Flir Joins NAED, Attending National

Over the years we’ve attended many NAED meetings, nationals and regionals, and have seen NAED attempt to bring in a number of new manufacturers … typically focused on the “fad / niche” of the day (datacom, wind, solar, other renewables) with varying levels of success.  The challenge is most of these companies either register late or are poorly promoted as new companies that distributors should consider.  And in fairness, many distributors book their schedules months in advance, already knowing whom they will meet with.  New manufacturers look at the NAED meetings as a way to meet distributors but, from conversations we’ve had with many, many walk away disappointed as they can’t arrange many meetings.

At the upcoming NAED National there are, once again, a few new companies attending (and the National is the toughest industry meeting to meet a wide array of the industry due to the types of attendees) but we did notice one company who we recognized (from their advertising in various end-user publications) – FLIR.  They are a test and measurement manufacturer focused on the industrial segment of the electrical industry. And they are not a small company in a questionable electrical niche – they happen to be a $1.4B company! And it appears they are committed to growing their electrical business as they are providing data to IDEA and Trade Service and are a Rockwell Encompass Partner.

We’re not endorsing them (and quite frankly only know 1 person there, who comes from the electrical industry) but we’d encourage attendees to at least stop in say “hi”. Perhaps there isn’t an opportunity, perhaps there is, but if, as an industry, we want companies to consider the electrical channel as a potential distribution channel, we need to open the doors to others and consider the possibilities.

If you’ll recall, last month we had a posting about why companies consider alternative channels, if we don’t want to create outside competitors, we may want to consider companies that seek us.