(Written by Bruce Patton)
The current power crisis is doing many things – damaging the economy, causing our nerves to fray, and exposing South Africa’s claims to be leap-frogging into the forth industrial revolution. As some witty commentators have pointed out, we seem not to have got the second industrial revolution right yet, and should perhaps focus on that first. It would be funny, if it wasn’t so serious.
So what has this to do with Phoenix Contact?
Well to start with, the manufacture of Phoenix Contact products is not dependent on load shedding, rolling blackouts or the whims of Eskom. You are assured of getting your orders delivered on time, no matter what is happening on our grid. Our large stock holding in the Johannesburg warehouse as well as Cape Town, Durban and Port Elizabeth offices together with weekly air freights further guarantees reliable delivery. There is another compelling consideration which you may not be aware of in the form of Value Added Services which I will elaborate on.
About the Value Added Centre
Phoenix Contact locally and internationally tries to add value that extends beyond providing a quality product at a competitive price. We try to form partnerships with our customers, ranging from small companies to big enterprises in many different industries. One very important customer group is to be found in the panel building business, which has very specific challenges and thus has a need for tailor-made solutions along its value chain. Our Value Added Centre (VAC) allows our customers to order completely customized terminal strips, made up rails and rail sets, choosing from our wide product portfolio. The customer can design the rail themselves using the Phoenix Contact planning and marking software Project Complete or we can assist with the design of the rail and familiarization of what can be done.
The benefits of made-up Din rails and populated terminal strip production from the Value Added Centre:
- You supply a professional looking, complete rail which is “right” first time every time, including marking, bridging and required accessories.(No need to order the inevitable bits & pieces to finish the job)
- You only pay for what you use and don’t end up with inventory split packs and spares when the panel is done.
- It assists the panel builder to handle order peaks, flexibly and also provides the just in time supply to production.
- Taking advantage of our in time delivery enables our customers to reduce stock, increase flexibility and master volatility.
For the most part there is no charge for this software and we will gladly demonstrate its capabilities.
So as things stand, you like us cannot depend on a reliable, predictable and a constant supply of electricity, what you can depend on however is Phoenix Contact delivering your made-up rails on time, every time exactly how you want them.
If this is of interest to you why not give us a call and we will see if we can assist you in optimizing your panel building processes based on our products services and experiences. You can contact me on brucep@phoenixcontact.co.za.
