glue that binds the electrical wholesaling industry together, bringing knowledge, training and debate to the table and, importantly, linking like-minded professionals.<\/p>\n

Some 80% of electrical wholesalers are EDA members and with a new Director in place, there are plans to build upon this strong base. Top priority is to promote education and training and there are plans to work more closely with other organisations to develop a sector strategy.<\/p>\n

Margaret Fitzsimons told me: \u201cWe are in the very early stages of discussion with BEAMA about involvement in a sector strategy. BEAMA is leading the way on the topic of working together to raise the profile of the electrical installation supply channel, particularly with regard to smart buildings.<\/p>\n

\u201cMany organisations in the channel do some excellent work on making their voices heard by Government: the ECA (Electrical Contractors Association, Lighting Industry Association (LIA), BEAMA and the BCA (British Cable Association) for example. However, the EDA has not been as active in this area in the past and it is important that we get involved to ensure that the concerns of the wholesaler are understood when legislation is being discussed.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAnother industry partner we would like to work even more closely with is the ECA. We have had dialogue with the ECA for almost 100 years \u2013 they are one of our closest kindred Associations and are invited to all our events \u2013 but we feel there is room for closer cooperation \u2013 particularly in relation to education and training and encouraging ECA members to adopt new technologies. We\u2019ve already had some informal meetings with the President and Director of the ECA with a view to trying to put more practical steps in place as to how our two organisations can work together.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tackling the counterfeiters<\/strong><\/p>\n

Counterfeit goods are not such a major problem in the UK, but UK brands are prestigious and often targeted by counterfeiters. BEAMA has an excellent initiative called \u2018Counterfeit-Kills\u2019 which tries to identify these counterfeits at source and ensure they never make it into the supply channel in the first instance. The EDA is a supporter of this campaign and is a signatory of the Industry Charter.<\/p>\n

The EDA already works with other organisations on safety initiatives, including the BCA\u2019s Approved Cable initiative.<\/p>\n

Continues Margaret: \u201cWe are currently in discussion with LIA about their new testing and compliance scheme for LED lamps, which we believe is a good initiative and of benefit to all market players. There is a lot of misinformation in the market about the performance of LEDs and is it important that we get transparency through some sort of common and recognisable series of tests and a stamp of approval.\u201d<\/p>\n

Margaret acknowledges that changing legislation is something that the whole industry needs to be aware of. \u201cWe use EDA events like our Regional Business Forums, to let our members know about latest legislation changes and new product and technology innovations,\u201d she adds.<\/p>\n

At the EDA\u2019s recent Regional Business Forum, nPower explained the Smart Meter roll-out programme and its implications for the electrical installation supply channel. There will be opportunities for electrical wholesalers to sell lighting and heating controls and myriad other energy saving products and systems equipment on the back of that.<\/p>\n

Continues Margaret: \u201cWhen people start to see clearly the cost of energy used by their radiators, hot water systems and lighting, then there will be opportunities for us as an industry to jump in and say now it\u2019s time for lighting and heating control systems, thermostatic radiator valves, voltage optimisation units, etc. With the intelligence that the Internet of Things can add to the equation linking all the systems and devices in the home wirelessly then we can see that the electrical wholesaler will soon be selling intelligent devices.\u201d<\/p>\n

Margaret warns, however: \u201cWhat we have to be very careful about as an industry is that if the utilities start selling this technology, we will lose out.\u201d<\/p>\n

Continues Margaret: \u201cAt our recent Regional Business Forum we also addressed the topic of Electric Vehicle Infrastructure. I think we are close to the tipping point of take-up of electric vehicles, with opportunities for contractors and wholesalers.\u201d<\/p>\n

I remark that Margaret had some big shoes to fill when she took over from Ray Evans.\u00a0\u201cYes, Ray Evans was an institution in the industry and he left the Association in a very good state,\u201d she tells me. \u201cHe is a very nice man to work with; very experienced, very professional and very helpful to me in the handover. He is known and loved in the industry and in this office.\u201d<\/p>\n

Although Margaret was given no formal brief by the EDA, she is \u201cdefinitely seen as an instrument of change\u201d.<\/p>\n

Identifying the threats\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cThe Association cannot be commercial \u2013 we don\u2019t want to interfere in people\u2019s businesses \u2013 but we do want to make sure that those businesses are still here in 100 years.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Association is constantly looking to see what\u2019s on the horizon. We are looking for threats and looking for opportunities for electrical wholesalers and trying to make sure that they are aware of these.\u201d<\/p>\n

Education is extremely important to the EDA. \u201cWe have three different offerings in our Education and Training portfolio. The first \u2013 which is so appreciated and has been running for quite a long time \u2013 is our \u2018Product Knowledge Programme\u2019,\u201d says Margaret. \u201cThere are 10 Product Knowledge Modules on the key product groups that are sold throughout electrical wholesalers.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are pushing very hard to encourage all our members to make the Product Modules an integral part of the induction programme of every new employee. Each of these is City & Guilds-certified and each counts as 40 hours of training. It provides great background product knowledge and it is transferable across the industry,\u201d comments Margaret.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe second type of training programme is our Apprenticeship Programme and the third is Vocational Training for existing employees. There\u2019s a nationally recognised qualification at the end of both of these programmes and Joanna Key from our office is a great case study for our Vocational Training for existing employees having successfully completed an NVQ in Business Administration.\u201d<\/p>\n

Margaret is keen to increase the take up of EDA training by members. \u201cThe growth in the take-up of Product Knowledge modules has been impressive over the past two years. In 2014 the monthly take-up is almost double that of 2012. However, we would like to increase the number of companies investing in training. We have 97 wholesaler members \u2013 and we find that it\u2019s the same companies who take them over and over again. One aim is to target the companies who are not currently investing in training and try to encourage them to do so. We think that lack of awareness is the main reason for not doing so.<\/p>\n

“As for Apprenticeships and Vocational Training, here too, numbers in 2014 are double those in 2013 but the base is much lower. We will be trying to get out the message that we can secure up to \u00a36,000 of government funding for each learner.\u201d<\/p>\n

With some massive players, with multiple branches in the industry, I question how the independents can survive and thrive.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe practical step they have taken is to form themselves into buying groups and this seems to work very well,\u201d comments Margaret. \u201cThere are six buying groups operating in the UK today and three are EDA members. They still operate independently and often locally but their purchasing power is greater and they can offer premium brands at competitive prices.\u201d<\/p>\n

“The ‘pub’ of the industry”<\/strong><\/p>\n

What of the Internet and the electrical wholesaler? \u201cMost wholesalers do have an ecommerce capability of some sort but the visit to the trade counter continues to attract. Someone once described the electrical wholesale trade counter as the \u2018pub of the industry\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n

The comment alludes to the fact that many contractors do not have their own office. \u201cTheir office is that trade counter in the morning,\u201d continues Margaret, \u201cand if they have a good relationship with the trade counter staff who can advise them and keep them up to speed on new products, technology and legislation as well as share a cup of coffee and have a chat then they will continue to come back. They won\u2019t want to swap that personal and professional service for buying from the internet when they go home in the evening.\u201d<\/p>\n

EDA membership is the best it has ever been. But how is the Association going to attract new members?<\/p>\n

Says Margaret: \u201cThe 20% we don\u2019t have are mostly small wholesalers and we believe that giving access to EDA training programmes for your employees \u2013 which are incredibly cheap \u2013 is a definite benefit that would appeal.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe big target for us is to engage more with our existing members making sure that they come to our social events, to our forums and taking our training.\u201d<\/p>\n

As Margaret joined the EDA, plans were well underway for this year\u2019s centenary celebrations.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a great time to join as I got involved in researching the 100 year history of the Association. In our Centenary celebrations, we tried to emphasise the links between the past and the present, to acknowledge the relationships we have with companies and organisations that go back to 1914. Those relationships are still thriving today. It\u2019s made me realise what a fantastic history we have and has given me a sense of responsibility too. I want to ensure that the EDA only gets better during my watch.\u201d<\/p>\n

www.eda.org.uk<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This summer, the Electrical Distributors\u2019 Association (EDA) celebrated its centenary with a fantastic industry lunch at Kensington Palace and in April, MARGARET FITZSIMONS took over as EDA Director from Ray Evans (who this year, received a Lifetime Achievement Award in the first ever Electrical Wholesaler Awards). Editor, DEBBIE EALES met Margaret \u2013 six months into […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":7817,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[154,167,1055,379,467],"class_list":["post-7572","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","tag-eda","tag-electrical-distributors-association","tag-featured","tag-margaret-fitzsimons","tag-ray-evans","et-has-post-format-content","et_post_format-et-post-format-standard"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ewnews.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7572","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ewnews.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ewnews.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ewnews.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ewnews.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7572"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/ewnews.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7572\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7879,"href":"https:\/\/ewnews.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7572\/revisions\/7879"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ewnews.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7817"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ewnews.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7572"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ewnews.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7572"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ewnews.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7572"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}