In each year’s Top 200 survey, EW’s editors ask distributor executives about product launches, and we are always surprised by how many respondents don’t recall any interesting new products over the past year. That was the case once again in this year’s survey, as only 39% of the respondents mentioned a new product launch by name.
Three areas of product development stuck out in their responses: residential load centers and/or circuit breakers that collect energy usage data from individual circuits to help homeowners save electricity; LED light fixtures that allow users to select color temperatures; and a broad array of job-site tools that help electrical contractors do their work faster and more efficiently. Dennis Shaw, national planning analyst, Graybar Electric Co., St. Louis, MO, said Schneider’s Wiser Energy System is easy to install and mobile friendly.
Mike Pratt, president, American Electric Supply, Corona, CA, was also excited about the Wiser system. “In California, the leader in energy efficiency, this product brings control to the individual home owner by giving the ability to monitor their energy consumption. This raises their knowledge and empowers the homeowners to better manage their energy. This product has the potential to take energy conservation to the next level by enabling the individual with the knowledge to conserve. In the state where approximately one in eight Americans reside, this could make a major difference in our overall energy consumption.”
James DeRosa, general manager, YESCO Electrical Supply Inc., Columbiana, OH, is looking forward to the launch of Eaton’s Energy Management Circuit Breakers. “We cannot wait for this,” he said. DeRosa also like the trend toward selectable color temps and lumen output in LED lighting fixtures. “This is across many manufacturers, but we find that reducing SKUs and offering a better choice for the customer is a welcome addition to any supply house,” he said.
Rock Kuchenmeister, general manager, K/E Electric Supply Corp., Mount Clemens, MI, likes what he is seeing from Greenlee. He said, “Greenlee has shown a renewed and vibrant interest in selling capital goods, after last year’s tax code changes created investment incentives.”
Following are some of the other new electrical products that Top 200 distributors like:
- Acuity ‘s Contractor Select
- Banner Engineering’s industrial LED lighting solutions
- Cembre terminal marking systems
- Cerrowire’s Reel Rover wire handling solution
- Eaton Power Defense breakers
- Flir Electronics’ sensing and measurement meters
- Hoffman HyShed wash-down enclosures
- I-Tools tools and job-site equipment
- Leviton load centers
- Liteline’s Luna LED recessed fixture and its
- “Death of a Can Light” marketing campaign
- Lithonia Lighting’s color switchable Wafer LED fixtures
- Milwaukee 18V cordless products
- Power Assemblies’ transformer carts
- RAB’s LED products
- Service Wire Co.’s ServicePlex
- Signify Interact controls
- Signify/Philips’ filament lamps
- Southwire’s SIMpull Solutions
- Wheatland’s Smartset EMT
