Issue 29
Publisher: Jack Burlin Editor: Patti Hammonds
November 2, 2007
IN THIS ISSUE
Your success story
Monthly product special
Kevinisms
Trivia
Articles of Interest: Three Questions about Geist Press Release The Java Hill Mynah Bird
Here is a recent testimonial where a client ordered a single computer table with a custom laminate
Everything went well and the desk looks and works great. Thanks for providing good service.
Best Regards,
Chris Allison
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Made-To-Order Manufacturing, Customer Focus, Combine
October 5,
2007 • Vol.29 Issue 40
by Will Kelly
| As power and cooling
demands in IT equipment continue to increase, it is imperative
that SMEs focus on total cost of ownership for IT equipment.
Geist Manufacturing (www.geistmfg.com)
offers a full line of units with built-in power and
environmental monitoring. These features not only help alert
SMEs to potential problems with power consumption or temperature
conditions but can also help discover and document potential
energy savings. We spoke with Brad Wilson, Geist Manufacturing’s
chief technical director, about the company, its offerings, and
the IT issues he sees facing today’s SME. What are the biggest IT-related issues facing today’s small to midsized enterprise? IT equipment continues to push upward in both power consumption and cooling demand, and according to Wilson, “For most SMEs, understanding where and when this power is being consumed and reacting to the associated increase in heat loads can be a daunting task.” “These increased demands can not only tax the power distribution within the SME’s facility but can also add significantly to the heat load that must be handled by the cooling system. The added costs associated with the increased loads must be considered for budgeting, planning, and billing purposes,” notes Wilson. He further states, “Finding creative ways to monitor these increases in consumption isn’t always second nature for SMEs. That’s where Geist can help. Geist offers a myriad of solutions that allow for remote monitoring of power consumption, environmental conditions, or both within the same units.” By incorporating environmental monitoring together with power monitoring, a single Ethernet connection can serve to monitor both the power consumption and other conditions affecting the operation of sensitive IT equipment. Prompt notification upon breach of power, temperature, or humidity thresholds can literally save the life of the equipment and help prevent downtime within the IT system. What should Processor readers know about your company’s products? "Geist Manufacturing is a U.S.-based, just-in-time manufacturer. All of our products are made to order, allowing the customer to impart custom features to the offering and still receive prompt service,” according to Wilson. He also wants readers to know, “Most orders are shipped from our factory within three to five days ARO [after receipt of order]. This applies not only to basic power distribution units but also to our top-end IP-based monitoring products.” Geist also offers further customization options for its customers. By reacting to what its customers want instead of giving them what the company thinks they need, Geist constantly creates new and innovative products based on actual customer demand. The entire line of IP-based environmental and power monitoring power strips has been in reaction to customer demands. Geist’s once basic offering of 15- and 20-amp power strips is now pushing the envelope of power strip design, with offerings in the 60- and 80-amp range in both single- and three-phase applications. Besides a dedicated staff of product design and development engineers, Geist also offers excellent customer service throughout the sales cycle. The company has a dedicated staff of customer service personnel who will answer your questions, specify the correct product for your application, and walk you through the ordering process. Geist also employs a staff of field managers that can help specify products with direct calls or visits with your IT departments for the ultimate in customer service. What makes your company unique? Wilson spells out Geist’s uniqueness as follows: "Geist makes what you want, when you want it. We have the broadest selection in the industry, with the most customization possible.” Geist also has dedicated sales and service staff and innovative engineering staff dedicated to reacting to customer demands. “We are constantly striving to become the best supplier you’ve ever worked with,” says Wilson. ISC
is a distributor for all Geist products. Most /onlinecatalog/powerstrips/powerstrips-mainmenu.htm For the more sophisticated
power strips and PDUs, including |
LunarLoot.com is an ecommerce website that offers a line of one-deal-a-day products that change on a daily basis. These are unique items sourced from all corners of the globe. Because of the unique aspect of the product offerings the site has grown in demand to a point where the principles needed to obtain a one month inventory of one-of-a-kind products so the website will not run out of unique offerings. “This was a pleasant and unexpected surprise” said ‘The Jones Boys’ founders of LunarLoot. “At one time we would have a day or so to replace products on line. Now we find that an entire line of offerings can be gone in a much shorter period and we need inventory on hand. This is a bit of a challenge – it’s not like having replacement items – all of our offerings are unique and once they are gone there is none to be had. It’s one of those good problems to have but did cause a brief suspension in service while resources were being put in place to meet visitor demand to the site.”
LunarLoot will be back in operation prior to November’s full-moon. The reintroduction date is November 12th, 2007. On the full-moon, November 24th, LunarLoot will celebrate its return with a spectacular offering and plans to make each subsequent full-moon a special time by featuring its most rare and unique items for that particular month. The intent is to play off the superstition associated with full-moon lunacy and feature some really loony items. The site is a bit campy and will not appeal to everyone but LunarLoot.com has a loyal following that continues to grow.
For more information on LunarLoot visit www.LunarLoot.com or call Kevin Hunt at 817-649-1788.
A Kevinism is a funny or intriguing statement or idea from our Vice President of Sales, Kevin Hunt. Kevin is a big fan of Sandra Bullock, Pizza Inn black olive pizza, and Dr. Pepper (not necessarily in that order). He is not a big fan of Chinese food, seafood, or other types of "dead" stuff.
Kevin and Robin were recently talking about their friends’ daughter Meagan. Meagan is recently married and her husband recently graduated from the BMW mechanics course. He is now employed by a major BMW dealership in California.
Talking about mechanics' training induced Kevin to explain about his prowess with tools. In Kevin's mind, he is very much the handy man, and even brags about having a tool belt. Robin always points out that the tool belt is more like a Fisher-Price version, as all the tools are plastic. This just gets Kevin more enthused about the topic of tools. In this particular conversation, Kevin was explaining how much he enjoyed using a torque wrench. He talked about taking auto shop while in high school in Keene, TX, and how he got so good at using the torque wrench that his fellow students named him "the torquer." He was very proud of this nickname, and said to this day, when he meets an old friend from high school they don't call him, Kevin, but call him Torquer, as in "Torquer, how are you doing?"
The reason Kevin grew up in Keene, is that it is the home of the Southwest Adventist University, sometimes known as the SWAUDTIK (Southwest Adventist University Down There In Keene). Kevin's father taught Accounting there, and virtually the whole town's population were Adventists. Even these days, the Post Office is open on Sunday, not Saturday, although there are now a large number of non-Adventists living there.
Adventists are always courteous, and would never think of using profanity. In fact, Kevin considers himself as a shinning example of purity and innocence, always taking advantage of any opportunity to explain this to the casual listener. So this got me thinking about Kevin's nickname.
It seems to me that if people starting calling Kevin "The Torquer", it might be in reaction to his adopting the mantle of purity and innocence. They might intend the nickname to be slightly (only very slightly) derogatory. This would be a very subtle insult, especially so since another Adventist might not even perceive it as an insult. They might just consider it as a compliment or as flattery. Or perhaps it is all simply a defense mechanism for those times when his friends would say, "Here comes that torquer."
Ultimately, it just may be that Kevin is just a little bit hard of hearing.
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Q: Where is this famous statue of a lion, and what is significant about its composition (what it is made from)? Note: This is in keeping with a common theme from last month's question.
All correct answers will be placed into a pool for a random drawing at the end of the month. The winner will receive a free MD88-25RLBK reel of reusable velcro cable tie, plus free ground shipping. Send your answers to: Jack Burlin
See next month's newsletter for the winner and the correct answer.
Answer from October's Newsletter.
Q: Where is this famous statue of Achilles, and what is significant about its composition (what it is made from)?
A: The statue is in Hyde Park in London. It was presented to the Duke of Wellington by the women of England, and is made from captured French cannons that were melted down and recast.
The winner was John Millsap. Congratulations!
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In 1985 I was working with the Ministry of Defense in Singapore. I was the Marketing Manager for Lear Siegler International Division in Rye, NY. During the period of the visit, the Singapore government put on something called the National Exhibition. It was held down by the dock area (Singapore is a major port), in a makeshift exhibition hall made from large tents.
The hall was roughly [ shaped, with a wide rectangular area and two short arms at either end. You entered at the arm on the left, and worked your way through the exhibits until you exited through the other arm. The exhibits were all about the industrial and cultural features of Singapore. There is a thriving aerospace business there, as well as shipping, tourism, sport, agriculture, etc. The last exhibit before the exit was a large aviary, with many types of tropical birds. This aviary was populated by a small sample of the birds that are on display at the Jurong BirdPark.
The Jurong BirdPark is one of Singapore’s tourist attractions. They don’t really have a zoo, but the Jurong BirdPark is similar to a large zoo, although only birds are displayed there. The park is up in the hills above the city, roughly in the center of the island. As you stroll through the park, you go from aviary to aviary with a different type of bird in each one. There are also large walk through aviaries with many different types of birds, all free flying.
I visited the park on my first visit to Singapore in 1983, so I was familiar with the types of birds they had. Since 1981 I had owned a Peachfaced Lovebird, and was delighted to see that had an aviary with about 20 of this type of small parrot. The last exhibit at the park was the Java Hill Mynah (see photos below) aviary. The mynahs live in Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore. Mynahs are famous for being able to talk or repeat sounds they hear, and the pride of the Jurong BirdPark was one particular mynah bird. This bird’s claim to fame was his ability to whistle the first few notes of the Colonel Bogey March, which is most well know as the theme from the movie The Bridge on the River Kwai (starring Alec Guinness). Click here for an audio file of the tune.
My partners on this trip to Singapore were my equivalent Marketing Manager at the manufacturing division (Lear Siegler Instrument Division in Grand Rapids, MI), and a young engineer on his first international trip. I spent quite a bit of time with the engineer, as we were doing a series of test runs on our equipment, which was mounted in a Singapore Army M-113 Armored Personnel Carrier. The test runs lasted all day, each day during the week, as we convoyed around the island from designated point to designated point. The first weekend we had off, I took the engineer with me to the National Exhibit.
We had a nice time touring the exhibit, and as we approached the exit, I saw the Mynah Birds were on display. Sensing an opportunity to impress the engineer with the depth of my international experience, I called him over and explained how Mynahs were very adept at parroting back what they heard. I said, “I am willing to bet that if I whistle a tune, this Java Hill Mynah Bird will repeat it back.” He said, “I don’t believe that, so I’ll take your bet.”
I got the attention of the bird, and whistled the first few notes from the Colonel Bogey March. Nothing.
I tried again, and whistled the first few notes from the Colonel Bogey March. This time, the bird whistled it back perfectly. This had the desired effect on the young engineer. He was very impressed, and had no qualms about paying for dinner that evening (which was the bet).
Even though we were on an expense account, and the engineer never really had to pay the bet out of his own pocket, I never did let him in on the secret, that the Java Hill Mynah Bird already knew the tune, and all I did was induce him to perform on cue.
Thanks for reading, and I hope you enjoyed this
month's newsletter.
Please direct your comments to
Jack Burlin.
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