Electric.ie July/August Edition

ELECTRIC.IE • The Magazine & Website for the Irish Electrical Industry • 43 Appointments Industry News EDA hold first regional business forum in Northern Ireland T he EDA (Electrical Distributors Association), an organisation that represents the electrical wholesale community in the UK, recently held a regional business forum in Belfast. These forums are held on a regular basis across the regions of the UK. However, ‹– ™ƒ• –Š‡ Ƥ”•– –‹‡ that an event was held in Northern Ireland . They are an opportunity for wholesalers to network and to see some presentations that are designed to add value to their business. The event was very well attended. Margaret Fitzsimons, the chief executive of the EDA, herself an Irish lady originally from Dublin, welcomed everyone to the forum and introduced all the presenters. Neil Steward, the CEO of Glen Dimplex, gave an excellent presentation on the future of heating in the connected low- carbon world. Margaret then gave an EDA update and spoke about the issues that they are currently focussed on. ETIM (The European Technical Information Model) is an open •–ƒ†ƒ”† ˆ‘” –Š‡…Žƒ••‹Ƥ…ƒ–‹‘ ‘ˆ A discussion on Apprenticeship Training technical product data across the industry. It removes ambiguity and ensures that all users of the product data are using the same terms to describe the same attributes and values. This ‹• •‘‡–Š‹‰ –Šƒ– ™‹ŽŽ ‡ơ‡…– manufacturers, distributors and wholesalers here in the Republic as well. Another interesting topic currently been rolled out was in education and training in relation –‘ ‡™ •–ƒơ ‡–‡”‹‰ ‹–‘ –Š‡ electrical wholesaling market in the UK. They have introduced an apprenticeship scheme called EDA Apprenticeship Plus. EDA Apprenticeship Plus will employ an apprentice and the wholesaler will then 'host' them in their business. The apprentice will work and learn on-the-job skills as ™‡ŽŽ ƒ• •–—†›‹‰ ˆ‘” ƒ “—ƒŽ‹Ƥ…ƒ–‹‘Ǥ He will also be visited by a tutor on the premises (usually about once a month). At the end of the apprenticeship the wholesaler can then decide on keeping the person or not. The presentations moved on with Chris Pack from BEAMA speaking about electrical safety improvements and the opportunities for the wholesaler. Pat Kelly, the director of research, development and innovation at LED Group Robus, gave a very informative talk on human centric lighting. Further presentations were on E-Commerce opportunities from Christian Hauzar, e-commerce specialist at Schneider Electric, as well as "Building intelligence with light" from Gurpreet Singh of Philips Lighting. If you would like more information on any of the topics covered on the day, you can download all the presentations from the EDA website at www.eda.org.uk Pat Kelly of LED Group ROBUS Phil O'Shea of the AEW Margaret Fitzsimons, CEO of the EDA