... they’re connected
The industry welcome mat will be out in Atlanta for Interwire 2023, where attendees can again meet up with exhibitors, peers and inspiration. This section provides a glimpseof some of the activities that will be going on at the Georgia World Congress Center on May 8-11. The March WJI preshow issue will have far more detail. For the latest updates, to register and reserve lodging, go to www.interwire23.com.
Former astronaut Mary Ellen Weber, appropriately, will be one of the star attractions of the WAI Theater, which will host multiple presentations over two days at its location on the show floor. See p. 43.
This iconic WAI program will be held on Monday, May 8, prior to the full program that starts the next day. Registration is available at www.interwire23.com. See opposite page.
Meet the machinery makers and suppliers—in person—who can help you realize your manufacturing goals. More than 70 product categories are represented by exhibitors.
WAI’s Opening Reception will evoke a fitting sense of firstclass luxury: it will be held at the Mercedes-Benz Stadium, ever so conveniently located near the Georgia World Congress Center.
Wire Association International will hold its iconic Fundamentals of Wire Manufacturing training program and refresher course for new hires, sales teams and operations personnel on Monday, May 8, the day before the full event begins. The day-long program will include a series of presentations by industry veterans. The program includes two elements: morning sessions that cover the elements of wiredrawing, dies, lubrication and wire troubleshooting, while the afternoon is broken into specific presentations on ferrous and nonferrous/electrical topics. The full list of sessions and instructors can be seen at www.interwire23.com.
General Track • 8:30 am–1:00 pm
Mechanics of Wiredrawing
Matt Reinoehl, SDI LaFarga COPPERWORKS, USA
Drawing Dies
Joao Noroña, Paramount Die Co, USA
Lubrication in the Wire Drawing Process
Brad Andrews, Condat SA, USA
Wire Breaks and Surface Damage
Horace Pops, Horace Pops Consulting, Inc., USA
Ferrous Track • 1:00 pm–4:15 pm
Fundamentals of Ferrous Metallurgy
Anand Bhagwat, Minova USA Inc., USA
Cleaning and Coating of Rod and Wire
Zack McAfee & Chris Porada, Chemetall, USA
Ferrous Testing and Properties
C. Richard Gordon, SMI & C. Richard Gordon Consulting, LLC, USA
Ferrous Heat Treatment
C. Richard Gordon, SMI & C. Richard Gordon Consulting, LLC, USA
Nonferrous/Electrical Track • 1:00 pm–4:15 pm
Stranding and Cabling
Kevin Dancy, Roteq Machinery, Inc., Canada
Extrusion
Erik A. Macs, Wire & Plastic Machinery Corp., USA
Fundamentals of Electrical Testing
Erika Atkins & Casey Spradlin, Southwire, USA
Marking and Printing
Mark Spencer, RSD Group/W. Gillies Technologies, USA
General Track • 4:15 pm–4:45 pm
Instructor Q & A with refreshments
This informal segment will begin with presenters responding to questions from attendees. As time permits, each instructor will briefly discuss a single issue that is often experienced on the shop floor.
The first day of Interwire 2023 promises to be quite full. It starts at 8:30 am with a Continental breakfast in Rooms A312/311. At 9 am, WAI President Kurt Breischaft will welcome attendees and introduce the Keynote speaker, Prysmian Chief Innovation Officer and R&D Officer Srinivas Siripurapu. His presentation will be followed by the WAI Awards Ceremony and Annual Meeting. At 10 am, the conference sessions begin and the show floor opens. The WAI Theater will open at 1 pm, and at 1:30 pm it will host the Mordica Lecture. The day concludes with the Opening Reception at the Mercedes-Benz Stadium. The return of Interwire looks to be a very busy experience, exactly what the industry needs.
The WAI traditionally presents three awards: the Mordica Memorial Award, for technical contributions to the industry; the Donnellan Memorial Award, for service to the Association; and the WAI President’s Award, for a person designated by the current WAI president. This year will also see a new honor, the WAI Champion Award, which goes to an individual whose accomplishments have furthered his or her company. Plan to join in this recognition of the industry’s finest.
The Mordica Lecture and five other technical presentations will be presented at the WAI Theater on Tuesday. The papers will be delivered from 1 pm to 4:30 pm. Additional papers will be presented there the next day.
With Interwire 2023 still three months away, the below topics—both of prime interest to the industry—continue to develop. Below are some of the confirmed participants. For updates, see the March preshow issue or www.interwire23.com. Industry 4.0. The speakers for this session include: Willem Sundblad, co-founder and CEO of Oden Technologies; Russ Fadel, CEO of Augmentir; Will Berry, Sr. VO Engineering and Modernization of Southwire; and Andrés Cartagena Ruiz of 40Factory and MFL-X.
Workforce. Speakers for this session include Rob Caillet, Vice President of Environmental, Health & Safety, CSP, Encore Wire.
One program element in place at 11:30 am that should be most interesting is “Lessons From The Journey To A Connected Enterprise.” Oden Technologies CEO Willem Sundblad will interview Southwire’s Will Berry about what it took for the company to achieve its ambitious goals.
Srinivas Siripurapu, who is Prysmian Group’s Chief Innovation Officer and R&D Officer, is responsible for the company’s Global R&D strategy, R&D talent development and Innovation pipeline. He leads off the conference sessions with a Keynote presentation that is most relevant. His talk—Investments & Incentives: electrifying the wire and cable industry for a brighter future—will cover how clean energy, grid modernization and digital transformation is driving innovation for the wire and cable industry. He will discuss new technologies that will energize manufacturing with increased investments and spur economic growth. As he notes, the U.S. government has ambitious goals for renewable energy that can only be achieved with reliable hi-tech cabling infrastructure such as novel 525kV HVDC systems that can transmit over 2GW of power. A certified Design for Six Sigma Black Belt, Siripurapu’s professional career includes key positions at Reliance Industries, General Electric and Sabic, all major global industrial conglomerates. He is named on more than 50 patents. He is passionate about sustainability and mentoring young engineers and scientists. He has a PhD in chemical engineering from North Carolina State University.
The location for WAI’s reception on Tuesday, May 9, will be quite familiar to Interwire attendees. Located a short distance from the Georgia World Congress Center, the Mercedes-Benz Stadium is notable for many reasons.
The site, which opened in 2017, can seat 71,000 fans, and expand up to 75,000 for major events. It has been deemed the world’s most sustainable stadium, holding the United States Green Building Council’s LEED Platinum certification and its highest score ever for a sports project. It uses 4,000 miles of fiber-optic cables, and there are more than 1,800 wireless access points for Wi-Fi access. The fixed roof, which has 85,000 bolts, has eight petals that each weigh 500 tons, and can open and close in eight minutes. Some 200 pieces of artwork from 55 artists are displayed throughout the stadium. Indeed, it will be ... a Mercedes experience.
At 10 am, the show floor opens for the first of three days, and attendees will not be lacking either booths to visit or people ready to talk business. After all, this is North America’s largest such trade show.
250+ exhibitors will participate on the show floor (see the list on p. 45), with a roster that includes some new exhibitors. The March preshow issue will have all the booth listings, and one can also visit the event website— www.interwire23.com—to see the most up-to-date list.
The WAI Resource Center will not only be on the show floor, it will be joined once again with the WAI Member Lounge, where Association members are welcome to stop by and relax.
Based on the show floor, the WAI Theater will be used to present 12 technical papers, the Mordica Lecture, Astronaut Weber, an extrusion track and Production Solutions. All these are presented for free.
How about some well-earned refreshments? The Interwire show floor will host a Beer Garden Festival from 4 pm to 5 pm on Wednesday. It’s the perfect way to end the second day. You can see its location on the below show floor map.
A map of the Interwire 2023 show floor. Visit www.interwire23.com for an interactive view of the floor plan.
The second day of Interwire 2023 also promises to be quite full. The exhibits will again be open from 10 am to 5 pm. The day will include Keynote presentation by Southwire President & CEO Richard Stinson, “The Future is Electrified,” which will focus on the importance of the changing role and needs of supplying electricity. He will be followed by former NASA Astronaut Dr. Mary Ellen Weber, who will discuss her experience, and later that day how she sees future advances. There will be executive panels.
Richard “Rich” Stinson, the president and CEO of Southwire, will present his talk, “The Future is Electrified!” which addresses the changing role and needs of providing power. Industry megatrends are changing the future, and electrification is going to play a major role. There is a fundamental need and desire to decarbonize, and that means moving from an oil-gas fueled economy to an economy driven by electrification. We must be ready to meet the needs of our customers. It’s a great time to be in the electrical industry, and we are focused on further strengthening the future of manufacturing as we all become even more connected, and as electrification plays an even greater role.
Stinson, who joined Southwire in 2015, has led the business through organic growth as well as expansion via acquisition. He enabled it to achieve its best safety metrics while improving Southwire’s overall financial position, even in the midst of a global pandemic.
In his tenure as CEO, the company has been recognized by Deloitte for consecutive years as a Best Managed Company and has earned three appearances on the Diversity Jobs best employer list, among many other notable achievements. He was recently named as a Most Admired CEO by the Atlanta Business Chronicle and one of Georgia Trend’s 100 Most Influential Georgians for 2023. Prior to his role at Southwire, he spent more than three decades in the electrical industry. He retired from Eaton Corporation as president of its five-billion-dollar Electrical Systems and Services group. He holds a B.S. degree in engineering from the University of Pittsburgh and serves as board chairman for NEMA, and the executive boards of the International Cable Federation (ICF) and Copper Development Association.
Steel market outlook. This session leads off at 10 am with a presentation by CRU International Analyst Aisling Hubert. It includes a panel discussion by a cross-section of steel manufacturer executives: Mid-South Wire, Bekaert, Mid Continent Nail and Davis Standard. They will cover industry topics from raw materials costs, shipping delays and trade actions.
Copper supply and demand. At 11:15 am, industry leaders will discuss the changing copper supply chain as ESG compliance is enacted across the globe while supply and demand factors are difficult to predict. Moderated by Kurt Breischaft, president, SDI LaFarga COPPERWORK, the scheduled panelists include Jeffrey Kot, group vice president, procurement–Marmon Electrical, Marmon Holdings, Inc.; John Gross, publisher, The Copper Journal; and Chuck Oldaker, executive vice president & CFO, Service Wire Company.
Two more technical presentations will be presented at the WAI Theater on Wednesday. There also will be a three-part extrusion/polymers program. It too will be held in the WAI Theater.
If you can’t sit in on NASA Astronaut Mary Ellen Weber’s morning presentation (or even if you do), you can hear her address another aspect at 2:30 pm at the WAI Theater on the show floor.
Weber’s presentation, “A New Era of Space Travel: Commercial Space, NASA, Tourism, the Moon, and Mars,” will provide perspective about the journey to become a space-faring civilization. She will discuss the promise, daunting risks and challenges ahead. Her talk promises to expand your horizons ... considerably.
Dr. Mary Ellen Weber, a NASA astronaut for 10 years, will share her experiences in her morning presentation. “To Boldly Go: The Experience of Spaceflight.” Going into space—into orbit—requires mind-boggling speed with inconceivable risk and decision times of mere seconds. How does one prepare for this risk and responsibility? What is the awe-inspiring experience of weightlessness and viewing planet earth from hundreds of miles above really like? Drawing on ten years as a NASA Astronaut and two Space Shuttle flights—including one to the International Space Station—Mary Ellen Weber brings this experience vividly to life, sharing behind-the-scenes anecdotes and video footage. Weber was selected by NASA in 1992. She was on Discovery for launch on July 13, 1995, and on Atlantis for its launch on May 19, 2000. Now with Stellar Strategies, LLC, she consults for operations in high-stakes business ventures, technology communications and legislative strategy.
Dr. Weber is currently a consultant in strategy and high-risk operations, and has been a member of the NASA Advisory Council Committee on Technology, Innovation and Engineering since 2012. She previously was vice president at UT Southwestern Medical Center, a medical school, research powerhouse and hospital system for nine years. She is a competitive skydiver—with nearly 6,000 skydives, a world record, and two dozen U.S. National Championship medals over the past 40+ years. She holds an M.B.A. from Southern Methodist University, a Ph.D. in chemistry from UC Berkeley, and a B.S. degree in chemical engineering from Purdue University.
The buzz from a crowded show floor may be pleasing, but it seldom goes to the last day. Ironically, that may be the very best time to be making the rounds. Exhibitors likely can spend more time with visitors, resulting in more detailed conversations, and possibly, a most memorable day.
If you could not attend Production Solutions on Wednesday at the WAI Theater, stop by Thursday at 10:30 am for Round 2. The Planning Committee, recognizing that attendees are quite busy, are offering everyone a second chance to hear what products and ideas might improve your operations. Visit www.interwire23.com to see the list of scheduled presentations.
Reservations can now be made at all the eight official hotels for Interwire 2023 through EventSphere via www.interwire23.com.
The hotels are: AC Hotel by Marriott Atlanta Downtown; American Hotel Atlanta Downtown, a DoubleTree by Hilton; Embassy Suites Atlanta at Centennial Park; Glenn Hotel - A Marriott Autograph Collection Hotel; Hilton Garden Inn Atlanta Downtown; Holiday Inn Express & Suites Atlanta Downtown; Omni Hotel at CNN Center; and The Westin Peachtree Plaza.
Full registration includes keynotes, awards ceremony, Opening Reception, online proceedings, exhibits and the exhibit floor programs, including featured speaker, production solutions, technical sessions, and extrusion track.
The Fundamentals Course has a separate registration, and exhibits only registration is possible. Additional tickets for the Opening Reception can also be ordered. For prices and other details, go online to the event website: www.interwire23.com.
Ace Metal Inc.
ACIMAF, Italian Wire Machinery Manufacturers’ Association
ADVARIS GmbH
Aeroel s.r.l.
AFA Industries
Agape Industrial Inc.
AIM Inc.
AITMAC Inc.
Aesa SA
Anderson Forest Products
Asahi Kasei Asaclean Americas
AW Machinery LLC
AWT Machinery Inc.
Axjo America Inc.
Aztech Lubricants LLC
B & H Tool Co. LLC
Balloffet Die Corp.
Bartell Machinery Systems
Baum’s Castorine Co. Inc.
Bechem Lubrication Technology LLC
Beijing Holland Trading Co. Ltd.
Bekaert
Bergandi Machinery Co.
BETASISTEMI s.r.l.
Blachford Corp.
Boockmann Engineering GmbH
Buhler Redex GmbH
BWE Ltd.
Caballe SA
Cable Consultants Corp.
Calmec Precision Ltd.
Candor Sweden AB
Carris Reels Inc.
CBC Metals Processing
Cemanco LLC
CERSA-MCI
Chase Wire & Cable Materials
Chemetall/BASF
Cheng I Wire Machinery Co. Ltd.
Chengdu Centran Industrial Co. Ltd.
China Council for the Promotion of Int’l.Trade
Cimteq
Clinton Instrument Co.
CM Furnaces Inc.
CMEC International Exhibition Ltd.
Commission Brokers Inc.
Condat
Confex Technology Ltd.
Conneaut Industries Inc.
Conoptica AS
Coseco
CSM Metalurji Imalat San. ve Muh. Ltd. Sti.
Delesun Inc.
Delta Tecnic
Die Quip Corp.
Domeks Makine Ltd. Sti.
Dynamex Corp.
Ebner Furnaces Inc.
EFFEGIDI INTERNATIONAL SpA
Elkem Inc.
Enercon Industries
Enkotec, Co. Inc.
ERA Wire Inc.
Esteves Group USA
Eurowire
EVG / DEM
Extrusion Control & Supply Inc.
Fabpro Polymers, AKA Great Lakes
Polymer
Fabritex Inc.
Fenn LLC
Fil-Tec Inc.
Fine International Corp.
Filtertech Inc.
Flymca, Fluidos Y Mecanicas Cantabria S.L.
FMS USA Inc.
Foerster Instruments Inc.
Fort Wayne Wire Die Inc.
40Factory
Frekans Makina San. ve Tic. A.S.
Frigeco USA Inc/ MFL USA Service Corp.
Mario Frigerio
OM Frigerio s.r.l.
Fuhr GmbH & Co KG
Gem Gravure Co. Inc.
GEON Performance Solutions
GEO-Reinigungstechnik GmbH
W. Gillies Technologies LLC
GMM Cable Machinery
GMP Slovakia sro
Graham Engineering Co. LLC
Guill Tool & Engineering Co.
H Folke Sandelin AB
Hafner & Krullmann GmbH
HARTER GmbH
Heany Industries Inc.
Henrich Maschinenfabrik GmbH
H-I-S Coatings
HONTA Inc.
Howar Equipment Inc.
Howar Steel Reels
Huestis Industrial
IDEAL Welding Systems
IDEAL-Werk
iiM AG measurement + engineering
Inosym Ltd.
InnoVites
Integrated Control Technologies
International Wire & Machinery Association (IWMA)
International Wire Group Inc.
Italian Trade Agency
Jingtie Machinery
Jinhua Yonghe Fluorochemical Co. Ltd.
Joe Snee Associates
Joe-Tools
Jouhsen - Bundgens Inc.
Kablomar Kablo Hammaddeleri San.
Tic. Ltd. Sti.
Kablosan Turkey - FBC Yayincilik Ltd. Sti.
Kabmak Mühendislik ve Makina San.
Tic. Ltd. Sti.
Kalmark Integrated Systems Ltd.
KEIR Manufacturing Inc.
KEYENCE Corporation of America
King Steel Corp.
Kinrei of America
KMG Wires Pvt. Ltd.
KN Manufacturing Solutions
Koch Machinery & Technology
Lamnea Bruk AB
LaserLinc Inc.
Leggett & Platt Wire Group
Lenzing Plastics GmbH & Co. KG
Lloyd & Bouvier Inc.
Lubrimetal Corp.
M. Holland
Madem-Moorecraft Reels USA
Magnetic Analysis Corp.
Maillefer Extrusion Oy/Davis Standard
MARPOSS
Mashtronics D.O.O.
Mathiasen Machinery Inc.
Mega Metal
Metal Link Inc.
Metavan NV
MFL Group
The MGS Group
Micro Weld | Micro Products Co.
Microdia SA
Mid-South Wire
Mikrotek Machines Ltd.
Morgan-Koch Corp.
NDC Technologies (BETA LaserMike Products)
Niagara Composites International Inc.
Maschinenfabrik Niehoff GmbH & Co. KG
Niehoff Endex North America Inc.
Nordson
NUMALLIANCE NUMAMERICA
NTB International Private Ltd.
NYCOA
OMCG Inc.
OMCG ITALIA s.r.l.
Ozyasar Tel Ve Galvanizleme San A.Ş.
P & R Specialty Inc.
P/A Industries Inc.
Paramount Die Co.
Parkway Kew
Pentre Group - Hearl Heaton
Phifer Wire Inc.
Pioneer Machinery USA
Pratto SA
Precision Die Technologies
Premier Wire Die
Process Control
Promostar srl
Properzi International Inc.
Proton Products Inc.
PWM Ltd.
Q8Oils
QED Wire Lines Inc.
QMS
Quaker Houghton
Qual-Fab Inc.
Quality Reel Solutions
Rainbow Rubber & Plastics
Rautomead Ltd.
Radyne Corp.
Reber Systematic GmbH KG
Redex of America
Reel Options by Vandor Corp.
Reel Power Industrial
REELEX Packaging Solutions Inc.
Refractron Technologies Corp.
Renova
RichardsApex Inc.
Ridgway Machines Ltd.
Rockford Manufacturing Group FELM
Rosendahl Nextrom
Roteq Machinery Inc.
SACO AEI Polymers
Sai Extrumech Pvt. Ltd.
Saint-Gobain
SAMP USA Inc.
Sarkuysan AS
Sark-Wire
Schlatter North America
Schmidt Maschinenbau GmbH
Schnell SpA
Setic
Shanghai Anchors Mold Trading Co. Ltd.
SHI Kabel GmbH & Co. KG
Sicolinx Control Systems
SIKORA
SIMPACKS
Sivaco Wire Group
Skaltek Inc.
SKET Verseilmaschinenbau GmbH
Sonoco Reels and Spools
Spirka Schnellflechter GmbH
Star Materials. Co. Ltd.
Steel Cable Reels
Stolberger Inc DBA Wardwell Braiding
August Strecker GmbH & Co. KG
Strecker USA
Subec AB
Super Seal Corp.
Sweed Machinery Inc.
Syncroplantech North America Inc.
TapeFormers Ltd.
Taubensee Steel & Wire Co.
Taymer International Inc.
Technical Development Corp. (TDC)
Teknikor
Teknor Apex
Tensor Machinery Ltd.
Thermplastics Engineering Corp.
(TEC)
Traxit North America LLC
TROESTER GmbH & Co. KG
TSM Control Systems Inc.
Ulbrich Stainless Steels & Special Metals Inc.
United Wire Co. Inc.
Unitek Crossheads Inc.
Universal Wires LLC
UPCAST OY
US Extruders
Vapormatt Ltd.
Varo s.r.l.
Vom Hagen & Funke GmbH
WAFIOS Machinery Corp.
Weber & Scher Mfg. Co. Inc.
Weilly Diamond Industrial Co. Ltd.
Windak Inc.
Wire & Cable Asia
Wire & Cable Technology International (WCTI)
Wire & Plastic Machinery Corp.
wire 2024
The Wire Association International, Inc.
The Wire Journal International, Inc.
Wire Lab Co.
Wire Machine Systems Inc.
Witels Albert USA Ltd.
WMC
Woodburn Diamond Die Inc.
Worth Steel
WTM S.r.l.
Wuxi Hengtai Cable Machinery Manufacture Co., Ltd.
YAĞMURA AJANS MAKİNA VE
MOBİLYA SAN.TİC.LTD.ŞTİ.
Yield Management Corp.
Zumbach Electronics Corp.
List as of 1/19/23
Production may take place on the shop floor, but marketing is an increasingly important part of the process. This feature presents slices of how some manufacturers have approached this, but also a few other perspectives. That includes one company that specializes in helping smalland medium-sized businesses that may be leery of treading in this unfamiliar turf.
Perspective often depends on one’s comfort zone, and some manufacturers are understandably reluctant to commit more than a minimum of hard-earned revenue to what may feel like an unproven concept. Yet marketing exists, as seen by some of the statistics offered by WebFX at www.webfx.com from the 2022 IndustrialSage Survey of Manufacturers.
• 98% of industrial manufacturers have dedicated landing pages on their websites to convert visitors into leads.
• 79% of industrial marketers have an SEO strategy.
• 72% of industrial marketers use Google Analytics to track their website’s analytics.
• 68% of industrial marketers actively build inbound links as part of their SEO strategy.
• 61% of industrial manufacturing marketers track their website visitors from source to sale.
• 61% of surveyed industrial marketers audit their websites monthly or more frequently.
• The quality of an industrial company’s website impacts the decision of 40% of industrial buyers.
• The majority (52%) of industrial marketers planned to increase their SEO efforts in 2022.
• 39% of industrial marketers don’t know their website’s conversion rates.
• 38% of industrial manufacturing marketers are unsure of the number of site visitors converting into leads or customers.
• 12% was the growth of industrial and manufacturer website usage since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic.
• The best industrial sites convert 3% of their traffic using request for a quote and contact forms.
• Hosting virtual events was the most popular replacement for trade shows during the pandemic among industrial marketers (60% of those surveyed).
• 85% of industrial marketers said they had a defined marketing strategy in 2022.
• 68% of industrial shoppers vet fewer than five suppliers.
• 53% of industrial shoppers select suppliers in less than a month.
• 49% of industrial marketers reported receiving higher sales because of the pandemic.
• 33% of industrial shoppers pick suppliers in one to three months.
• 28% of industrial shoppers consider five to 10 suppliers.
• 4% of industrial shoppers screen more than 10 suppliers.
• 1-3% of revenue is what industrial manufacturing companies spend on marketing.
In January, the Marmon Industrial Energy & Infrastructure Group, a division of Marmon Electrical, rebranded their operations. Those include some 480 employees at six companies that collectively make approximately a thousand products for the industrial, energy and infrastructure sectors. Below, Marketing Manager Crysta Abell discusses what was involved.
At the beginning of this year, we launched a rebranding campaign that included a new website with a first of its kind fully integrated technical resources feature, Facebook Page, Instagram and LinkedIn pages, along with all the other transitions involved with a rebrand.
Planning began two years prior to the launch, and while that may seem like a very long time, it took an incredible amount of planning. We created a “playbook,” and being agile enough to adjust to the inevitable curve balls was a key to our success. The most challenging part was managing all the moving parts that occurred interdepartmentally because there were so many elements involved. Another critical element was sourcing key partners and vendors to supplement our in-house talent, and it took about a full year to put everything in place. The below details will give you a feel for the scope of the project.
In addition to layered communication letters sent out to current vendors and customers, we wanted to announce the unification of RSCC Cable & Wire, East Granby, Connecticut; Comtran Corp., Attleboro, Massachusetts; Dekoron Wire & Cable, Mt. Pleasant, Texas; Dekoron Unitherm, Cape Coral, Florida; and Harbour Canada Ind., Farnham, Quebec, Canada, to the electrical wire, cable and bundled tubing industry.
We knew from experience that dynamic video content rather than a static ad would yield more views, so we invested in the production of two key short videos. To reach audiences that absorb content differently, we utilized them across various platforms, congruently. The first “launch” video was designed to demonstrate all our brands and product lines that have been fused under one umbrella of Marmon Industrial Energy & Infrastructure (Marmon IEI).
The video highlighted the benefits of this alignment for our current and future customers, the vast amount of technical resources we provide and the market segments we support. This video was lifted to our existing websites, the new website, and through a targeted campaign on LinkedIn to reach a clearly defined audience.
We had an impressive amount of organic impressions with our post to LinkedIn, and the sponsored ad quadrupled views of our video in a few short business days. That video was followed by the launch of an HR focused video on the benefits and opportunity for career growth available at Marmon IEI that was lifted to our new website, LinkedIn and Facebook pages.
Throughout, management did a great job communicating the upcoming changes, getting everyone moving in the same direction, so that when I did lead meetings with production, or Human Resources, they had an expectation of the changes and members from all facilities met to accomplish what was needed for their departments. We unified internally to accomplish the rebrand before it was announced to our partners and customers. Our marketing efforts had multiple intents. We wanted to promote the strength of our new brand as a unified group under Marmon Electrical, A Berkshire Hathaway Company, but we also wanted to entice talent to join our impactful team to support market share growth. We feel that the campaign was successful for both goals.
As a side note, during this time period, a hurricane passed our Cape Coral facility, and tornadoes impacted our teams in Mt. Pleasant. Their ability to quickly recover, restoring production along as this project, demonstrates the strength of the Marmon team.
Different demographics consume messaging from their preferred social media platform, so layering that content onto various platforms is a sure way to get your message out to your intended targets. If you have invested in creating content, don’t limit where you use it. Gains in sales and growth in market share are always the primary focus of our marketing team, but in this case our secondary goal of adding talent was equally important, as people are our foundation for growth.
