Manufacturer Product News – ABB, Cree, GE, Leviton

Over the past month or so there have been a number of interesting manufacturer product news that may represent opportunities for distributors and/or generate questions that could impact electrical distributors (and the manufacturers themselves).

With this as a caveat, here is some observations / questions for your consideration:

Cree

Cree announced that they have licensed a number of their patents related to lamps and luminaires to LEDvance in a cross-licensing deal.  Cree will generate some royalties on the patents they are licensing whereas the patent access they receive from LEDvance are royalty free.

Cree historically has positioned its product offering based upon “premium performance.” Sharing technology with a competitor generates interesting questions even though it historically has not been unusual for manufacturers within the same product category to manufacturer for / sell to each other and license patents to each other.  Companies like Arlington value their IP and have been known to sue to counter patent infringement.

What could it mean for Cree, LEDvance and the industry?  Here’s some thoughts:

• Obviously Cree is seeking incremental, passive, revenue? Is this a new revenue stream that they want to offer to other manufacturers?
• What will this do to Cree’s product positioning as “premium product”?
• For the lamp patents, is this a way to gain some revenue / access to Lowes, where Sylvania (now LEDvance) has had shelf-space given Cree’s relationship with Home Depot?
• Is it a way to gain an element of revenue through distribution given that LEDvance may have broader distribution than Cree?
• Will Cree enable a competitor? Or perhaps no if the patents are not “leading edge” (could be prior generation)
• Which other lighting manufacturers could have interest? Would Cree enable?
• Will lamps / luminaires from these companies say “powered by Cree” or “powered by Cree technology” (or similar)?
• Does anyone care, except maybe Cree executives who can monetize patents and Wall Street who can see an additional revenue stream?
  • Good news, bad news, no news?

ABB

Last week’s ABB Customer World was, from what we’ve heard, an impressive event with thousands of end-users in attendance, hundreds of distributors, the product breadth of ABB on display and so many workshops / case study presentations that it would take a month to attend them all.

There were also a couple of product announcements from ABB Electrification Products that could impact the electrical distribution channel:

• Introduction of its ReliaGear product family which represents “a significant launch of low-voltage ReliaGear ^® switchgear, motor control center, SafeT™ switchboard, SafeT™ panelboard and busway.  The expansion of the range completes the full line, complementing ABB’s medium-voltage switchgear, which includes ReliaGear ^® and SafeGear ^® brands.”
• Entry into the residential market through its “SENTRICITY Load Centers and Circuit Breakers, a new residential solution, (which) has been developed specifically for North America. The solution includes miniature circuit breakers (MCB), arc fault circuit interrupters/ground fault circuit interrupters (AFCI/GFCI), and surge-protection devices (SPD).”

According to distributors and other industry observers, the product offering was “impressive” and “complete”.  It then begs questions of:

• How will ABB deploy a sales organization to support these offerings? Existing staff? Add people?
• Which distributors will be interested in the offering? And what distribution equipment lines will come under pressure or distributors be willing to part with? (or will distributors add this offering to their portfolio and see what customers prefer?
• The residential market can be very price competitive as well as require calling on large homebuilders and offering price and rebate deals.  Will product bundling assist the remainder of the T&B offering? Reportedly Eaton feels a 3000 sq ‘  house has about $1500 in total available spend for Eaton.  What does it have for ABB?
• Does this add another distribution equipment line to each of the industry marketing groups?
• Whom will ABB be taking share from?

GE

At the recent NAED South-Central, GE help a meeting to answer distributor questions regarding the company’s divestiture status and upcoming activities. While nothing could be said about a pending sale, there was discussion about upcoming product launches. Some inquired, quietly, “why?” but the reality is these product launches have been planned for awhile and much of the investment was already made.

• GE recently introduced its Entelleon power panel which, according to Jason Newby, power panel product manager, GE Energy Connections Industrial Solution business, has “One of the features that customers have asked for most is for the panel to be completely reversible — from top to bottom — in the field. It’s why we designed our EntellEon power panels with plug-and-play breakers. This flexibility can save our customers both time and money and can help to reduce headaches if a mistake has been made or if a component needs to be replaced. The new EntellEon power panelsalso  feature ground-fault on main breakers to help improve safety and help protect against faults.”

For the past few years GE has talked about product investments that were “coming”. Perhaps the beginning? Perhaps a platform for an acquirer to build upon?

• Do you think this product offering will appeal to contractors?
• What does GE need to effectively support the offering?
  • Is this a distributor “sale” or does the GE sales force need to create demand?
  • What tools do distributors need to drive adoption?

Leviton

Leviton introduces its “hubless” home automation solution, Decora Smart with Wi-Fi Technology.  The solution offers remote access, app-based scheduling and voice control, simplifying home lighting control from anywhere by automating interior and exterior lights using the free My Leviton app, according to the company.

The devices can also be connected to Amazon Echo, Dot, Tap or Alexa-embedded products, like the Nucleus touchscreen intercom, to provide voice control through commands.

While they’ve launched a number of products, this one is interesting for a few reasons:

• The press release was in www.securitysales.com (and probably a number of other publications, indicating potentially a wide array of channels that Leviton will be selling the product.
• if you are residentially-oriented, or have some contractors that do residential work, or contractors who are doing multi-family, have you seen this? Are you promoting it?
• Notice the integration with Amazon products? Do you sell other products that are part of the Alexa ecosystem?
• Is the integration with Amazon a nod to selling on Amazon? Direct or through distributors?
• The endeavor highlights some of the solutions / applications that are available for the residential market … new construction, retrofit as well as “add on”.  Are you promoting to your contractors? In your marketplace? Could you develop a joint marketing initiative with selected contractors to help them market it to their residential customers?
  • Perhaps Leviton offers, or can develop, a version of their Five Star Dealer Program that is offered to dealers in the security industry.

Just some observations and food for thought as you speak with these manufacturers or their competitors?