Eastern Electrical has just launched a Project & Export Office at their Ballymount branch. Led by Senior Sales Executive Fergus Pierce, the new department offers a full package while providing products for data centre projects carried out by Irish contractors abroad.
“We provide consolidation of orders, product specification, technical paperwork submittal and CE Certifications,” Fergus explained. “Consolidating orders means more traceability on the shipments and delivery dates. Instead of dealing with ten different suppliers, we can organize different ranges of products required by the client, put them on one shipment and make it much simpler to organize, track and trace. “There are a lot of challenges when it comes to sending goods between different countries, such as VAT triangulation, organizing shipments and dealing with customs, and we are here to take care of all that, so the client doesn’t have to.”
The Senior Sales Executive relies on a dedicated team that focuses on the contractors’ needs to provide solutions. Luiza Lapinska works in Sales Support and Administration and looks after documentation associated with export, such as foreign currency invoicing, commercial invoicing and proof of delivery. She also keeps track of the movement of the goods. Warehouse and Logistics Support Jason Northey is responsible for receiving, picking and packing goods, and preparing them for delivery. He also negotiates pricing with the freight companies.
Fergus spoke to Ireland’s Electrical Magazine about the launch of the Project & Export Office and what is in store for the new department.
IEM: How did the need for a Project & Export Office arise?
FP: In the past six years, I had been running the projects on my own and it was going well, but the company noticed the potential of these projects overseas and decided to create a proper team to further expand on the possibilities, especially with so many datacentres being built all over the world. Irish contractors take on jobs based in Denmark, Sweden, the Netherlands, etc. and they have told us that the supply from the local markets can be challenging. We are here to make the process simpler for them.
IEM: Which projects has the new Project & Export Office been involved in?
FP: We have been supplying to major data centre projects all over Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, Denmark, Norway, Finland, Netherlands, Italy and Poland, as well as Ireland. For the last six years, we have been dealing with Ireland’s leading contractors such as Mercury Engineering, SUIR, Winthrop, Kirby Engineering and Jones Engineering.
IEM: Which brands does the Project & Export Office work with?
FP: Zumtobel Group (Tecton, Light controls, Ebox and Litecom), Lutron (Lighting controls), BEGA (Lighting), BACH MANN (Monitoring and control systems), DETA (Conduit & accessories) and Basor (Containment systems), among others.
IEM: What are the Project & Export Office’s long-term strategies?
FP: We plan to continue our partnerships with leading suppliers to offer innovative, sustainable and cost-effective solutions to the datacentre sector. We want to continue being involved with data centres and assist in offering value engineering across all upcoming projects.
IEM: It is still early days, but does Eastern Electrical foresee any challenges? If so, how does the Project & Export Office plan on tackling them?
FP: Trying to keep the costs of shipments down with the rising costs of fuel and raw materials seems to be the biggest challenge for now. There are also supply chain issues and we have increased our stock of commodity products to tackle them. We can place orders in advance to accommodate call-offs and organize scheduled shipments to meet deadlines. The market is still experiencing shortages of raw materials and components, so we must work smarter to preserve the quality of our service.
IEM: You have been Senior Sales Executive at Eastern Electrical for the past 24 years and working in this position for a while. How does your experience translate into his new role?
FP: With in-depth knowledge of the products and solutions used on data centres across Europe, we can offer value engineering (VE) when necessary. As we all face the rising cost of materials, our experience helps contractors keep the cost down. Exporting to all the different regions has its challenges but that’s what we are good at and can offer to our clients.
For the full feature on Eastern Electrical Ballymount, check out Ireland’s Electrical Magazine Issue 95 Feb-Mar here.
