This Week in IDEA | May 7, 2008

New IDEA Customer, IDW Certified Manufacturer and IDEA IRD Customers

IDEA announces one new IDEA customer, one new IDW certified manufacturer and 10 new IDEA IRD customers. Read more about these companies and how you can begin trading with them electronically to expand your business.

New IDEA Customer: Gatto Electric Supply

Gatto Electric Supply, an electrical distributor from Cleveland, OH, became an IDEA customer on April 30, 2008. They will be taking advantage of the reliability and cost savings of Industry Data Exchange (IDX). Gatto ES is a proud member of NAED and IMARK. Find out more at www.gattoelectricsupply.com. Welcome aboard!

IDW Business Information Certified

IDEA is proud to announce CRC Industries, a worldwide leader in the production of specialty chemicals, recently completed the Industry Data Warehouse (IDW) Data Quality Maintenance Training and will now submit their own pricing and product updates directly to IDW. Additionally, they met all requirements for the Data Audit Certification (DAC) program. These accomplishments demonstrate CRC's dedication and commitment to providing the most timely and accurate data to their trading partners. Congratulations!

IDEA's Data Audit and Certification (DAC) program ensures that the manufacturer data housed in our Industry Data Warehouse (IDW) is clean and error free. All IDW manufacturers should follow in CRC exemplary footsteps. It is important to supply distributors with the highest quality data. Find out more about CRC at www.crcindustries.com.  

New IDEA IRD 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 10 suppliers:

• Trebbianno LLC
• Dechar
• Joyeros Costarricenses SA 
• Castline, Inc.
• General Tire 
• Swiss Valley Farms
• HYI
• Ideal Box
• MetroPCS 
• Secco Technologies

These companies will be trained to use IRD CERICOMX®, an IDEA branded product for supporting and uploading supplier product information into the GS1 Registry® and GDSN via the 1SYNC Data Pool.

If you would like to find out more about the CERICOMX® product, please contact , IRD Product & Customer Support Manager, at .

Tags for this post: idw customers ird crc industries gatto electric

Back To Top

Siemens Energy & Automation: Sponsor of the IDEA E-Biz Forum 2008!

IDEA would like to thank Siemens Energy & Automation for their Silver level sponsorship of the IDEA E-Biz Forum 2008. They are a proud sponsor of the Richard Buzun Award for Leadership and Innovation in eCommerce.

Siemens Energy & Automation, Inc. is one of Siemens’ operating companies in the U.S. Headquartered in the Atlanta suburb of Alpharetta, Ga., Siemens Energy & Automation, Inc. manufactures and markets one of the world’s broadest ranges of electrical and electronic products, systems and services to industrial and construction market customers. Its technologies range from circuit protection and energy management systems to process control, industrial software and totally integrated automation solutions. The company also has expertise in systems integration, technical services and turnkey industrial systems. Find out more at www.sea.siemens.com.  

Tags for this post: ebiz forum sponsors siemens

Back To Top

Don Leavens Selected to Speak at the IDEA E-Biz Forum 2008

Donald R. Leavens, PhD, VP and Chief Economist, National Electrical Manufacturers Association, was selected to return to the Forum as a keynote speaker.

Leavens, along with a distinguished panel of industry insiders, will discuss the outlook for key factors that will drive the electroindustry in 2009 and beyond in the closing session titled “Electroindustry Business Conditions Outlook”.

About Leavens

Donald R. Leavens, PhD, specializes in the economics of the electrical manufacturing industry, providing analysis and forecasts of the economic forces affecting the industry. He has provided the economic outlook for the electrical manufacturing industry at numerous business meetings sponsored by manufacturers, electrical contractors and distributors, and engineering societies throughout North America. He has also written articles on public choice and public finance economics that have appeared in academic journals and has contributed articles to several books. In addition, he has served as a member of the Governor of Virginia’s Advisory Board of Economists. Leavens holds a Ph.D. in Economics from George Mason University, an M.A. in Economics from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, and a B.A. in Economics from the University of Virginia.

Tags for this post: ebiz forum speakers don leavens

Back To Top

Take a Stand: Stop Counterfeiting with Industry Data Warehouse

While counterfeiting is rooted in paper money, the issue is also commonplace in many industries. Today, counterfeiters are producing fake electrical products, automotive and aviation parts, pharmaceuticals, medical equipment, computers, software, apparel and cosmetics. Chances are if a product has value or popularity then someone or some bogus company is trying to counterfeit it for their own financial gain. Worldwide counterfeiting is a $500 billion problem of which $280 billion occurs in North America. In fact, counterfeit products now make up 8% of the world trade, with much of the revenues from large scale operations going to organized crime and, in the worst case, terrorist organizations to pursue acts of crime. The FBI complied strong evidence that the terrorists involved in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing used money made from counterfeit textiles sales from a store in New York City.

End users and consumers think they are getting originals but end up with substitutes that bear counterfeit corporate logos and unauthorized product safety certification marks.

The US government has taken a stronger stand on counterfeiting through enactment of new laws that increased jail time and upped the ante on how much an individual or organization can be fined.

 

To deter counterfeiters, industry organizations like NAM, NEMA and NAED are making this matter a top priority urging the US Government to stiffen the laws and make it a top trade policy issue with China, where the bulk of counterfeit parts are produced.

Companies are taking action as well by investing in leading edge technologies and security features and have spent up to $4MM (USD) per year to combat counterfeiting and preserve the integrity of their brands. Gillette was one of the first companies to integrate Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) devices with their packaging to help decrease counterfeiting.

One of the easiest ways to assist in an anti-counterfeiting campaign is for the manufacturers to inform their wholesale distributor trading partner, which of their products carries a product safety certification, be it UL, CSA group or one of the other approved certification organizations. Industry Data Warehouse (IDW) can deliver that information through the population of field 5.290.10 as outlined in the industry data standard (Product Descriptor Data or PDD). Today only a handful of manufacturers are providing product safety certification information via IDW.

There is no single anti-counterfeiting measure. However, there is strength in numbers if the channel bands together to stop counterfeiters. If we want to minimize counterfeiting efforts, we need to increase the number of gatekeepers who manage the manufacturing and distribution product cycles. Distributors should demand that their manufacturers populate the certification field per the PDD standard, avoid buying products from unknown or new product sources and stick with long standing trading partners. They can hold education sessions with your contractors, inspectors and other end customers on counterfeit goods.

Don’t be misled that counterfeiting only happens to others. There are many examples of where counterfeit conduit, circuit breakers, lamps, etc. have been discovered. Take action; take a stance and start by identifying which of your products are certified via IDW.

Tags for this post: idw security counterfeitting

Back To Top

Did You Know? IDW Hot Facts

Manufacturers have the ability to simplify the authorization process for all parties involved. This can be achieved by an authorization setting located in the company profile.

IDW is flexibly designed for manufacturers to authorize companies by various security levels including:

• Company
• Class codes
• Price sheets
• Cost columns

For many manufacturers, the only relevant security level is the company. If this is the case for your company, you can change your preferences to allow future authorized distributor companies access to all of your IDW data. This can be done in three easy steps:

1. Go to your company profile
2. Uncheck the first box: “Automatically authorize at the company level when adding new distributors”
3. Check the three boxes below

Once this is complete, you will not need to grant authorizations for each level of security - you can simply authorize the company request and watch your sales increase.

If you have any questions about the authorization process, please contact at .

Tags for this post: idw hot facts security

Back To Top