Dispositions Sunny at Phoenix NAED

Spirits were high  because of the improving economy and attendance looked solid at the NAED Western Conference held earlier this week at the JW Marriott Desert Ridge Resort in Phoenix.

Lots of talk in the lobby, bar and receptions about improving economic conditions, but the crazy growth of the oil and gas business in Texas and North Dakota dominated many conversations. One manufacturer said the new Cline Shale find, a huge oil formation east of Midland, Texas, will be producing petro for years to come.

While it was exciting to hear about all the new oil business washing over the state, Texas oil biz veterans are tempering their enthusiasm a bit because they know all too well about the boom-and-bust nature of the oil biz, and that when it goes sour it goes south fast. During the last bust, one rep said 14,000 oil workers were laid off in one day in the Houston area.

The registration list for the meeting,  run by the National Association of Electrical Distributors (NAED), St. Louis, showed at least 70 electrical distributors; over 100 manufacturers or divisions of electrical manufacturing companies; and about 18 independent electrical manufacturers’ reps. It seemed like electrical distributors had more folks attending per company than at past meetings.

Lobby chatter. Don’t think AmazonSupply is really all that interested in the electrical industry? Think again. One well-known electrical manufacturer says Amazon has hired away several of his plant managers. Good reviews on Denise Keating’s sessions about online marketers AmazonSupply, Grainger and the big-box retailers. Keating, the president of the Chicago-based Datagility, gave attendees a succinct update of where these companies are at with their online stores and how to do a SWOT analysis on their strengths and weaknesses.

Nice to get a chance to meet Gil Isenstein, who is now working with his dad, Herm, at DISC Corp., Orange, Conn. Gil is a marketing whiz who will be helping his father with operations and marketing strategy for DISC, the electrical industry’s leading provider of sales forecast data. They are excited about the new zip-code database DISC is getting ready to launch.