CABLEtalk

CEF hosted its first-ever Industry Trade Show in June at its Company Conference featuring a suppliers exhibition and a series of educational seminars. 

 

After launching its much vaunted website earlier this year, CEF continued to make industry waves in June with its first ‘ meet the suppliers’  style expo event. CEF Live was an opportunity for industry professionals to gather together and hear about all the exciting new product lines – as well as to brush up on their technical knowledge.

 

The electrical distributor booked out Hall 9 of Birmingham’ s sprawling NEC venue on June 19 for the two-day event, which attracted more than 2,000 visitors.

 

More than 40 manufacturers exhibited a range of innovative new products at the show and CEF was able to showcase its expanding company offering, including a nationwide network of points for the collection of electrical waste (WEEE).

 

Dave Milne, Edinburgh Region - General Manager, took 80 customers from Scotland down to the event, which also recognised the hard work and loyalty of its staff during the conference on the second day with a prizegiving ceremony.

 

He said: “We really expressed ourselves. For a first event it was really successful, especially to be undertaken by one wholesaler. For CEF to have delivered on such a big scale is a great achievement for the company.

 

“We had 2,000 people attending so it really exceeded all our expectations. And I think we had a good balance on everything, from the exhibition stands to the industry workshops, which were very well attended. Judging from the feedback we’ ve received it was over and above what the customers expected.”

 

In line with the company’ s educational focus, there were five training seminars throughout the day including one on the important Amendment 3 to the 17th Edition of the Wiring Regulations, which came into effect on July 1st. The learning focus also saw the delivery of a seminar on WEEE recycling obligations, as well as smoke detector installation from Aico, voltage optimisation and an update to the fast-moving world of LED lighting. Company CEO Thomas Mackie even flew in from the US to attend the conference and deliver the firm’ s corporate message to the market.

 

Dave added: “It really was a complete programme and the size and space of the venue allowed for people to move around all the areas with ease. I think the location ticked all the boxes.”

 

CEF’ s new website, launched in January, is a vast searchable database of 27,000 electrical products that provides a full order tracking, end-to-end fulfilment and next day delivery service. With a multimillion pound investment in cutting edge technology, the firm’ s investment in Amazon-style e-commerce, especially with ‘ click and collect’ , has emulated leading online retailers and has proved a big hit with customers. The company was also able to showcase its new look stores, which have undergone a revamp ahead of a busy 2015. 

 

Exhibiting at CEF Live: Among the brands taking exhibition space at CEF Live were Schneider Electric, Legrand, Aico, the Electrical Waste Recycling Group, Klein Tools, Electrium and Prysmian Cables