The EDIT Magazine | EUEW 2021 Annual Business Convention

EDITION NO. 2 NOVEMBER 2021 BARCELONA POWERED BY

SUSTAINABLE LEADERSHIP IN A DYNAMIC AND CHALLENGING BUSINESS ECOSYSTEM

Thursday • 18 November 15:00 — 17:30

19:00 — 23:00

EUEW Board of Directors & General Assembly Meeting • by invitation only Meeting Room 10 + 11 (1st Floor)

Welcome Reception & Dinner Hilton Purobeach & Mediterranean Glasshouse

Friday • 19 November 08:30 — 09:00

EUEW 2021 ABC Opening Hilton Ballroom

09:00 — 10:15

Opening Keynote + Panel Discussion Sustainability and leadership on the entire electrical wholesalers' value chain

10:45 — 12:00

Executive Seminar + Panel Discussion The future of the wholesaler

12:00 — 12:30

Presentation by ETIM ETIM: the journey to your destination

12:30 — 14:00

Jean-Gilles Burioni

James Hardy

Simon Barkes

Mary Shaw

Lunch Hilton Purobeach & Mediterranean Glasshouse

Seminar by CECAPI Market Surveillance Support Initiative (MSSI-Electrical) Matteo Gavazzeni

14:00 — 15:15

Óscar Querol

Seminar by Europacable No (CPR) compliance, no (fire) safety Nicola Scirocco

Seminar by EuropeOn Electrical contractors: at the forefront of the green & digital transition Martin Bailey

15:45 — 17:00

17:00 — 17:15

19:00 — 23:00

The EDIT / November 2021

Executive Seminar + Panel Discussion Dynamic, digital, data-fueled: responding to distribution disruption Ian Heller

Closing Remarks Hilton Ballroom

Grand Finale Reception & Dinner Llotja de Mar de Barcelona

Convention App Network. Schedule. Connect

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Contents Balancing the needs of society, the environment and economy

Publisher

p.13

HARE MANAGEMENT represented by Koen Lauryssen Manager www.haremgt.com

Editorial

Ana Iacovici Quality Control & Persuasion Manager

Sustainability by nature is a continuous long-term journey Valentina Tudosa Drafts Engineering Manager

Graphic Design

Lucian Linte Shape Shifting Creator

Photo credits: shutterstock.com, ABB, OBO Bettermann, Prysmian Group, Siemens, LEDVANCE, SLV, Unex, RTAdmc & Events Spain.

The EDIT magazine is published by HARE MANAGEMENT (talkto@haremgt.com) on behalf of EUEW – the European Union of Electrical Wholesalers (www.euew. org). Full or partial reproduction of texts or illustrations from any edition of The EDIT magazine is possible only with prior written approval of the publisher and/or of the EUEW. The magazine’s contributors are responsible for the content of their articles.

All models photographed in The EDIT magazine have a strictly visual role. HARE MANAGEMENT is not responsible for the involvement of the respective models in the articles that they illustrate.

The EDIT / November 2021

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Highlights

p.35 When innovation became a tradition at OBO

p.18

What is so special about Barcelona?

Mastering transformation in a data-driven world

p.39

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Leading an organization from a powerful ecosystem during peculiar conditions

A

lexander Dewulf was appointed as President of the EUEW only a few months before the COVID-19 pandemic hit globally. This interview gives an insight on EUEW’s activities during this period, the impact of COVID-19 on the wholesale sector and Mr. Dewulf’s outlook for EUEW’s 2021 Annual Business Convention.

Dear Mr. Dewulf, you had hardly been appointed as President of the EUEW when the COVID pandemic knocked at the door. Can you briefly describe how the EUEW has continued to support its members in that disruptive period?

One may indeed say that my term as President started atypically, with a mandatory postponement of the EUEW 2020 Convention and the absence of in person meetings for a very long time. Besides, I point out that COVID-19 is still among us, although not in the same proportions as last year. For this reason, I am almost daily in contact with the EUEW Bureau to observe all current measures applicable in Catalonia and to assure that we take all measures needed to keep the participants safe.

In reply to your question: the vision of the EUEW has always been to be the voice of the electrical wholesalers across Europe with the aim to develop and represent the interests of electro-technical wholesalers and distributors. COVID did not change this vision. However, the pandemic forced us to work differently. Almost immediately after Europe went in lockdown, we brainstormed internally on how to keep the functioning of the EUEW ongoing. It will not come as a surprise that the EUEW fully embraced the digitalization by, among others, introducing the Teams Meetings. We could not afford to stand still either: Europe launched its Green

The EDIT / November 2021

Alexander Dewulf President EUEW

Deal, with an impact on Electrical Wholesalers in various areas, as well as creating lots of opportunities for them.

Therefore, we created the Advocacy Calls: sessions in which our national federations and the members of the Advisory Council are informed about and discuss a certain topic in online sessions of max one hour.

A few examples of topics that have been discussed since then: the Renovation Wave, the CPR, Circular Economy, the Digital & Sustainable Product Information, the Fit for 55% package, the DSA. Since 2020, fifteen (15) of such Advocacy Calls have already taken place. The numerous attendances of the members in these calls encourages us to continue this initiative in post-COVID times.

As the Electrical Wholesalers are part of an exciting ecosystem, we also continued to bind a closer cooperation with other leading organizations, enabling us to address the challenges electrical distribution and wholesaler face today. Via recurring Team Meetings, we continued our dialogues with LightingEurope, EuropeOn, CECAPI and Europacable to work on joint initiatives, such as position papers, and more. Some of them also actively joined our Advocacy Calls to discuss topics of common interest; other will certainly be invited as well in the future. Further, our relationship with Eurocommerce was expanded, with the EUEW being part of Eurocommerce's Wholesale Group and we conducted

Interview with Alexander Dewulf

one to one calls with the different national federations to discuss the impact of COVID at national level.

Lastly, the COVID period also created the opportunity to reflect on our internal organization. During the last strategic exercise, it had already emerged that one of the major advantages of the EUEW - our size - could create operational difficulties if one does not have the right structures in place. So, internally, we have been brainstorming on how to let the association evolve at organizational level, to better serve the members without preaching a drastic revolution. In a board meeting that took place in mid-2021, it was decided to submit to the General Assembly taking place in Barcelona, some amendments to the association’s bylaws. It is suggested to move to a smaller Board of Directors, to officialize the Advisory Council whose members can attend the Board of Directors meetings as guests and, in order to ensure continuity, we also suggest the member to bring the term of the Vice-President and President mandate from two to three years. The purpose of these changes remains the same: when coming together, discussing issues of mutual concern within the industry.

Did the sector suffer because of the pandemic?

First there was the fear of a prolonged economic recession following the pandemic. Interestingly, we then rapidly faced the opposite situation with global economy and our sector, moving very fast towards recovery. Consequently, today, we all have to deal with the overall present disruptive challenges of logistics and transport, shortage of inventory and raw materials, the raise of energy & product prices, general inflation.

The COVID crisis also demonstrated certain things:

for instance, how important it is for wholesalers to be close to their customers. After all, throughout the crisis, branches performed very well; this in combination with the digital channel. Those who have not yet fully embraced the digitization process, I can only advise to accelerate it now more than ever. We noticed that investment in renewable energy and renovation went up with the residentials being forced to stay at home and having time off to start renovation works. At the same time, a reverse movement was noticeable in the industrial and commercial segments, as these sectors were often forced to stop their activities for a quite a long period of time, as a consequence of the lockdown.

As President of the EUEW, you are most probably very pleased that the Convention can finally take place?

What would you say the Convention participants should take back home after the event?

Absolutely. The era of physical presence for every meeting is beyond passé, but nothing better than real human interaction. So far, the EUEW 2021 Annual Business Convention has 240 confirmed participants from 20 countries, with 45 wholesalers and 20 associations represented. This is quite impressive and encouraging, given the international situation.

The 2021 Barcelona Convention focuses on the future of the Electrical Wholesalers. If our sector continues to professionalize, the Electrical Wholesaler has an important future ahead; as part of an entire ecosystem, we, as wholesalers, can contribute to a more sustainable future, without having to wait for all kinds of legislative initiatives. I see the wholesaler of the future as the gatekeeper, the middle man with added value; the one who discusses with and learns from the manufacturer about the latest range of (high tech) sustainable products and then shares this knowledge with and advises his customers, the installers, on such kind of products. On their turn, the installers share this knowledge with the consumers. Of course, it goes without saying that an evolution towards a better world requires efforts of all of us and the supply chain in our ecosystem will undoubtedly have to be better coordinated: Two elements are key for this: continued attention to and thorough data exchange as well as digitalization. Let it be one of the major topics of our Convention. And finally, let us not forget that with the advent of all the new technologies, other challenges lie ahead of us: the wholesaler of today and the future is no longer a simple box mover. More and more, he becomes a provider of intelligent (IT) services enabling different systems needed for the transition to a more ecological world to technically connect with each other.

As you will notice, this year’s convention will offer plenty possibilities to debate and exchange views. As every other participant, I am really looking forward to meeting my colleagues.

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Message from Eric Piers

A key role for distribution!

T

he resources of the European recovery plan are an important instrument to boost the recovery from the Corona crisis. On top of this European support, Member States are encouraged to make supplemental resources available.

The Recovery Plan will also accelerate the transition of the economy: the ongoing evolution in the fields of sustainability and digitalization will only speed up.

Through the European recovery plan, nowadays, different Member States emphasize the importance of the housing renovation, the renewable energy, the electromobility, biodiversity, circular economy and digitization. Sustainability gains attention and the Fit for 55 program to be realized by 2030 will do more than enhance this evolution.

Such developments not only create new, additional jobs; they also create a demand on jobs requiring new skills. New training of both our internal employees as well as the collaborators of our professional customers will be indispensable. However, the electrical wholesaler is very well positioned to take up this role.

Eric Piers Secretary General EUEW The construction industry can lead the recovery. Not only in terms of economic growth, but also in job creation: one extra job in the construction industry creates 1.14 jobs in related sectors, including ours. Further, the European recovery plan restores business confidence and stimulates companies to no longer postpone the investments that were put on hold during the corona crisis. To stimulate additional private investments, the regulatory decisions of the public authorities will be key: for instance, by imposing a mandatory renovation of buildings in the framework of the European Renovation wave or by imposing the obligation to install sufficient charging stations in new public buildings.

The EDIT / November 2021

The whole set of the recovery plan, the energy transition, the renovation wave and the circular economy creates a lot of additional opportunities for wholesalers.

The wholesaler’s added value as intermediary and/or middleman with a genuine knowledge of technological solutions as well as of a wide range of products and services, makes him “incontournable”. The electrical wholesaler’s close involvement in the actions forthcoming the Green Deal gives him a crucial role within his ecosystem to help achieve Europe's climate objectives.

Let this 2021 edition of EUEW’ Annual Business Convention be an even greater source of inspiration for your company. As Secretary General ad interim, I wish you all an instructive and enjoyable event.

Message from Koen Lauryssen

All talks lead to sustainability, so which road should we take?

“A

lice asks the cat: Which road should I take? In reply, the cat says: Where are you going? To that, Alice says: I don't know. – Then it doesn't matter which road you take, the cat says in response.”

However, in our current life, it does matter. And we all should know which road to take, because we are not Alice in Wonderland and Lewis Carroll did not leave instructions about how to create a sustainable future for us and for our future generations. In those times, the idea of sustainability was not an issue – resources were still abundant and some of the materials we use now were not even discovered.

Koen Lauryssen Head of Operations EUEW

Coming back to the present, the U.K. just hosted the 26th UN Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP26) in Glasgow. World leaders are being asked to accelerate action on climate change and commit to more ambitious cuts in their countries’ emissions, all in a joint effort to limit global temperature rises. Companies are being asked to reduce their carbon footprint and to adopt the green energy sources as much as possible. People are being asked to think twice before using plastic and, instead, to choose a more sustainable alternative.

EUEW represents the voice of electrical wholesalers.

Having a voice is important because it also means that you have the responsibility to make it heard and to lead by example. The EUEW 2021 Annual Business Convention gathers an impressive number of leaders. We can all learn what sustainable leadership is about together, by talking, networking, staying connected and exchanging stories. Then, once the convention is over, we can return to our businesses and our peers and pass the information further.

For my and older generations, these changes may seem uncomfortable and absurd. Nevertheless, every day, I watch my daughters grow up and I know that it doesn’t matter how uncomfortable I might feel, I must leave behind a decent world for them to live in. And the fact that they are growing up already learning how to be more sustainable just by watching me, or their teachers, the news, the world leaders and so on, keeps me on the right track and strongly motivated. I am sure that, when they will be adults, they will have to learn other new things that I can’t even imagine right now.

EUEW is actively working towards a more sustainable future and its leaders are deeply involved in this process. Let’s not forget that EUEW is a 17-nations federation representing the interests of the electrical wholesaling channel – a powerful ecosystem. The contribution and efforts of the members of the EUEW Presidium, EUEW Board of Directors and EUEW Advisory Council are directed to keeping this organization strong and to making it a leading example for other organizations as well. As a next step, we are working on implementing a new organizational structure that will allow EUEW to be more efficient in all its actions.

All talks lead to sustainability. There are plans, strategies, deadlines, objectives, numbers, goals to be reached. There is the intention of action, some are already moving towards this direction, others are just started to think about it. The main idea is that sustainability is now necessary. And more than that, it is necessary to have a sustainable leadership that could lead, talk, and coordinate this wave of changes.

We are not just talking – we, as EUEW, are committed to take this road of leading role model and inspire others by providing information and support. We already have our answer to the question Which road should we take? and it is clear as daylight – we keep walking on the path of sustainability with confidence and high hopes for better times to come.

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EUEW Member Organizations

Member Organizations

www.adime.org

www.fdme.net

EDUARD SARTO President

ALAIN FRAGNAUD President

www.agefe.pt

www.fedet.nl

JOÃO CÉSAR MACHADO President

MATTY HUMMELINK Chairman

www.eda.org.uk

www.fmeonline.it

CHRIS ASHWORTH President

EZIO GALLI President

www.efo.no

www.fedibel.be

FRANK JAEGTNES CEO

ALEXANDER DEWULF President

The EDIT / November 2021

EUEW Member Organizations

www.neta.lt

www.veltek.dk

RAIMUNDAS SKURDENIS Chairman of the Board

ALLAN ANDREASEN Chairman

www.seg.se

ves-elektrogrosshandel.ch

ANDERS KOPPEL President

JÖRG REIMER President

www.she.org.pl

www.villamosipar.hu

DARIUSZ TARGOSZ Chairman of the Council

LÁSZLÓ SZÓKA President

www.stkliitto.fi

www.wko.at

MARTTI FORSS Chairman

WALTER RUCK President

www.veg.de ULRICH LIEDTKE Chairman of the Board

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— Let’s write the future of safe, smart and sustainable electrification. Together.

With ever increasing urbanization and the world forging ahead to create a low-carbon future, ABB is supporting with digitally connected, ABB Ability™ The EDIT / November 2021 go.abb/electrification enabled solutions and services.

Interview with Vincent Hurel

Balancing the needs of society, the environment and economy

“D

eeper relationships, higher growth, powered by our partnership” – this is ABB’s message to the market. But this is more than just a tagline, this is a commitment made by ABB to its partners, customers, and overall business.

One of the best-known market players in the industry, ABB is a leading global technology company that energizes the transformation of society and industry to achieve a more productive, sustainable future.

By connecting software to its electrification, robotics, automation and motion portfolio, ABB pushes boundaries of technology to drive performance to new levels. Mr. Vincent Hurel, Group Distribution Channel Leader, took his time to better explain ABB’s sustainability strategy and more.

Dear Mr. Hurel, you are a constant friend and supporter of EUEW and its activities. Please tell us a bit more about your career path at ABB and what inspires you to be an active participant at the events organized by the European Union of Electrical Wholesalers?

ABB is an active participant at EUEW events because distributors deliver continuity across our sales force and are at the heart of our success. In Europe, more than 60 percent of our business is made together with distributor’s partners so it makes sense that our effort and focus is on supporting them.

Our role is to ensure we provide everything our partners need, that we are easy to do business with and that we empower distributors to meet common end customer’s needs through shared expertise, education and expectations.

I have been with ABB for 30 years and it is my belief that people, innovation, collaboration and mutual trust are at the heart of any successful business.

Distribution is a people business and distributors are an extension of our team. What makes this business so exciting is working in partnership with them to increase market reach and footprint.

At its heart, the distribution business is very much a local business. So, while our offerings and reach are global, our approach is about unique relationships and meeting country specific needs. Together we bring the best value to our end customers.

Vincent Hurel Group Distribution Channel Leader for ABB

ABB is well known as a top leader in different industries, constantly transforming the society and providing cutting edge technologies. What are the ingredients for this recipe of innovation?

We believe that innovation in safe, smart and sustainable electrification means progress towards a healthier and more prosperous world for future generations. This means balancing the needs of society, the environment and economy.

The secret to success is to embed this approach in everything we do, in order to create long-term value.

It is a mindset. This starts with helping our customers reduce their emissions and preserve resources, which is where we make the biggest impact. We also consider our own operations, our suppliers and the communities we serve. We strive always to be an exemplary corporate citizen wherever we operate.

To stand out, we need to keep pushing the boundaries of technology and innovation, as we have done for the last 130 years. Only by trial and error can we develop cutting edge technologies. We believe in curiosity, courage and collaboration – three of our four values which shape the culture of ABB for the future, serving the market together with distributors the way customers want to buy.

Continue reading

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Interview with Vincent Hurel

Nowadays big players in the industry are making efforts to provide top solutions and services for their partners and clients. How is ABB Electrification working towards this strategy, which are the company’s main directions?

It all comes back to prioritizing people and partners capabilities. We work in trust and partnership with our distributors for shared success.

We want our distributors to stay ahead of shifting market dynamics and to meet increasing customer demands. Working together, we adapt and thrive, grow our market share, evolve our business, and write the future of safe, smart and sustainable electrification.

Most importantly we combine ABB’s industry-leading products and technology innovations with delivery by trusted local experts who know our customers best.

A general affirmation about the circular economy is that it tackles Global challenges. Which are, in your opinion, the most urgent challenges that a modern company should tackle nowadays? How does your company address these challenges?

At ABB, we have an ambitious 2030 sustainability strategy based on four pillars – enabling a low carbon society, preserving resources, promoting social progress, and acting with integrity and transparency. Within these topic areas, we have a clear ambition level and a set of quantitative, measurable and objective targets that we are committed to achieving by 2030, in order to make our contribution towards developing a more sustainable world.

The EDIT / November 2021

It all comes back to prioritizing people and partners capabilities.

We work in trust and partnership with our distributors for shared success.

Interview with Vincent Hurel

Sustainable leadership is a relative new notion in the business language. How are you relating to it and what does it mean for you, as the Distribution Channel Leader?

Sustainability has always been at the heart of our business. ABB has an ongoing active environmental, social, and governance (ESG) program. It is not just about circularity of product – it is about much more than that. Together with our distributors we serve the end customers. Our offering helps customers reach their ESG targets by complying with the expectations and rules around sustainability to deliver competitive advantage.

ABB’s objective is that at least 80 percent of its products and solutions will be covered by our circularity approach by 2030. We can only achieve this by working with distributors, by accessing the market through their portfolios. We constantly monitor regulatory changes and, in partnership with our distributors, work out how to meet these targets.

From the supply chain perspective, distributors are the experts in managing supply. We really need to work with distributors to put appropriate processes in place – it is not just a sustainable offering but an all-encompassing approach to business.

ABB’s objective is that at least 80 percent of its products and solutions will be covered by our circularity approach by 2030.

Regarding your day-to-day activity, which are the main three pillars in your relations with your strategic partners, in this area of distribution?

How was this relation affected in the last year?

We exist to serve, in partnership with our distributors, the end customers to the best of our ability.

During the pandemic we had to develop new ways to interact with one-another, so the day-today way of doing business changed completely.

It is not an exaggeration to say that overnight the way we worked together transformed.

We saw a real benefit in working more closely with our distributors. We implemented secure processes to keep all our factories running. However, our daily business changed fundamentally with a switch from multiple touch points to digital routes to market.

We embraced a digital way of working across the business – in our day-to-day interactions, how we manage our processes and how we interact with distributors – and this has proved very successful.

We supported distributors in bringing value to the market. This means not just a good integrated supply chain but how we provide the right training, support, and innovations so they achieve a level of expertise across many areas.

We empowered distributors to be recognized in the market as the right partners with the specific domain expertise customers expect. During recent months you’d be amazed to see how many leaning path and training programs we worked on together.

Critically, we put a huge effort into sharing information and data through digital routes to improve both the supply chain and service, making supply better, faster and more sustainable.

There is no doubt that the pandemic has caused incredible disruption. We recognize that pricing management is a real challenge that we address in a collaborative and structured way. We have innovated across the supply chain to increase efficiency and collaborate seamlessly. By sharing information about the entire supply chain and ensuring we have the right capabilities and competencies to serve the market, we can deliver on time.

Our key priority is delivering distributors what they expect and keeping them fully informed.

Interview with Vincent Hurel

Every industry has been affected, in a way or another, by the COVID-19 crisis. How did you manage to lead your team and adapt to the new working conditions, which were the biggest challenges?

Our top priority has always been to keep our partners, customers and people safe. Throughout the pandemic, we have been in constant contact with our distributors to ensure we could keep people at work, and do so safely in order to serve the market demands.

If you had to name five of your company’s projects, where you were highly involved, which ones would they be and what are the expected results?

Distribution business remains rather fragmented, and we have thousands of different projects across many countries. Central to the five company projects I think of, has been digital transformation, data and content management, tools, innovation, and services.

We develop digital commerce by working with our distributors to drive more traffic and increase their e-commerce sales volumes.

What has been really interesting is that the digital transformations we made to combat COVID-19 have delivered new benefits.

With digital choices, end customers demand is evolving.

What has been really interesting is that the digital transformations we made to combat COVID-19 have delivered new benefits. With digital choices, end customers demand is evolving. Solutions and service are requested in addition to products.

Our other big capability is to innovate. It is so much easier for end customers and distributors to sell new technologies. A switch on its own is not a very interesting product but if it supports an innovative new function or drives customer benefit, it becomes exciting. So, innovation is key. We are really pushing our offer of innovative products, solutions and services to the market.

Our priority is to support our distribution partners so they can sell specific capabilities with expertise appropriate to the market they’re serving.

What do you like the most in your activity within ABB Electrification?

There is a real pride in looking back at the challenging times we have, as a team, been through and recognizing how, through our focus on our partners, we have pulled together to deliver success.

Through trust, through those relationships which are almost like a family, we have been able to continue to provide an excellent service to our end customers. It has been about empowering our distributor network, enabling them to offer more solutions and services.

Working together, we are riding the wave of change and will emerge stronger, better, and united.

Meet the EUEW 2021 ABC

SPEAKERS

Jean-Gilles Burioni

James Hardy

Ian Heller

Founder IntegRHence

CEO Avenue51

Founder & Senior Partner Real Results Marketing, Inc.

Simon Barkes

Mary Shaw

Martin Bailey

President ETIM International

Executive Director ETIM North America

President EuropeOn

Nicola Scirocco

Matteo Gavazzeni

Óscar Querol

Chair of the CPR Compliance & Communication Europacable

President CECAPI

Secretary General CECAPI

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Mastering transformation in a data-driven world

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wo topics are front and center for all businesses: sustainability and digitalization. Environment Social Governance (ESG) has gone from optional to mandatory, and nearly everything is creating data around the clock. In this interview, Alexander Frisch, SVP/Global Head of Partner Management, explains how Siemens and its Distribution Partners are finding their way in this changing landscape.

Alexander Frisch SVP/Global Head of Partner Management at Siemens

What do you see as the most important strategic cornerstones in the electric wholesale business?

First of all, it is important for us as a supplier as well as for our partners to secure and win market share in the traditional segments. Here we expect more an evolution than a revolution, but still, this is the biggest part of the business.

The disruptive changes driven by digitalization and new players in the markets are revolutionizing the customer journey and the decision-making process. This brings me to the second topic, the overall customer and partner experience as a key differentiator for a successful electrical wholesale business. Perfect processes and customer proximity are required to adapt to changing buying behavior.

Last but not least, we foster our efforts together with our partners to be prepared to offer cloud- and datadriven solutions to the industrial and building markets.

This requires a transformation of all stakeholders

The EDIT / November 2021

towards new business models and ecosystems instead of traditional supply chain processes. You cannot steer your company in the traditional way. In this regard, wellestablished market players can learn a lot from startups.

How does sustainability or ESG fit into this picture?

Our products and solutions, combined with the services of our partners, are perfect enablers for end customers to achieve their sustainability targets. A big contribution from Siemens is increased transparency on the environmental footprint of our products across the complete supply chain. Furthermore, we seek to understand how our applications and products are used. All product data sheets are calculated based on average assumptions concerning hours of usage, loads, etc. This gives you a good first impression and allows comparisons to be made between different products. By increasing the level of transparency within a customer project, it is much easier than before to predict and act based on real data. This brings much bigger savings than just deciding on product features.

Interview with Alexander Frisch

Therefore, it is crucial, to stick to internationally accepted standards. Otherwise, nobody will be able to handle or compare the different data necessary to get a complete picture, for example for a given customer project.

Coming back to your strategic cornerstones.

What do you expect from your electrical wholesale partners and what is in it for them?

Digitalization is not only a topic for processes and business models. More and more products are now based on digital instead of analog internal functions, which provides them with additional features. One of the biggest differentiators an electrical wholesaler can offer customers is consultative selling. And by doing so, the wholesalers offer considerable added value over pure online traders. Investing in this direction increases customer loyalty in the long run and is a foundation for future growth.

That’s clear, but didn’t you say that the customer journey is changing rapidly?

What does this mean for the wholesaler?

You are touching on a very important topic. The decision-making process today involves more aspects and people than ever, and it starts much earlier in a project lifecycle than it did in the past. This requires a different go-to-market strategy, for example when launching new products. Taking this into account, we have been joining forces with our distributor network to streamline marketing messages and make full use of our joint communications networks.

Our Partner Management Vision 2025 ensures that we are all heading into the same direction. At the same time, it involves introducing state-of-the-art tools to ensure fast and easy information exchange with our partners.

We understand our distributor partners as a single point of entry for their customers. As such, we constantly strive to ensure highest quality service globally.

Your third strategic cornerstone of offering cloud- and data-driven solutions sounds like it might be the most difficult one to implement.

Why should an electrical wholesaler invest in the development of new business models?

In the ecosystems electrical wholesalers are actively working in, you have many stakeholders who are close to the end customer as well as the decision influencers. However, they are often too small to invest in digitalization concepts and are not able to recruit enough projects to get the critical mass of data to run data-driven analysis. However, electrical wholesalers are well positioned in the supply chain and, due to their customer proximity, own the required domain know-how.

Thanks to their financial strength and their access to individual solutions and products from multiple suppliers, wholesalers can offer their customers competitive applications that help them to become more efficient and make processes more environmentally friendly.

This is what sustainability is all about and where digitalization with a clear purpose is key.

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Unlock the full potential of your energy supply Sustainability and CO2 reduction, optimizing the energy mix, increasing demand-side flexibility and at the same time optimizing the bottom line – there are multiple goals and options when improving your energy situation. To address these we provide comprehensive energy and performance services, which allow you to exploit the full potential of the opportunities enabled by the grid edge. siemens.com/energy-and-performance-services The EDIT / November 2021

EUEW 2021

Main Features Activity Stream Event Schedule Session Chats Private Messaging Networking Interactive Features

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Linking integrity and safety to construction and installation

As a construction and installation expert, you’ll know that building the world takes a combination of things: skill, experience, market knowledge and care.

At Prysmian, we offer more than world-leading cabling products and accessories to our customers: we provide complete, challengedriven solutions.

From cutting-edge IoT solutions for cable drum management, so you can access real-time information on drum location. To cables delivering increased efficiency, maximum safety and unrivalled durability. Even products powered by revolutionary digital technology, so you can store valuable cabling systems data on the cloud for an always-accessible, mobile solution.

Above all, Prysmian is building the construction solutions you truly need: for your networks, for the planet and for our future.

www.prysmiangroup.com The EDIT / November 2021

Interview with Srinivas Siripurapu

Sustainability by nature is a continuous long-term journey

Srinivas Siripurapu Chief Innovation and R&D Officer at Prysmian Group

Prysmian Group’s Milan Headquarters

W

ith a strong heritage of over 100 years of research and development, Prysmian Group is one of the companies deeply engaged in providing innovative solutions to its customers. The company has a 360º approach to sustainability and a solid agenda, explained by Dr. Srinivas Siripurapu, Chief Innovation and R&D Officer explains in the following interview.

Please share with us some important milestones in your career and some reasons that made you focus on research and development.

Moreover, why do you believe Prysmian Group is a good home for your current career path?

Growing up as a child in India, I always loved mathematics and science which made me gravitate to Engineering. As a Chemical Engineer pursuing my PhD in the US, I realized the positive impact that innovative materials and clean manufacturing can have on our planet. I have been fortunate to channel my passion for sustainable products and processes throughout my career. Energy Transition, Digitalization and Sustainability are three major market forces shaping all industries.

Prysmian Group is well positioned to make a meaningful impact on all three fronts with our innovative solutions.

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In your opinion, what is the most challenging scenario regarding the future in regard to a sustainable leadership company culture?

Prysmian Group’s Milan Headquarters

Given the high emphasis on sustainability and green transformation of all business processes, how does Prysmian Group embrace a more sustainable approach to its activity?

Sustainability is in our DNA and is an integral part of our businesses across the Group’s entire organization. We have a 360º approach to sustainability in how we engage our customers, suppliers, employees, shareholders, and local communities. We published our first sustainability report in 2014. Since then, we have continuously built on the foundation with a stronger governance, reporting, participation in sustainability indexes and inclusion of ESG in both short-term and long-term incentives for the organization. This year we have announced our climate change ambition pledging through science-based targets (SBTi) to reach net zero for our Scope 1 & 2 emissions by 2035 and for Scope 3 emissions by 2050.

Circular economy is a rather new concept, and a lot of companies are still trying to see how to implement this concept in their day-to-day activity while others are struggling to still make sense of it. Why should companies, such as the Prysmian Group, embrace circular economy?

What is impressive about circular economy is the simplicity of the thought process – reduce waste, reuse materials and regenerate nature as much as possible.

The challenge is in implementing it as sustainable business practice in all aspects of an organization or a community. Prysmian is keen to embrace circular economy concepts as metals and materials make up majority of our product content and costs. A personal favorite of mine is the recent introduction of our industry first EcoCable™ label which is the most comprehensive way to access cables using six attributes of circular economy – carbon footprint, substances of very high concern, recyclability, recycling input rate, environmental benefits and transmission efficiency in use.

The EDIT / November 2021

This is the most difficult and insightful question in this interview. I will try to answer on multiple fronts – business, people and products. Sustainability by nature is a continuous long-term journey. Company leaders have to constantly challenge themselves to make the right decisions supporting near term financial targets while not losing sight of long-term viability through disruption from climate change and digitalization. For a large global company like Prysmian with 28,000 employees, communication becomes key to gain the right level of engagement from people on sustainable business initiatives. Finally, on my favorite topic of innovation, we are being challenged to introduce new technologies at a record pace as the world is racing to net zero. As our products typically have an expected lifetime of 10 to 40 years, we have to ensure the right rigor on development, testing and industrialization of these new technologies.

Now, focusing a bit on your day-to-day activity at Prysmian Group what R&D projects are currently of main interest for you?

We are in an exciting time for Prysmian R&D as we are introducing several breakthrough technologies for energy transition and digitalization. For interconnectors and offshore windfarms, there are two key innovations I would like to highlight. P-Laser 525kV HVDC cable system that will be deployed for the first time in German Corridors and High Depth submarine cables with high modulus synthetic armor that will allow cable installations to a record depth of 3000m below sea level.

For our telecom customers, two key innovations are FlexRibbon cables with a record breaking 6912 fibers for hyperscale datacenters and Sirocco cables utilizing the world’s first 180µm bend insensitive optical fiber.

What is your vision and what are your main goals in leading the R&D department at Prysmian Group?

Our vision is always be our customers’ preferred cables solutions provider. It means going over and beyond manufacturing the best quality cables. We are constantly thinking on the many ways to add value to our customer lives – increasing ease of product use, reducing installation costs, creating more robust designs, using less materials, etc. I see my role in Prysmian Group to be accountable on three fronts – our innovation strategy, our innovation pipeline and most importantly our innovation talent management. Beyond the right products and services, the highest priority for a leader is to identify and grow the right knowledge experts and managers. That is the only way we can ensure Prysmian will be around for the next 100 years.

19 November 2021 13:30 – 16:30

For more information, please visit www.euewconvention.org/event/walk-in-old-town-barcelona

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LEDVANCE is about to make its vision come true – the leadership in human centric lighting

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ince December 2019, LEDVANCE has a clear vision for its business in Europe: “Becoming a leader in sustainable lighting for everyone’s productivity, health, and wellbeing”, says Dr. Oliver Vogler, Managing Director Europe–West at LEDVANCE. Bringing back value into the lighting industry is important to LEDVANCE and to their distribution partners, especially electrical wholesalers.

The customer relationship is of utmost priority to LEDVANCE. Mr. Vogler emphasizes: “We are super loyal.

The distribution channel is our preferred route to market.”

Dr. Oliver Vogler Managing Director Europe–West LEDVANCE

For light+building 2022 in Frankfurt, LEDVANCE is planning a strong presence showcasing all its latest innovations around the new outdoor lighting ranges, the installer-focused light management system VIVARES, their Smart+ offering for residential, and especially the latest human centric lighting developments.

The professional BIOLUX system (VDE certified) will be further extended. For residential applications, LEDVANCE has just started to launch its SUN@HOME system, bringing true human centric lighting also to end users. “Improving productivity throughout the day, supporting well-being in the evening, and ensuring good sleep at night for everyone is the ultimate purpose of advancing light for us”, summarizes Mr. Vogler.

WHAT MAKES US DIFFERENT? COMFORT. WE’VE NAILED IT. VIVARES LIGHT MANAGEMENT. SIMPLY BETTER.

The EDIT / November 2021 LEDVANCE.COM

LIGHT MANAGEMENT – THE COMFORTABLE WAY With VIVARES you can provide optimal lighting conditions in the office while being flexible and futureproof. Get all the LMS components and the matching LED luminaires from a single source for maximum stability and compatibility. The new IoT light management system from LEDVANCE is not just easy to install, but you can also choose between wireless Zigbee or wired DALI technology. And our optional cloud services allow you to diagnose the system remotely and carry out energy monitoring from anywhere.

Discover the comfortable way of inspiring your customers!

Parallel Sessions

Parallel Sessions by EUEW Peer Organizations

Matteo Gavazzeni President CECAPI

Matteo Gavazzeni is the Corporate IP, Certifications and Product Quality Director at GEWISS. After spending more than two decades working in the certification and standardization of electrical and electronic products, last year he was appointed as the new CECAPI’s president. Matteo has a comprehensive knowledge of the regulatory environment applicable to the industry of the electrical devices and a deep comprehension of the international rules applicable to the export of those products. Graduated in electrical engineer at Politecnico of Milano, Matteo is also an expert of the Intellectual Property affairs.

Óscar Querol Secretary General CECAPI

Óscar Querol is Secretary General of CECAPI, the European Committee of Electrical Installation Equipment Manufacturers, and Technical Director of AFME, the Spanish Association of Electrical Installation Equipment Manufacturers. He combines these two positions thanks to the significant synergies. Óscar is an expert in technical legislation, standardization and conformity assessment. He has spent most of his professional career working for several associations (CEDOM, KNX Spain and AFME) and knows very well the associations environment. He is currently the UNE representative in the Standardization Management Board at the International Electrotechnical Commission.

Market Surveillance Support Initiative (MSSI-Electrical) CECAPI is the European Committee of Electrical Installation Equipment Manufacturers and represents nine national trade associations, in turn representing almost 500-member companies with a combined sales turnover of 16,1 Billion Euros and employing more than 120.000 employees. The Market Surveillance Support Initiative (MSSI-Electrical) is a CECAPI initiative with the support of major industrial players including ABB, Benedict, Eaton, Hager, Legrand, Schneider Electric and Siemens. Its main objective is to help eliminate unsafe and non-compliant electrical products in Europe to help protect people, goods and property.

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Parallel Sessions

Nicola Scirocco Chair of the CPR Compliance & Communication Europacable

Nicola has a degree in business (Italy and United Kingdom) and a post-degree in marketing. He started his career as Brand and Category Manager at Unilever, later at Cola-Cola HBC. He covered roles with increasing responsibilities within Marketing and Sales. He joined Prysmian Group in 2011 and he has been recently appointed as Marketing Director for the North Europe Region. At Europacable, he has been contributing to various working groups since 2018.

Sharing knowledge is an important task for Nicola in his life; he is the author of two marketing/sales books: “Pricing INside OUT” (2020) and “The Shamrock Model: Marketing – Design – R&D convergence” (2011).

No (CPR) compliance, no (fire) safety Electricity has become a vital part of everyday life over the past 100 years. However, in addition to the benefits it brings, electricity can also be dangerous if not managed properly. Every year, about 5000 people in the EU die because of a residential fire.

Electrical safety issues are mainly the result of an unsuitable design, an inappropriate use of the installation or a lack of proper maintenance. More importantly, poor and sub-standard electrics and fraudulent products are finding their way into the market, increasing the risk of electrical safety issues.

Martin Bailey President EuropeOn

In 2021, Martin Bailey was appointed the new President of EuropeOn. He is a widely experienced executive, board director and industry leader in the UK construction and family business sectors. He held various senior management positions at NG Bailey, a major British company in the construction and maintenance industry. Martin is a former President of ECA, the Electrical Contracting Association for England, Wales and Northern-Ireland. He currently sits on various industry bodies’ Councils (including ECA, SELECT, and BESA) and Boards.

Electrical contractors: at the forefront of the green & digital transition The electrical contracting sector brings peoples’ homes, offices, transport and infrastructures to life.

Ideally situated at the end of the value chain, we are the necessary link between the industry and end-users.

In order to successfully implement the green and digital transition in Europe, we need to work closer with all actors of the value chain, starting with electrical wholesalers. Many common topics will be discussed, such as: new technologies, productivity, price volatility & product availability, data access and so on.

The EDIT / November 2021

Make it better, simplify.

Communication is part of Simon 270's DNA. That's why it gets along perfectly with Amazon Alexa, Hey Google and, of course, you. You can talk to all your Simon iO mechanisms through your voice assistant. Although, if you prefer, you can also control them through a single device: your mobile.

For better comfort, simplify workplace solutions.

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Panel discussions

Panel Discussion

Opening Keynote • Jean-Gilles Burioni Sustainability and leadership on the entire electrical wholesalers' value chain

Vincent Hurel Global Head of Distribution Channel ABB

Vincent Hurel joined ABB in 1990 and has a proven track record in managing a variety of sales, marketing, operations and general management roles of increasing responsibility across a number of business areas.

Vincent is a seasoned leader with strong business knowledge. Most recently he was the Lead Business Manager for ABB France. He developed a clear digital strategy, supporting the role of distributors being reinforced by the digital economy.

Sallamaari Muhonen CEO STK

Sallamaari Muhonen serves as the CEO of Finnish Electrotechnical Trade Association, which consists of both the wholesalers and manufacturers of the industry in Finland. Ms. Muhonen has a strong professional background in media and digital marketing communications. She has also worked at the Prime Minister’s Office of Finland, as the Communications Advisor for the Minister of State Ownership Steering in 2012–2013, as well as an elected City Councilor of Helsinki from 1989 to 2004, representing the Greens/ EFA. As a former on-air personality on television and radio, Sallamaari is often seen as the professional moderator and chairperson of trade events.

The EDIT / November 2021

Eric Lachambre CEO SLV Lighting Group

Eric Lachambre has been Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the SLV Lighting Group since 2018. He is largely responsible for the digitalization and internationalization of the company, the optimization of sales and marketing processes, sustainability, and responsible growth. Born in France, he was previously a member of the Executive Board at WILO and worked at the management level of Schneider Electric and Hilti.

Srinivas Siripurapu Executive Vice President and Chief Innovation and R&D Officer Prysmian Group

Srinivas Siripurapu is responsible for Prysmian Group’s Global R&D strategy, R&D talent development and innovation pipeline. His professional career spanned with Reliance Industries, General Electric and Sabic – all major global industrial conglomerates.

Srinivas has a proven track record of building high performance teams and successful customer driven innovations in Energy, Electrical Infrastructure, Communications, Automotive, Aerospace, Healthcare and Consumer Electronics market segments. He is a certified Design for Six Sigma Black Belt and is an inventor on over 50 patent applications. With a PhD in Chemical Engineering from North Carolina State University, Srinivas is passionate about sustainability and mentoring young engineers and scientists.

Panel discussions

Panel Discussion

Executive Seminar • James Hardy The future of the wholesaler

Andreas Bettermann Family Board at OBO & startup investor OBO Bettermann

Andreas Bettermann is member of the Family Board of the OBO Bettermann Group and was its Managing Director from 2004 to 2019. Since 2019, Andreas is focusing on the areas of digitalization and new business models as managing partner of his startup incubator NewRock Ventures Holding. Andreas is Board Member of the Central German Electrical and Electronic Manufacturers’ Association ("ZVEI") and appointed to several other supervisory boards. The married father of four children also holds a license as a professional pilot.

Nicola Scirocco Chair of the CPR Compliance & Communication Europacable

Nicola has a degree in business (Italy and United Kingdom) and a post-degree in marketing. He started his career as Brand and Category Manager at Unilever, later at Cola-Cola HBC. He covered roles with increasing responsibilities within Marketing and Sales. Nicola joined Prysmian Group in 2011 and he has been recently appointed as Marketing Director for the North Europe Region. At Europacable, he has been contributing to various working groups since 2018.

Nicola is the author of two marketing/sales books: “Pricing INside OUT” (2020) and “The Shamrock Model: Marketing – Design – R&D convergence” (2011).

Remco Tolsma Vice President Marketing & E-Business Technische Unie B.V.

Remco joined Technische Unie, the Dutch Wholesaler in Electrical, HVAC, and Sanitary products, in 2017.

As VP Marketing & E-Business, he is responsible for the PIM, Marcom, Research and e-commerce. Previously, he was country manager at RS Components in the Benelux, Germany and Central Europe. Before joining the distribution, he spent 15 years in commercial positions in the power tool industry. Remco holds a master degree in Business Administration and lives with his wife near Haarlem, in the Netherlands.

09:00 - 10:15 Opening Keynote + Panel Discussion Jean-Gilles Burioni 10:45 - 12:00 Executive Seminar + Panel Discussion James Hardy 15:45 - 17:00 Executive Seminar + Panel Discussion Ian Heller

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Panel discussions

Panel Discussion

Executive Seminar • Ian Heller Dynamic, digital, data-fueled: responding to distribution disruption

Guillaume Dubrule Group Purchasing and Supplier Relationship Director Rexel

Guillaume Dubrule has been Director of Purchasing and Supplier Policy since January 2021. He joined Rexel in 2019 and acquired, as an assistant to the Chief Executive Officer, a detailed knowledge of the Group's operational and strategic issues. He has contributed to the rise of artificial intelligence at Rexel, as well as to the evolution of supplier relations in a digital world.

Guillaume began his career in strategy consulting at the Paris office of the Boston Consulting Group, where he worked on the definition of business strategies, the convergence of IT systems, cost optimization and organizational structuring. Aged 28, Guillaume Dubrule is a graduate of Ecole Polytechnique and HEC Paris.

Bruno Simões BIM Manager Unex

Bruno Simões is a Digital Evangelist after more than 15 years as a Sales Engineer, supporting all types of clients at Unex – an independent and specialist manufacturer of insulating cable management systems. Bruno deals with the new trends in the sector, such as BIM, ETIM, PIM, e-commerce B2B, CRM, and standardization.

The EDIT / November 2021

Alexander Frisch SVP – Global Head of Partner Management Siemens AG

Alexander has more than 36 years business experience at Siemens with profound background in Sales & Marketing across industries and countries.

He previously held positions as Head of Executive Office of a Managing Board Member of Siemens AG, Board of Director Siemens Spain, and Global Sales Head of Drive Technologies Division.

Luca Zanella Global eCommerce Distribution Channel Lead ABB

Luca Zanella joined ABB in 2008 and has held a variety of proposal engineering, project sales, marketing roles of increasing responsibility across a number of industries and countries. Most recently Luca was Business Development manager for ABB Italy leading projects on business transformation, innovation and digital strategy and before joining the Global ecommerce team for ABB Electrification, where he supports through his know how and entrepreneurship approach distributors digital sales transformation journey. Luca holds a bachelor’s degree in Electronics Engineering from Politecnico di Milano.

SLV Presentation

SLV – Experience Light

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LV is a leading lighting company offering residential and commercial lighting products for indoor and outdoor use. Founded in 1979 and based in Germany, SLV is one of the fastest growing and most successful providers of lighting products and solutions in Europe. SLV is part of the SLV Lighting Group, which consists of five different brands, Novalux, Nordtronic, Unex Lighting Knightsbridge and SLV. Each of the five main brands brings something unique to the SLV Lighting Group – from easy-to-install luminaires to high-quality, customized lighting solutions.

Inspired by German engineering, SLV quickly grew from its roots to open 17 foreign subsidiaries and shipping professional luminaires to over 100 countries around the world. Today, SLV is a global leader and a strong B2B partner of the electrical industry. Focuses on balancing innovative technology, modern design

and customer-friendly prices while offering first-class service and high quality to its customers. SLV keeps on adding more ways to delight customers with the latest innovations and stylish enhancements to home, work, and commercial environments. The BIG WHITE®, the SLV Lighting catalog has become the reference catalog, in the industry and is published in 18 languages.

Passion, responsibility, respect and reliability are SLV’s core values. Making light an experience is the company’s driving force and at the same time the slogan of the SLV brand. SLV’s understanding of sustainability is a balanced interaction of business, social and environmental aspects. The company aims to achieve sustainable results throughout the entire value chain by designing products and packaging in an environmentally friendly way.

GREEN LIGHT FOR SUSTAINABILITY GETTING READY FOR A CIRCULAR FUTURE: We focus on ecological innovations across all core processes. Products with recycled secondary sources, energy-efficient LED illumination, sustainable packaging, optimized logistics processes and a consistently sustainable mindset – for the world of tomorrow.

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Discover the sheer variety of OBO‘s innovative solutions for your project

Industrial installations Cable support systems and connection and fastening systems for industry and construction project infrastructure

www.obo-bettermann.com

The EDIT / November 2021

Building installations Cable routing and underfloor systems for administrative and functional buildings including architectural solutions

Safety and protection installations Lightning, surge and fire protection systems

Tel.: +49 (0)2373 89-1700 · E-mail: export@obo.de

Interview with Michael Büenfeld

When innovation became a tradition at OBO

H

ow did innovation become a real tradition and even part of the company’s corporate DNA? Mr. Michael Büenfeld, Chief Sales Officer at OBO Bettermann Group, told us the story and what it means for everyone involved in the company’s ecosystem.

Dear Mr. Büenfeld, we are delighted to have OBO Bettermann as an active partner for the EUEW convention, once again. How did OBO experience the past two years, considering the pandemic and its challenges for the business environment?

After the outbreak of the pandemic and the resulting lockdown measures, we were faced with two primary areas of activity: Protecting our employees in our company group and ensuring the availability of goods for our customers. We managed to achieve the first goal thanks to the tremendous flexibility of our employees, work from home, protective measures in administration and production and by digitalizing our communication processes. We accomplished the second goal with our high vertical range of manufacturing at our European production sites and our well-stocked warehouses.

This enabled us to deliver at all times and to remain a reliable brand supplier for our partners in the retail and trade sectors. It also gave us the opportunity to further expand our market position against the competition.

The OBO Bettermann Group, with more than 40 subsidiaries worldwide, are extremely well positioned and consequently succeeded in offsetting the economic effects of the pandemic in the various markets we are active in. As a result, we were able to look to the future with confidence and invest despite the corona virus pandemic. For instance, we offered all of our trainees who completed their training in spring 2021 full employment.

Another effect of the pandemic: It clearly propelled the digitization process in the electronics industry.

It has also led to our collaboration becoming more digital. Whether among ourselves or when communicating with our customers. We, at OBO, responded with great speed and used digital platforms to communicate with our customers.

OBO Bettermann is a company that describes itself as “a company that stands for tradition and innovation, in equal measure”. How does it manage to bring together these two apparently contradicting notions? What does tradition represent and what does innovation stand for at OBO Bettermann?

It is our firm conviction that tradition and innovation go very well together, and innovation has become a tradition in itself at OBO, part of our corporate DNA and even our brand name. After all, OBO stands for "without drilling" and marks one of the first major innovations of our company, which were then followed by many others.

Up until 1952, anyone who wanted to place an anchor had to use a drill – then OBO engineers developed the first metal anchor that could simply be placed in the wall without drilling at all. This was a prime example of OBO's innovative spirit: Innovation reflects our claim to constantly scrutinize and further develop our products.

For OBO, tradition means solidarity - with our employees, our customers and the region. As an independent family business, this is what we have stood for over 110 years, and tradition, just like the spirit of innovation, is an integral part of our values and the measure by which we conduct our daily business.

Your company’s product range comprises articles for the electrical infrastructure of buildings and is categorized into the three application areas of industrial installations, building installations and safety and protection installations. For which of these categories do you consider the supply chain to be most challenging and why?

OBO maintains a very high proportion of in-house production in all three areas of application, putting us in the comfortable and secure position of being able to act independently of suppliers in a number of instances.

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Interview with Michael Büenfeld

This was particularly evident in the raw material crisis in the construction sector caused by the corona virus pandemic. We were always able to deliver in full, despite the challenges that arose as a result of skyrocketing prices for steel, wire and plastics and the noticeable difficulties experienced by individual suppliers. This allowed us to show retailers and tradesmen that, with OBO, they have a strong and reliable partner at their side.

Several other companies are not investing in their warehouses owing to a lack of capital and are therefore dependent on "just-in-time" deliveries. This is not OBO's philosophy. We have always invested in high stock levels – this is why we are always able to deliver. This approach has also proven to be one of the main contributing factors to weathering the pandemic as well as we have.

More and more companies aspire to becoming as “green” and “eco” as possible in the near future. Could you tell us what are the plans and the strategy that OBO Bettermann is implementing in this direction?

Sustainability also ranks high on our agenda and has high priority for us. We are already adopting sustainable practices in many areas: for instance, by encouraging energy efficiency at our sites, optimizing our logistics processes to reduce consumption and emissions, focusing on low-carbon on-site generation of electricity and heat, adopting measures for Co2-neutral manufacturing. Let me give you a few examples: At our production site in Hungary, we are harnessing a particularly environmentally friendly source of energy. We have now installed two photovoltaic systems here to harness the power of the sun to operate our production facilities. At our main site in Menden, we are implementing a certified energy management system in accordance with ISO standard 50001. In addition, we are currently introducing reusable pallet systems at construction sites where we are active in projects.

Next, we will also document all our activities in this area and publish them in a sustainability report that complies with GRI standards.

Working in the sales and marketing domain, please tell us how has this domain changed, from your perspective, in the last 5 – 10 years?

And what do you expect the future will bring?

The entire industry, but above all the areas of sales and marketing, have become substantially more digitized, and I expect to see the digital transformation continue to grow to an even greater extent in the future. In this context, digitization will support the work of sales, further qualify it, and also make it more efficient. However, good personal relationships between people will continue to play a key role.

Digitization will change and complement how people

The EDIT / November 2021

Michael Büenfeld Chief Sales Officer at OBO Bettermann Group interact, but it will not replace it. This is because business will continue to be conducted between people who, as social beings, have a natural urge to meet and communicate with each other in person.

Over the last year and a half, the corona virus pandemic has taught us to replace face-to-face meetings with digital meetings. The reason that this form of communication proved to be so efficient and produced such good results despite the physical separation can primarily be attributed to the fact that close personal contacts had been established and maintained over many years between all those involved in the electrical industry.

It will be exciting to see just how the combination of personal contacts and digital communication will work out in the future. The EUEW convention is the perfect starting point and serves as an excellent platform to build on personal communication and to breathe new life into it.

In marketing, we have responded by expanding digital initiatives that focus on customers and their needs. We offer our customers added value on the one hand in the form of work simplification and time savings through our products, and on the other hand in the form of digital service offers, such as our planning software OBO Construct, the digital training offers of the OBO Academy, the dealer search and the notepad function on our homepage or the download offer of BIM data for our products.

5,085 sq. m.

2,007 sq. m.

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TOTAL EVENT SPACE

LARGEST ROOM SETUP

MEETING ROOMS

GUEST ROOMS

Hilton Diagonal Mar Barcelona The Hilton Barcelona Diagonal Mar, overlooking the Mediterranean, is located in the newest, most modern part of the city, next to one of Barcelona’s largest parks and close to the beaches. The Diagonal Mar Shopping Center and the CCIB (Barcelona International Convention Center) are within walking distance of the hotel.

36 Passeig del Taulat 262-264 | Barcelona, 08019, Spain

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Your safety, our priority

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nex is an independent, family-owned company specialized in insulating electrical solutions for cable management and protection. It was founded in 1964 with a clear purpose: to create environments with maximum electrical safety for the benefit of installations and their users. We were pioneers in generating a market for non-metallic products in a sector historically monopolized by metal.

Today, we have consolidated our position as a specialist European manufacturer, a technological and innovative leader who, thanks to our great commitment to R&D. We develop our own formulations, which allows us to create new and technologically improved materials, as the demands of our customers and society in general, evolve.

This technological capacity guarantees our independence and allows us to promote and distribute our products all over the world, always under the Unex brand.

The EDIT / November 2021

Customer satisfaction is at the heart of our strategy, which is why we work in tandem with them. Their opinion, together with our own design, formulation and manufacturing, allow us to offer innovative, safe, durable and sustainable solutions to meet their needs in any field, whether industrial, tertiary or residential.

After more than 55 years, we remain true to our culture and our values of rigor, excellence and humanity, to continue to anticipate the future, creating sustainable solutions that preserve the safety of people, property and the environment.

www.unex.net

Interview with Jonathan Schmitt

B What is so special about

arcelona is one of the most notorious and desired cities in the world and you would believe there are no more secrets for this Mediterranean metropolis to hide. Seeing Barcelona through the eyes of a local can actually reveal the real spirit of the city, which can be easily overlooked by a “hungry” tourist. What is so special about Barcelona though?

Jonathan Schmitt, Managing Director at RTAdmc & Events Spain, is here to tell us and to share his personal story in this wonderful city.

BARCELONA

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Interview with Jonathan Schmitt

Jonathan is born and raised in Málaga, Spain, coming from an Italian mother and a German father. “Both my parents emigrated from their countries, when they were 20 years old and went to Spain to work in the tourism industry. And this is how they met, here in Spain. My mother founded our DMC, in 1988, and myself, 20 years ago, in 2001, I moved to Barcelona and entered the company. Nowadays, we have several offices in Spain: in Madrid, Ibiza, Málaga, Valencia, but our master ship, like we say, is the one in Barcelona.

I love this city; of course, I could have stayed in Málaga, which is also a very nice place to live, but I wanted to be in a cosmopolitan city like Barcelona.”

Barcelona is a great city, and it is not just Jonathan saying that, but all its residents and visitors would agree too. There are several reasons making Barcelona the attraction it is today. “For me, these are the mild climate and the location on the Mediterranean Sea, the many architectural highlights, the wide cultural appeal, the choice of shops and restaurants. You have the choice to do summer and winter activities – in the summer you go to the beach, and then, one and a half hours away, you are in the Pyrenees, where you can go skiing. For me, this is the perfect mix.

And, of course, I cannot miss mentioning the relaxed vibe that makes you feel even more welcome.”

“Global, but keep it local” is our day-by-day life When asked what motivated him to build a career in tourism and events, Jonathan admits that he followed his parents’ steps. “My parents already worked in tourism, since always, so I said – I like tourism, I want to work in tourism, but in the events industry. My father told me: Son, if you want to enter the tourism and events industry, be aware of one thing: working in this industry is having a champagne life with a beer salary. In other words, you must be passionate, because it’s not about the money. You can do money in any industry if you are smart. This is a very hard job sometimes, you have to work long hours in the night, start early in the morning, but if you are passionate, then it’s ok. Another important thing is that in order to do business in Barcelona and in this industry, I needed to be connected, in whatever job I should do, at an international level. And what can be more international than making associations and companies across all industries feel welcome in Spain?

So, working global, but keep it local is our day-by-day life.”

How to keep it glocal in Barcelona? We are talking about such a big city that, fortunately, there are still many hidden gems to surprise even the most seasoned visitors, either everyday tourists or business people.

“One of my favorite places in the city that you won’t find in any of the regular tourist books is, for example, the Carretera de les Aigües. This is a 10-kilometerlong hiking trail in the Collserola Mountains where you can find the most breath-taking views of the city.

A place where you can take a break from the very busy and somewhat tiresome areas of the city. It is a place where many Barcelonians come to play sports.

Nearby, you can also find one of the most charming monuments of Antoni Gaudí: Torres de Bellesguard, an early work by the famous architect, where you can see his very personal interpretation of the Gothic style.”

The EDIT / November 2021

Jonathan witnessed the evolution of the tourism and events industry since 2001. Some things changed, other remained somewhat the same. “When I entered this industry 20 years ago, I remember how important the personal contact with people was. Sometimes I lost some pitches, huge congresses or events, just because my competitor was the friend of a friend of a friend – something that happens often in Spain.

The connections with suppliers are some of the most important relations in this industry: being friends with the director of a hotel and so on, getting access to things that normally can’t be accessed. But I noticed how the personal relations and contacts started to get lost in time – especially now in the last 2 years, due to the pandemic. On the other hand, the impact of technology in our sector increased and it will further increase, with the risk of losing human touch, I may say. Even so, you can use technology to your advantage and focus on a niche area of tailormade events. And the sustainability – everyone talks about sustainability – we started it two years before the pandemic, just to make it an everyday reality for me and my team, especially. Learning how or what it means to be really sustainable is important for us and we are starting to implement a real sustainable mechanism. I’m honest, we are just at the beginning, but we are very serious in our transformation process.”

Adapting fast to the needs of the market Leading a tourism and events company comes with a lot of challenges and requires endless doses of creativity and strategy. Why would anyone choose Jonathan and his team to work with them on organizing any event in Spain? With a history of 33 years, his company gained a reputation and, more importantly, a financial solidity and a strong company culture. “History on one side, on the other side, we provide tailor made solutions. Maybe I don’t have 80 clients from Europe, I have 50, but they all receive the best personalized services. Creativity is important. Everyone says they are either creative or sustainable, but we are both. For the creative part, we dedicated two persons from our company just to do the research for new products.

Other companies have a mixture – the project manager can do the quoting, or prepare an event, then do a site inspection, but we have two persons who just visit the sites, all over Spain, looking for new products.

For example, now with the pandemic, the events got smaller, and we started to look for boutique hotels, villas, fincas in Spain, which can be very versatile. So, adapting fast to the needs of the market is what differentiates us in this industry.”

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Interview with Jonathan Schmitt

Best places to spend your time in Barcelona?

Food market recommendations in Barcelona?

Barcelona's city beaches! No matter the time of year, the beaches won’t disappoint. Even in winter, it can be sunny enough to sit outside and enjoy a meal at one of the seaside restaurants. The city has a five-kilometer stretch of coastline, home to nine different beaches. There’s Sant Sebastià with its range of upscale restaurants, Somorrostro lined with hip nightclubs, and Nova Icària with its water sports center and beach volleyball.

La Boqueria might be the most famous of Barcelona’s food markets, but each neighborhood has its own, so there are several excellent ones to choose from. La Boqueria is the oldest and one of the most atmospheric, but in recent years, more stalls have given over to things such as tropical fruit shakes and novelty candy, rather than traditional products. For a more authentic vibe, visit the modern Mercat Santa Caterina with its multicolored wavy roof or the grand Mercat de Sant Antoni, which reopened in 2018, after nine years of renovations.

Another gem: Palau de la Música Catalana.

Barcelona's prettiest concert hall is a gaudy rosecovered wonderland, located along a claustrophobic, densely packed street in the Gothic Quarter. It was designed between 1905 and 1908 by Lluís Domènech i Montaner – an architect who was just as famous as Gaudí at the time. Musicians love its acoustics, tourists love its unique design.

Best dishes to try in Barcelona?

The best paella in Barcelona can be found at 7 Portes Restaurant. This restaurant has a heritage of more than 175 years, cooking with high quality ingredients to offer various versions of paella. Try an interesting Noodle Paella flavored with allioli sauce; Paella Manolete, packed with a succulent selection of meats, or if you just can't wait to dig in, order a Rich Man's Paella, which comes de-shelled / de-boned.

Bonus for the real fans of tapas: Tapas originated in Spain, but they've made their way around the world, and these small plates are often better than any dinner. They're a social way of eating and meant to incite conversation, usually found in bar and pub menus. I particularly like Bodega La Puntual – authentic food made with excellent quality ingredients in a place where history is infused in its walls.

Special monuments to visit in Barcelona?

Recently opened before the COVID-19 pandemic, Casa Vicens is one of Gaudí's earliest architectural works. It was built between 1883 and 1885, and it was declared a Historic-Artistic Monument in 1969 and a World Heritage Site in 2005.

The EDIT / November 2021

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