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Latest Scoop
General
Cable Acquires Gepco and Isotec
General Cable Corp., Highland Heights, Ky., acquired
Gepco International, Inc., Des Plaines, Ill., including the Gepco and
and Isotec brands, which manufacture cabling for the professional
broadcast and entertainment markets. Terms of the deal were not
disclosed. Gepco had revenues of approximately $46 million in 2008.
The Gepco brand of broadcast cable products is well known in the
professional broadcast industry. Gepco cabling solutions include
broadcast, entertainment and audio/visual cable; cable assemblies in
both standard and custom configurations; interconnect and cable-related
accessories and optical fiber solutions.
Rexel
Adopts Activant ERP System
Rexel Inc., Dallas, is making a move to convert its
entire chain of distribution operations to the Eclipse enterprise
resource planning (ERP) software system. The dollar amounts weren’t
disclosed but Activant says it’s by far the largest single deal the
company has ever done.
DOE
Testing for LEDs Offers Some Surprises
The CALiPER test results for LED lighting products
recently published by the Department of Energy (DOE) provide an
interesting status check of the state of the fledgling solid-state
lighting industry.
Some LEDs in the DOE Energy Efficiency & Renewable Energy program’s
CALiPER tests outperformed existing light sources like compact
fluorescents and incandescent PAR lamps, while an amazing 50 percent
didn’t even meet their manufacturers’ published marketing claims.
People On The Move
Slayton to
lead Ideal Industries Tool Group
Ideal Industries Inc. (Sycamore, Ill.): Brian
Slayton has been named business unit manager for the company’s Tools
and Supplies group. With his experience in manufacturing processes,
Slayton will further strengthen the unit’s leadership in
professional-grade quality hand tools, tool bags and cutting
accessories
while targeting expansion into new product categories to serve the
electrical, construction and data communications markets.
On The Wire
DOE
invests more than $57 million to advance smart grid
U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu in late July announced
delivery of more than $47 million in funding under the American
Recovery
and Reinvestment Act for eight projects to further smart grid
demonstration projects in seven states, plus $10.5 million in Recovery
Act funding available for local governments to develop emergency
preparedness plans for their electrical systems.
Schneider
Electric/Square D Wins Navy Contract
Schneider Electric’s Square D Co. was recently
awarded
more than $33 million in contracts with the Naval Facilities
Engineering
Command (NAVFAC) for advanced metering projects. The work will include
designing, procurement, installation, testing and sustaining
building-level advanced metering solutions in support of the Energy
Policy Act of 2005 and the Energy Independence and Security Act of
2007.
The projects will help the Navy and Marine Corps cost-effectively
allocate and manage energy resources.
Soft
copper prices pummel Houston Wire & Cable 2Q
Houston Wire & Cable Co., Houston said its sales in the
second quarter of 2009 were $61.9 million, down six percent from the
first quarter of 2009 and down 36.5 percent when compared to the second
quarter of 2008. The key drivers behind this sales decline were reduced
product demand and reduced copper prices, which fell by more than 40
percent from the average price in the second quarter of 2008.
Management
estimates that the decrease in copper prices accounted for
approximately
one-half of the sales decline. A company press release said after
adjusting for copper deflation, Houston Wire & Cable’s MRO business
declined by double digits, while sales from growth initiatives
increased
in the range of five percent to 10 percent.
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