The Kelly Challenge

Following up on my “From the Top” column in the January/February issue of Powerline, where I touched on my goals for the EGSA Technician Certification Program, I would like to present the Kelly Challenge. The goal of this challenge is to further establish EGSA’s Generator Technician Certification Program as the national standard of excellence in the On-Site Electrical Generation Industry.

As many of you know, dealers who value high standards are sometimes faced with bidding on service contracts only to find another  company bidding at a price that is far lower than everyone else. It becomes apparent that the low-priced bidder does not utilize highly-trained, qualified people. There is no objective way for the contract officer to know any better – other than by asking for technicians with specific qualifications. The challenge is for the membership to actively influence the writing of service contract specifications to include the requirement for any winning company to employ EGSA certified technicians. This challenge has particular importance for distributor/dealers.
As more RFPs that contain this requirement hit the street, there will be a huge incentive for companies who are serious about the generator service and maintenance business to have their technicians certified. This may also have the added benefit of enticing more companies to join EGSA.
With the Kelly Challenge I am reaching out to both member firms and individuals to help to further establish EGSA and the EGSA Technician Certification Program as the industry standard. I ask that both firms and individuals initiate a “full-court press” to jumpstart this initiative and, in doing so, raise the standard of quality within the On-Site Electrical Generating Industry as a whole!

The Kelly Challenge will consist of the following guidelines:
$25 EGSA Bucks will be awarded to individual EGSA members (up to a maximum of $200 per member) for each specification that is written and distributed that prefers or requires the use of EGSA Certified Generator Technicians. EGSA Bucks do not expire and can be redeemed for any EGSA product including: Registrations, reference books, membership renewal dues, etc.

The Kelly Challenge and EGSA’s increased marketing to end-users [through our new relationship with National Facilities Management Technology (NFMT) in the form of the EGSA Power Source Pavilion at the NFMT Conference & Expo in 2012] partnered with other marketing initiatives should create additional momentum in tech certification. The key to success is for member companies to make it part of their culture to identify with EGSA and the value that technician certification brings to our industry. The result of these efforts is increased prestige and awareness of EGSA (and consequently EGSA members) and as an added benefit, increased membership.
As always, I welcome any new ideas to help promote EGSA and the EGSA Technician Certification Program.

Please email your ideas and suggestions to EGSA at e-mail@egsa.org.

I look forward to having further discussions on this subject at the fall conference in Baltimore, MD. See you there!

Spring Convention 2011

It was great to see many of you at the EGSA Spring Convention in New Orleans. If you were fortunate enough to have attended, you had the opportunity to see first-hand the interesting and informative presentations offered by our guest speakers; share in honoring EGSA members for their contributions to the Association; welcome 60 new member firms and 36 first-time attendees and enjoy all of the fun, food and excitement that have made New Orleans famous.

The Convention kicked off with a keynote address by Andy Karsner, former U.S. Assistant Secretary for Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy. Mr. Karsner gave an informative and in­sightful keynote on the need for the public and private sectors to work together, in a comprehen­sive way, to meet environmental and economic goals. Attendee’s interest in this topic was evident as Mr. Karsner continued his Q&A session in the hallway, during a scheduled break and follow­ing his presentation. Our other guest speakers, in keeping with this year’s theme “Cleaning Up the Air: The Future of Energy,” gave interesting and informative presentations on both Green Tech­nologies and RICE NESHAP regulations.

With New Orleans playing host to our Con­vention, Mike Park from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers gave a particularly topical session on the Storm Damage Risk Reduction System being implemented since Hurricane Katrina, a very im­pressive anti-flooding project.

We welcomed new leadership for two of our EGSA Committees, Chairman, Steve Evans of the Green Committee and Todd Lathrop, Chairman of the Codes & Standards Surveillance Commit­tee. I was very pleased to see the turnout for the committee meetings. Many great ideas came out of the meetings including a theme for our Fall Convention in Baltimore, “Using Technology to Bridge the Generation Gap.” Your participation is proof-positive that we all benefit from the sug­gestions and insights offered when members get involved in their Association.

 At the Awards Banquet I had the honor of pre­senting awards to three of our members. Andy Ulavege received The William Timmler Award for his most recent work leading the Education Committee through a very active time, first as Secretary and then as Chairman. Former EGSA President (2008) and two time board member, Warner Bauer received the Leroy H. Carpenter Award for his long and outstanding service to the Association. Jim Wright’s dedication throughout the years and undying commitment to EGSA has been invaluable and has influenced the Associa­tion’s direction and focus. In recognition of his commitment, I had the privilege of presenting Jim with The President’s Award. Thank you again gentlemen for your contributions to our Associa­tion throughout the years.

The Field Service Etiquette Roundtable, mod­erated by Leo LeBlanc, offered valuable insight and advice on this important and often over­looked subject. Attendees likewise benefitted from some of the best, high-energy networking thanks to the presence of some 230 attendees, including 36 first-timers.

There were so many highlights … the weather was perfect, the food was amazing, the vibrant, Mardi Gras atmosphere was enjoyed by all and the fishing and golf tournaments were second-to-none! Most attendees count this year’s conven­tion as one of EGSA’s best ever. Thank you New Orleans for hosting a great Convention! Did I mention a lot of big redfish were caught?

If you didn’t have the opportunity to join us at the Spring Convention, I encourage you to make plans to attend EGSA’s Fall Conference Septem­ber 18-20 in Baltimore, Maryland. This year’s Conference promises to be three days packed with learning, growing, networking, and having fun. Even so, it won’t be the same without you, so please make plans to join us.

Marketing EGSA

 

In my last column, I wrote about how I meet many people in my daily business dealings that have never heard of our association. Most of these people are outside of our immediate circle of manufacturers, distributors, dealers, reps, and service companies, and EGSA’s relative anonymity handicaps our efforts to improve the industry.

Our Technician Certification Program in particular needs EGSA’s name and logo to be recognizable to companies and personnel that buy, use, maintain, and rely on their on-site power generation equipment. I believe that only when inspectors, electrical engineers, and others start asking for firms that utilize EGSA-certified technicians will the program have a chance to make a significant impact on our industry.

The solution to getting our program accepted is to make EGSA’s name as recognizable and respected with our customers and regulators as NFPA or IEEE is to theirs. I realize that this is a bold statement and a challenging goal, but it is absolutely essential that we embrace it.

I’d like to tell you about a few of the things we are doing to accomplish that.

Most importantly, the leadership of the organization has put a high priority on marketing EGSA to non-members. Our recently completed Strategic Long Range Plan has increased visibility as one of its main goals, and we have begun to invest significant resources in marketing.

You may have read that we have established a full-time staff position dedicated to marketing. We have always had a great staff, but the Board felt that it was necessary to have someone whose entire work day is dedicated to coming up with new ideas for getting the word out about EGSA and then implementing them.

While we have had some turnover at this position lately, those of you who attended our Fall Technical & Marketing Conference in California saw a small part of what has come from the Marketing Manager position. Before that Conference, we may have had the random consumer of on-site power attend, but we made a concerted effort last Fall to bring them in by providing educational opportunities designed especially for them – and sending special marketing materials to building owners, managers, and support personnel in the states surrounding the Conference location. We were very pleased at the number of end-users who took us up on our offer, and we are repeating those efforts for this Spring Convention.

That’s just one small initiative, and more are in the works that have the potential to reach a much larger audience.

For example, along with Diesel & Gas Turbine Publications, we are undertaking an overhaul of the annual Buying Guide of On-Site Power Generation Systems and Services. We hope to make it significantly more useful as a way to help connect consumers of on-site power with member providers, and we are looking into ways to get it into the hands of people peripheral to the industry who have never before received it, such as building managers and owners, fire and safety inspectors, engineers, and more.

I am personally very excited about a new partnership we are forging with Building Operating Management’s NFMT (National Facility Management Technology) Show. We are working on a comprehensive co-marketing deal with NFMT that will include advertising trades, direct mail to each other’s lists of members/attendees, and an on-site power pavilion like the one we currently sponsor in the Power-Gen International trade show. This partnership will help us spread the word about EGSA to a whole new audience in a comprehensive way.

We have a lot of work to do, and we need even more great ideas, but I have every reason to believe that we are now on our way to significantly wider recognition and esteem.n

Reaching Out

I am honored and happy to be your 2011 EGSA President.

     EGSA continues to grow in membership, convention attendance and relevance as more people become involved. And EGSA continues to evolve to reach out to people and businesses outside of our immediate generator industry. In the past, EGSA focused on issues that impacted our membership directly but as we have introduced programs like Generator Technician Certification, we have come to the point where property managers, electrical engineers, fire marshals, electrical inspectors, data center managers and other stakeholders that maintain onsite power assets need to know and understand who EGSA is and what we represent. 

     As I travel in the mid-Atlantic region during my daily business dealings, I realize that few if any people outside of our industry have heard of EGSA. I gave a presentation a few years ago as the EGSA representative to a group of FEMA directors and only one out of fifteen or so had heard or knew of EGSA. This I think is the main reason the EGSA Board of Directors agreed to establish a full-time marketing position two years ago.

     As one example, it will be hard for the Technician Certification Program to get full traction until outside stakeholders recognize the value of employing a technician certified by a nationally recognized independent organization such as EGSA. We will know we have been successful when inspectors, electrical engineers and others start asking for firms that utilize EGSA certified technicians.

     Contract officers on large government contracts will find that this solves a big problem – especially if they manage multiple gensets from multiple manufacturers. Many competent dealers have bid on service contracts only to find another company bidding at half the price of everyone else. The other dealers know that the very low priced company does not have trained, qualified people, but there is no objective way for the contract officer to know any better – except by asking for technicians with specific qualifications.

     The EGSA Technician Certification Program is the answer. Every other skilled trade – electrical, plumbing, HVAC, etc. – has licensing requirements so that end-users can be assured of competent technicians and mechanics. Thanks to EGSA, our industry is now moving in that direction as well – certification provides a national standard way for end-users (and generator dealers) to know the level of competence of a technician in addition to manufacturer/model specific certification.

     Getting the Certification Program accepted as an industry standard (along with UL listing of equipment) would go a long way in assuring excellence in our industry over the life of the products. This could only be good for everyone involved in our industry and help expand the awareness of onsite power to even more end-users and more markets.

On a final note, it is extremely important that the EGSA membership not rely solely on our marketing person to get the word out about EGSA and the Technician Certification Program. Use every opportunity to tell the EGSA story to every appropriate manager you encounter during your normal business routine, whether it be electrical engineers, operations managers of facilities, inspectors and anyone else that could have an impact on onsite power applications.