This Week in IDEA | September 29, 2010

A New Look and More Interaction

In case you haven’t noticed yet, we’ve changed the look of our website and our emails. But, it’s not just our look that is changing; we are also changing your online experience and inviting you to contribute to the conversation.

A new way to search for online resources:

We’ve tagged all the This Week in IDEA articles so that our readers you can search by topic. For example, if you have been tasked to update and maintain your company’s UNSPSC codes; simply click on UNSPSC in the Tag Index and all the educational articles and news about UNSPSC codes will appear. You will also notice that each article has other relevant tags that you can browse; in this example, a common relevant tag would be attribute schema.

We are doing our best to keep these tags consistent and relevant, but please share your opinion by emailing or by…

Contributing to the conversation through our new comments feature:

Would you like to contribute to the news and educational content we publish on our site? Now it is easier for you join the conversation. Readers have the opportunity to comment on most This Week in IDEA articles, trade news articles and press releases. You can use the comments feature to add value to the content we publish, share personal anecdotes, explain a challenge you are experiencing, etc.

Regardless of the reasons, we welcome our readers to join the conversation, and we will do our best to respond back to all valid comments quickly. Your knowledge and experiences are important to us and the rest of the industry. To get started, simply click on the "Post a Comment" link underneath the article title. Happy browsing!

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IDEA Names Crescent Electric Supply Company and ERICO® Recipients of the Fourth Annual Richard Buzun Award

Crescent Electric Supply Company and ERICO® were selected winners of the fourth annual Richard Buzun Award for Leadership and Innovation in eCommerce. Bob Gaylord, president & CEO, IDEA announced the winners during the IDEA E-Biz Forum 2010 in Dallas, TX.

“The results of the winning companies’ efforts are undeniable. Both Crescent and ERICO are innovative, aggressive and proactive, moving eCommerce forward and maximizing all the tools that are available to set standards and also raise the bar for the electrical channel. These great companies are leaders in the channel who understand the value of eCommerce, and as leaders, go above and beyond to communicate the values and benefits of eCommerce to their peers and trading partner communities,” said Gaylord.

Ron Schlader, VP Operations and Quality, Crescent Electrical Supply, and George Droder, Vice President of Customer Service and eCommerce, ERICO® International Corporation, accepted the awards on behalf of the winning companies.

Crescent Electric Supply was recognized for their advocacy of eCommerce throughout the industry. They exchange a high percentage of their business documents using EDI and many manufacturers nominated them as the distributor that makes business easiest. The company uses the Electrical Attribute Schema and has leadership roles within both the IDEA Board and the IDEA Industry Standards Committee. They are in the process of completely revamping their innovative and easy to use eCommerce website that will make searching, buying and selling a pain-free process for the supply partner and the end user.

“Crescent Electric Supply is honored to be recognized as a leader in eCommerce innovation. The Richard Buzun Award validates the dedication of our team, and Ron Schlader in particular, to drive efficiency and productivity through the exchange of important business information. We thank the countless supply partners who share our vision and IDEA for recognizing us with this award,” said Martin Burbridge, President and CEO, Crescent Electric Supply.

The manufacturer winner, ERICO®, worked over the last several years to implement and improve internal and external data quality initiatives, and according to Droder, have significantly increased their EDI transaction activity with numerous partners worldwide. They have also worked with their retail partners to synchronize data through the Global Data Synchronization Network, streamlined the exchange of pricing, and have focused a great amount of effort on developing web-based services for their business partners and the end-users of their products. They have actively worked with and led the IDEA Industry Standards Committee in international standards development and international standardization in the various regions they serve worldwide.

“We are very grateful and incredibly honored to be recognized by IDEA as one of the leaders in the industry for eCommerce. Our goal with eCommerce is to ultimately make it easier to conduct business with ERICO, and to speed the flow of information to our business partners and the end-users of our products. By supporting the adherence to standards, ERICO and our partners will improve supply chain efficiency and reduce the cost of doing business together,” said Droder.

The Richard Buzun Award was introduced to the industry in 2007 to recognize one manufacturer and distributor company that demonstrate leadership by implementing and promoting successful eCommerce programs throughout the electrical industry. The award is named after the late Richard Buzun, former IDEA Chairman, and former president and CEO of Siemens Energy & Automation, Inc.

Photo Downloads:

• Winners accept award on stage
• Crescent Electric Supply accepts the distributor award
• ERICO accepts the manufacturer award

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NAED Eastern Early Bird Ends This Friday, October 1

The last day to receive the early bird registration price for the 2010 NAED Eastern Region Conference is only a few days away. The conference will take place November 8-10 at the Omni Orlando Resort at ChampionsGate in Orlando. Attendees can catch up with IDEA representatives during the B2B Booth Sessions.

The keynote speaker is political analyst and television commentator Charlie Cook. He is the editor and publisher of The Cook Political Report, columnist for National Journal magazine, and regularly appears on NBC News, as well as other major networks' news shows. Cook’s presentation will focus on the outcome of the 2010 mid-term elections and the rising heat of today’s political climate.

There are numerous networking opportunities such as the Women In Industry luncheon, peer networking groups, B2B Booth Sessions, and the NAED networking receptions. You will also find a number of hard-hitting education sessions during the Eastern Region Conference:

• “The Recession Paradox: Why Distributors Must Exploit Technology Now” by Jeff Greene, president, Technology Curve.
• “To Catch a Thief: The Scope of Theft and Fraud in the Electrical Distribution Industry” by Erika TenEyck, project manager, NAED.
• “Using Online Training to Build Sales” by Joe Hajek, instructional designer, NAED and Keith Peck, president, ElectricSmarts Network.
• Panel: “New Opportunities in Energy Efficiency – Working with ESCOs” moderated by Jerry Yudelson, principal, Yudelson Associates.
• “The New Energy Solutions Contractor” by Robert W. Colgan, Jr., executive director of marketing, NECA.

Register today. For more information, contact the NAED Conference Department at .

Content courtesy of NAED Communications

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New B2B eCommerce and Synchronization Customers

IDEA welcomes one new IDX and 18 new IRD CERICOMX® customers. Read more about these companies and how you can begin trading with them electronically to expand your business.

New IDX Customer

Falcon Technologies Inc. of Maryland Heights, MO became an Industry Data Exchange (IDX) customer on September 7, 2010. Falcon Technologies, Inc., was founded in St. Louis in 1990. They began by providing custom cable assemblies for the industrial, commercial and data communications markets, and have expanded their offering to include a variety of copper, fiber-optic and discreet harness assemblies, as well as network infrastructure products. They will be taking advantage of the cost savings and reliability of IDX to exchange B2B documents. Find out more at www.falcontech.us.  

New IRD CERICOMX® Customers

IDEA, a 1SYNC Data Pool On-Board Solution (OBS) partner, implements suppliers that subscribe to the 1SYNC data pool using IDEA's IRD CERICOMX® application. IDEA was recently assigned 18 suppliers:

• Technical Chemical
• Red River Commodities
• Styles Razor 
• PopCap Games, Inc
• Sequoia Licensed Products, LLC
• Revolution Tea 
• Snowdens, LLC 
• Food Source, Inc
• Joyva Corp.
• Annie’s Inc
• Hybrivet Systems, Inc. 
• Hart Tackle, LLC
• iGo, Inc 
• International Food Associates
• Cherry Stix, Ltd. 
• United American Industries 
• DeveloPlus
• ATP New Grange Group 

These companies will be trained to use IRD CERICOMX®, an online catalog that suppliers use to register product data with the GS1 Registry® and GDSN via the 1SYNC Data Pool. Suppliers also use this solution to publish product data to demand partners including retailers like Lowe’s and Walmart.

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