ETIM NA Grows, Expanding into Wire, Cable & Conduit

In only 16 months ETIM North America has gained traction in the electrical industry, helping set the industry on a path to organize product descriptors and attributes in accordance with international standards. ETIM North America’s role is to refine the standards for North American usage … terminology and adding applicable product categories.

The non-profit association now has 25 members, including major electrical industry content providers such as DDS (Distributor Data Solutions), IDEA and Trimble.

Under the guidance of Mary Shaw, an electrical industry data standards “lifer”, the association is working through product categories in 3 key segments – Power Distribution, Industrial Automation and Wiring Devices / Lighting Controls. To date there are 27 master classes completed with more getting completed each month.

Why ETIM?

Many ask, “Why ETIM”, and it’s a good question. The reality is we’re in an interconnected world. Adopting and refining an internationally accepted standard makes sense.

More importantly …

• Product descriptors enable products to be more discretely defined and more importantly easier to be searched for and found on manufacturer and distributor websites. This makes data management and eCommerce much easier.
• The ETIM model, with its alphanumeric codes and predetermined features/values, facilitates enhanced language-independent communication of product information from and across disparate software systems, enabling manufacturers to share content down through the channel to manufacturer reps, distributors, contractors, and engineers. So, ETIM is an electrical ecosystem solution.
  • In fact, when Acuity talks about utilizing digital transformation for a more transparent project ordering process (their “Pizza Tracker”), the benefit of ETIM can become more visible as it is passing data across systems. (sorry, ETIM NA hasn’t gotten to the lighting categories just yet, but with enough interest we could fast track it!)
• The ETIM model was originally founded to help contractors but is now helping all portions of the wholesale industry’s supply chain.
• It will enhance sales reporting, enabling more granular information to be available. This will help companies with analytics, pricing algorithms and more … maybe even eventually the utilization of AI in various aspects of the business.
• Three of the largest electrical distributors in North America are currently mandating that their suppliers provide their product descriptors in the ETIM format for their European locations, which means it won’t be long until this mandate is applied to North American suppliers.

ETIM North America Expands Again – Introducing the Wire, Cable and Conduit Product Expert Group

According to its recent press release, “The Electrical Sector Board of ETIM North America announced the launch of its Wire, Cable and Conduit (WCC) Product Expert Group.

Recognizing the importance of these product categories to distributors, coupled with the historical challenges of manufacturers in these product categories to share industry approved product attributes and descriptions for various products, the sector members David Oldfather (IDEA), Jeff Balentine (Sonepar) and Jon Duffie (Siemens) agreed with the recommendation of ETIM North America’s Executive Director, Mary Shaw, that this should be the associations next endeavor.

Mary’s recommendation was based upon her 17 years’ experience working for IDEA and ETIM NA with data and product standards to support the electrical industry for distributors and manufacturers. Additionally, leading suppliers such as Prysmian, Electri-Flex and Berk-Tek (a division of Leviton), have joined ETIM.

ETIM North America, the North American chapter of ETIM International, a worldwide organization with 25 chapters, is a stand-alone non-profit association after being under the IDEA umbrella for 4 years. Today it has 25 members inclusive of the three leading eCommerce content providers DDS, IDEA and Trimble / Trade Service.

David Oldfather, president of IDEA and chair of the Electrical Sector Board, commented “I encourage manufacturers and distributors to participate in ETIM and contribute their product expertise. The ETIM model provides an internationally accepted structure to describe products that easily transmits across electronic platforms and can interact throughout the electrical channel … from manufacturers to their reps and distributors and then down to contractor procurement and estimating systems and engineering / design software.”

The ETIM International data model for the standardization and classification of electrical product information (descriptors) is used by manufacturers, distributors and end-users doing business in dozens of countries. ETIM is a worldwide standards initiative and ETIM NA is responsible for maintaining and promoting the ETIM Technical Information Model, a product classification taxonomy, in the U.S., Canada and Mexico.

Jeff Balentine, Director of Enterprise Data Management for Sonepar, shared “ETIM data is easy for a distributor to work with and will improve our internal sales reporting as well as improve our eCommerce offerings. We encourage all of our manufacturers to participate as this will improve the industry and quicken our pace in achieving seamless electronic product communication.”

ETIM NA already has Product Expert Groups for Power Distribution, Industrial Automation and Lighting / Wiring Devices.  These groups, consisting of manufacturers and distributors, collaborate to translate the ETIM standard to the three North American languages, as well as identifying additional products, features and values pertaining to products being sold in the North American wholesale electrical market and related verticals. This effort is crucial to ensure the model is fully compatible with the products being distributed in this part of the world.

Jon Duffie, Director of Channel Management for Siemens observed, “As manufacturers continue their digital transformation journey, the role of data, and the structure of data, becomes more and more important. ETIM’s alphanumeric, standardized approach is the format needed to help profitably share information. At Siemens, we want as many manufacturers as possible to contribute expertise and adopt the standards so that all can benefit, including our mutual customers. This isn’t an “international company” issue, it’s an industry issue.”

To date the various product expert groups have completed 27 master classes with more being completed each month.

Upcoming categories to be discussed in various groups include enclosures, relays, push buttons, cable tray, motors, and other automation-related equipment.  Manufacturers involved in these product categories are encouraged to join ETIM NA to participate in the standards settings process.

Matt Christensen, president of DDS (Distributor Data Solutions), ETIM North America’s Chairman of the Board and founding member commented “I’m incredibly proud of what we’ve accomplished in such a short amount of time. The work being done to enhance the ETIM standard within these sectors will enable a more seamless flow of product data from these manufacturers to their distribution channel .”

The first WCC Product Expert Committee is planned for early September.

Manufacturers, and distributors, can also still join to share their expertise in the three other product expert groups (there is no limit to the number of groups a company can participate in) and ETIM NA will be expanding into cable management, fuses, enclosures, rough-in products, lighting and more in the near future. The only limitation to the “speed” of progress is the number of manufacturers and distributors who are willing to contribute.

To take a leadership role in the industry and to learn more about ETIM North America visit www.etim-na.org or contact Mary Shaw at mary@etim-na.org.

And, as an FYI, Channel Marketing Group was involved in helping establish ETIM North America and David Gordon is on the ETIM NA Board of Directors.