2006-10-20 - Workshop attendance also sets records, as end users fill venues to learn about drive and motor sizing, NEC 409 and UL508A requirements, and arc-resistant switchgear
CLEVELAND, OH, October 20,2006 . . . The number of customers and prospects attending Customer Day at the ABB Low Voltage Products "Results-Driven Power Control" Roadshow here, on Thursday, October 18, set a record, as droves of end users poured into the Crowne Plaza Hotel downtown to attend technical workshops -- and review the 25 product families on display.
"The workshops, exhibits, and access to engineering and product experts worked in combination, and as individual attractions, to bring customers and prospects from the area into an event that provided attendees essential, valuable information," noted Carl Tuch, a district manager for the ABB LV Products Power & Control Sales Team.
Eager to Learn
The technical workshops, which are held throughout Customer Day in conjunction with the open exhibits, were in high demand, particularly those titled "Drive & Motor Sizing Made Easy," and "Control Panel Compliance: NEC 409, UL508A, RoHS." Sessions on harmonics and arc-resistant switchgear and arc-flash protection were standing-room only, as well.
"Our distributors, who know their industrial customers extremely well, took a lot of care to work with us in offering the sessions they felt would be most valuable to our metro-Cleveland end users," Tuch said, "and the record turnout for these sessions reflected how accurately they assessed the needs for this information."
The host of questions following the workshop on control panel compliance standards indicates a deep level of curiosity and "need to know" -- among panel builders, in particular, Tuch said. "We are going to organize follow-up training on this topic that will run for six-to-eight hours," he said, "so that we can provide as much comprehensive information, and as many answers as possible, to the questions these standards have raised."
Each workshop is one hour long and is scheduled twice (morning and afternoon), so attendees can compact a lot of learning into a day. They are designed to provide concrete training and technical information on applications and procedures -- from sizing motors to wireless sensor control of flexible automation equipment.
Open Doors; Start Conversations
On the exhibit floor, traffic got crowded, too, as distributors guided customers to new products and automation solutions they wanted them to see. "It’s a chance to seed a lot of ideas through firsthand introductions to products, services and people," said Steven Jones, who organizes the ABB Low Voltage Products shows and works for the ABB Low Voltage Products & Systems business unit. "Distributors tell us that this event opens doors, engages prospects and customers in conversations about additional solutions; and it absolutely creates real opportunities for distributors and customers to get together in the months after the event to further conversations and explore applications," he said.
It is in this way that the LVP Roadshows support growth of distributors’ businesses in the key regional markets the show is held in. "As distributors expand the solutions, expertise and training they offer to existing and new end users, their businesses grow," noted Jones. "Certainly as theirs grows, so does ABB’s."
Fine-tune What You Know; Learn More about Industry Standards
The Cleveland market is mature, Tuch said, and distributors have years of experience in helping manufacturers of steel, rubber and other essential commodities keep their plants in production. "So these visitors today came to fine-tune what they know, see what is new, and learn as much as possible regarding technical information and standards related to their industry, in addition to legal and application requirements."