Since arriving at Eldon in March 2004, I have been actively encouraging more business to go via distribution than direct.

 

The UK market is very distributor orientated, which also suits EEL at the present time.  We have a variety of different competitors here, but as with many of the countries we operate in, the main threat is from Rittal.

 

Although I don’t like to admit this, Rittal has done an excellent job in getting themselves established and their products specified in the UK.  They have also invested in six warehouses strategically placed around the country, which all guarantee next day delivery.

 

With all our stock concentrated in one site in the North of England, EEL is always going to struggle to compete against Rittal’s service, unless we can beat them at their own game.

 

Having six warehouses full of stock is certainly very impressive, but also requires careful management and is hugely expensive to maintain.  Rittal therefore tries to have the best of both worlds, and take business direct and via distribution.  Having these two different routes to market ultimately causes problems itself, which is why EEL has decided to use this as an opportunity to grow our market share, and declare our allegiance to our distribution partners.

We used the opportunity of the distributor conference to show our commitment, and to explain how the Eldon Group sees the future.  The conference was held over three days, although it was actually the same event repeated three times, to allow everyone a choice of days to attend.

 

The day started with a short explanation from myself about what we were hoping to achieve by holding a distributor conference, before handing over to our CEO Fredrik Wikstrom, who talked about our past, the present and our future.

 

He gave a very honest appraisal of the how things used to be, and apologised for lapses in judgement by the previous management.  Although some may have been surprised by his candour, it set the mood for the rest of the day and provoked a series of debates later.

 

The style of Fredrik’s presentation was relaxed and informative, with a very subtle message about the Group’s strength and determination to be a major European Enclosure Manufacturer in the near future.

 

After a short coffee break, Julian de la Cuesta discussed the latest accessories that have been launched for Multi-Flex, and a general overview on product and IT development within the Group.

It was now time for what I considered could either be the worst or best part of the day, “Questions from the Audience”.  We said that no topic was off limits and that we would give an honest answer to any question that was asked.

 

We had a very different reaction to this section each day, but overall even the criticism was constructive!

 

Having an open forum is always a bit of a gamble because you are never quite sure what you may get asked, but on this occasion it worked well, and helped promote a new positive image of Eldon.

 

We then stopped for a buffet lunch, and a chance to chat with the distributors individually.

 

The afternoon agenda was very different to the morning, and we started with a brief reminder of the features and benefits of Multi-Mount and Multi-Flex, before Chris Bourne gave a presentation on Rotherham manufacturing and the UK stainless steel market in general.  He also included the forthcoming changes to ASR and mentioned the AFS style KSS that’s currently under development.

At the start of the day I had asked for a volunteer from the audience to design his ultimate ASR enclosure (any size and hole punching configuration etc.).  During his presentation Chris talked about standard specials and how we have reduced lead times through introducing cell technology in the factory.

 

At that moment the doors to the Board Room burst open and John Willetts proudly walked in bearing the customers finished ASR.

 

Strangely enough, each day the design got more and more complicated, but it had the desired effect after everyone realised we had produced a standard special from scratch in less than three hours!

 

The mood in the room had been changing consistently throughout the day, but by now everyone was enjoying themselves and seeing Eldon in a new way.

 

I then announced a “Distributor of the Year Award,” and handed everyone a stainless steel plaque recognising them as one of our official distributors.

 

After a brief summary, we offered a tour around the factory, before thanking everyone for attending and wishing them a safe journey home.

 

We had 55 people attend over the three days and have received no end of positive comments about the conference and will continue to hold similar events in the future.

 

This was a great opportunity for us to “sell” Eldon and promote a positive image to our customers.  It was a hard week, but a fun one  and I am sure something that will be remembered for sometime.

 

I have to admit that I like being up there in front of a room full of people trying my hardest to motivate them into selling my products, although only time will tell if I was any good and they believed me.  As I said at the start of my presentation “it’s only a tin box, but it is my tin box, and I love it!”