[ Question time: Neil Roberts ]
Making it all add up
Frankie Snobel talks to Neil Roberts, 3M’s electrical markets division general sales and marketing manager, about why contractors need to understand the total cost of ownership and the total cost of installation when making purchase decisions
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Contractors need to have a full understanding of how much the job is going to cost, not just how much the materials are going to cost
nnovation is key to the success of global manufacturing giant, 3M. The company was founded over a century ago in Minnesota, USA, where the production of sandpaper products launched 3M on its path to becoming the
diversified technology manufacturer it is today. The electrical markets division of 3M provides electrical solutions for a wide range of applications including jointing, terminating and repairing power cables. As the electrical industry continues to cope with a struggling economy, contractors need to carefully consider the products that they purchase and the costs involved to remain competitive.
ECA Today: 3M is a strong brand that crosses over into various very different markets. What products do you offer to the electrical contracting industry? Neil Roberts: 3M offers a wide range of products for the electrical industry and we are best known for our medium voltage cable accessories, which consist of joints and terminations. However, we now have a much fuller range of cable accessories in low voltage, medium voltage, high voltage, extra high voltage and now some specialist overhead cables products. We also offer a wide range of cable and wire marking products, plus a full range of consumable products, which includes anything from tapes, lubricants, and wipes to a whole range of consumables for electrical contractors.
ECA Today: The current economic climate has forced the country, and the electrical contracting industry, to be more cost-efficient when making purchase decisions. How do 3M products cut costs for contractors?
Neil Roberts: We are focused on what we call the ‘total cost of ownership’ and the ‘total cost of installation’. What contractors of any type and size want are products that they know are going to be reliable. Once installed, they are not going to have to go back to rectify any faults or failures with the product. Reliability and performance of the product is critical, as there would be a cost associated with any contractor that has to do repair or replacement work for products that have failed. By having really high performance and reliable, high quality products we are helping to ensure that the failure rates from the power utilities downwards are as low as they can be.
I think another important area to consider in cutting costs would be what we call the ‘total cost of installation’. We are constantly analysing and working with contractors to understand their issues when jointing and terminating. Over the years, 3M has developed Cold Shrink technology, which enables the installation to be done in fewer steps. It also means that you can eliminate the use of heat guns. Heat shrink is the traditional way of jointing and terminating, and there are some safety implications with that. In terms of the costs, it is a quicker job for the installer, fewer steps in the process to complete a joint or termination, and quicker to energise it with 3M’s Cold Shrink technology. What that means to the contractor in today’s climate is that if he understands the total cost of ownership (how much it costs him to install the product, rather than just the cost of materials), it enables contractors to be more competitive with the bids that they are putting in for their own jobs. Contractors need to have a full understanding of how much the job is going to cost, not just how much the materials are going to cost. Our materials might cost five or 10 per cent more than our competitors’, but if you can actually do the job in half the time, the labour costs are significantly reduced. We are working with many contractors and power utilities to help them understand that. If contractors don’t lower the cost of their bid, it enables them to make more margin on the job. We are finding, more and more, contractors understand this and now see beyond just the cost of materials.
May 2012 ECA Today 49
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