Omni Cable Energizing Sales?

In a move that has been rumored for a few weeks, Omni Cable will now be a resource for distributors of Eaton and Square D breakers.

In an effort to continue their initiative to ensure a safe, authorized, resource for breakers, Eaton and Square D announced that Omni Cable will be an authorized source to non-franchised distributors.  The intent is to

The press release reads:

WEST CHESTER, Pa. – March 1, 2017 –  Omni Cable, headquartered in West Chester, Pa., today announced that it has signed agreements with both Eaton and Schneider Electric to serve as an authorized genuine source of Eaton and Square D^TM molded case circuit breakers (MCCBs). The agreements with Eaton and Schneider Electric position Omni Cable as an authorized source for electrical distributors to purchase competitive Eaton and Square D MCCBs, reducing the chance of distributors seeking products from unauthorized sources.

“Counterfeit and suspect electrical products pose significant risks to contractors and end users alike, and focused effort is needed to address the problem,” said Greg Donato, COO, Omni Cable. “Before these agreements, electrical distributors seeking to supply MCCBs found it difficult to procure products from competing manufacturers due to existing Eaton and Schneider Electric authorized distributor agreements.”

The program will launch as a pilot in the following Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic states: Connecticut, District of Columbia, Delaware, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Virginia, Vermont, and West Virginia. With these agreements, Omni Cable can provide electrical distributors with safe, reliable, and traceable factory-direct MCCBs from competing manufacturers.

“This initiative represents a milestone in our ongoing effort to help ensure the use of safe, authentic electrical products,” said Matt Cleary, Vice President, Channel, Eaton. “It’s an important step in making it easier for distributors to mitigate the risks of counterfeit and suspect products for our customers. Our goal is that, through our collective efforts, we will ultimately aid in stopping the proliferation of non-genuine electrical products.”

“This is an important turning point in our industry,” adds Ralph Harris, Vice President, Channel Development, Schneider Electric. “The century-old Square D legacy of safety and reliability directly corresponds to our ability to ensure our products are authentic and warranted for superior performance. The cooperation among Schneider, Eaton, and Omni Cable here demonstrates that as industry leaders, we’re committed to ensuring our customers are getting authentic products every time they purchase from one of our authorized distributors.”

“These agreements allow Omni Cable to reinforce its core philosophy of supporting the electrical distribution channel with hard-to-find items and solution-based selling,” said Donato. “Our commitment to selling exclusively through the electrical distributor strengthens the legitimacy of this partnership. We are excited to be asked to participate in such an important initiative facing our industry.”

Please contact an Omni Cable Account Manager for more information or to purchase MCCBs.

It’s interesting that Eaton and Square D jointly announced the initiative.  it wouldn’t be a surprise to many to see Siemens and GE also seek involvement if Omni isn’t barred by any agreements.  And it will be interesting to see what, if any, impact this will have on other suppliers like NABCO which offer a broad offering and are known for service.

It should be noted that not all breaker product purchased through third party companies are “non-genuine” or not “authentic” products.  In fact, having done some work for a company in this space, frequently the material is purchased from an authorized distributor and then redistributed.  The “redistributor” is not authorized by the factory, but it can be a “buyer beware” environment as there is also some remanufactured products in the channel.

Although this is a pilot, perhaps that is solely due to stocking issues and the ability to determine what product will be needed where within the Omni network (which is significant).

As many know, this has been rumored for a bit. Many are familiar with buying from Omni as a trusted source and it will be easy to purchase these items from a trusted source that is also a member of both marketing groups (distributors should check to see if these products will qualify for rebates under the Omni program with AD and IMARK) and, knowing some of these 3rd parties, it will be interesting to see the price competitiveness of Omni vs others.  And of “comfort” to distributors is that Omni is committed to supporting the channel and does not sell to contractors / end-users.

Perhaps this is another foray into the world of diversification for Omni (they also distribute / sell Raychem) and the evolution into a true master distributor?

What do you think of Omni now representing Eaton and Square D and getting into the MCCB market?  Good move? Will they become an authorized source (or a preferred source) for you?