A packed room of contractors learned the value of the Memorandum of Understanding between the four major associations in the electrical supply chain during the annual NECA Convention in San Diego. All four associations signed the MOU last May as an agreement to work together to solve the challenges members of all associations are facing today and in the future.
Panelists Debra Phillips, President of NEMA, Wes Smith, President and CEO of NAED, Jim Johnson, President of NEMRA, and David Long, President and CEO of NECA discussed the main areas the coalition is focused on to create future opportunities for members of the associations.
The 40-minute panel discussion covered lobbying in Washington, D.C., workforce development, improving electrification opportunities, power grid efficiency, and data sharing.
Lobbying
David Long kicked off the panel discussion with a clear message on the value of the collaboration.
“The only way electrification is going to get done is through us.”
Long told contractors at the general session that having all of the associations working together brings strength to the effort to get congressional support. “This coalition literally quadruples our lobbying effort. The political landscape is electrification. We met with senators, and they were relieved that we are aligned to move forward with electrification.”
The coalition of association leaders spent three days in Washington, D.C. in late September, talking with Congress about what it will take to not only meet electrification goals, but also shore up the country’s power grids to meet demand. The associations agreed that the meeting on Capitol Hill was focused and productive.
NEMA is headquartered just outside of Washington, D.C. NECA is providing office space for Johnson and NEMRA to work inside its office, and the association is providing the same for NAED and its new Government Affairs Director, Bud DeFlaviis. This allows all four associations to continue to strategize regularly and in person.
“Here we are with the biggest transformation in the history of our country, and maybe in the world, and we need to amplify our collective voice,” Smith told the audience, “I am very encouraged about the opportunity to make a difference as a coalition on Capitol Hill.”
“This is a moment that has never been bigger for our industry,” Phillips added. “There is $1.1 trillion available, and we need to have a seat at the table.”
“Joint lobbying is a critical part of this coalition,” Johnson explained. “Just due to the sheer number of interests that are happening in Washington D.C., it’s difficult for just one association to make a difference. Having all four work together makes a difference.”
Workforce Development
The coalition of association leaders also discussed a topic that is greatly impacting contractors, and the rest of the supply chain: workforce shortages. The coalition has created a new strategy where all four of the associations will work together to help everyone with recruiting, instead of working independently.
“We want to start recruiting as an industry instead of as individuals,” Long told the contractors. “We are going to recruit military, college, high schools, and tell them to come join electrification.”
Phillips pointed out that with retirements, we are losing about 3,000 electrical contractors a year that are not being replaced by the next generation, while Smith added all of the associations should work together on training. “When you think about a distributor today, and the training that is needed, we have to educate our workforce on not only on the products we sell because we are doing kitting, pre-fabrication (not technical), and many different types of services. Incorporating all of our investments in providing these new products and servicerequires a well-oiled education machine.”
Johnson explained to contractors that all associations are focused on solving the workforce problem. “Industry-developed training is where our collective “What If” begins. My point here is that by utilizing our shared knowledge, this coalition will be able to tackle complex challenges that surpass the capacities of any single association or any individual organization within,” he said.
Long also pointed out that training needs to be updated to teach new workers quickly and in small pieces, so they can become accomplished in multiple areas in less time. “As technology moves us, we are continually updating the training content,” Long said to contractors. “Having this coalition short cycles the training. This will allow us to get courses to our members much more quickly. What we did 5 years ago will not be sustainable going forward.”
Power Grid Efficiency
NEMA President Debra Philips kicked off that part of the conversation with a clear statement. “We believe demand for electricity is going to grow by 60% over the next 25 years. There is going to be sustained pressure to get products to their projects.”
Long added that with electrification comes the need to upgrade power grids across the country. That will mean all associations will have to play a major role in meeting the demand. “Utilities need to generate up to 17 times the amount of power currently generated to meet future demand,” Long Explained. “It will be catastrophic 36 to 48 months from now if we don’t meet the demand, so this is critical. We have to be able to move fast.”
“The grid, in its current state is unsustainable. We will need to double our investments between now and 2030, just to get back on track to meet the Net-Zero emission by 2050,” Johnson added.
Data
Smith kicked off the discussion on data with a provocative statement.
“Data has no value… until it’s turned into information and information to insights to help us all run better and more efficient businesses.”
He then pointed out that the way to create valuable data is to evaluate, strategize, and share it in our insights with others.
“As a supply chain, we have to collaborate. We all have data in our silos, and we need to share our data across our boundaries so we give ourselves insights into what is going on throughout our supply chain. To think that we are going to solve our challenges within our own walls is delusional. We live in an interconnected world, and we need to interconnect our data and apply these technologies to electrify the country. Efficiency is the order of the day, and it will emerge from collaborative data exchange.”
Phillips agreed, especially with so many opportunities at stake. “A lot of federal dollars are tied to products made in the United States,” she explained to the crowd. “We think a lot about upstream, but it’s critical to provide the best information to reduce cycle time and get products deployed in an engine that is going to electrify America.”
Long pointed out that a key element to data sharing is “Where’s My Stuff”, a coalition-wide initiative to increase supply chain efficiency.
“We wanted to answer the question, “Where’s my stuff?”. And we have to deal with items that are labeled differently by all associations. That’s how we realized that we have data problems. It all comes down to clean data, and we believe data can simplify our operations.
“This data situation is a very difficult task,” Long added. “Because we are dealing with a 125-year-old industry. But the four associations are committed to this. These are not our vendors, they are our partners. And we can’t get there without each other. We are committed to setting expectations that are reasonable. Our crews need to know at the end of the day today what they are going to have at the end of the day two days from now. It’s really material management process where you can life cycle the entire project and breaking the job down much more granular.”
Johnson added that the value of data increases as it is shared quickly. “Data is very important to all of us. If we don’t get the data on time and accurately, it loses its value. It enables representatives to be a much better partner to manufacturers and provides a frictionless dynamic for contractors. Data is critical, but so is the speed and accuracy.”
“This is not a part-time effort. We are thinking on behalf of the entire industry about how we solve this challenge,” Smith added. “It is solvable and must be solved. When you turn on the lights, you will see that things will improve, and we need to turn on the lights.”
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