It is sometimes difficult to explain to customers and prospects how our participation in the Automation Alliance Group (the Alliance), with its associated global reach, benefits them. We recently had a perfect yet simple demonstration. An OEM client of ours that produces odor control equipment for municipal wastewater applications was bidding on an odor control system project in Romania and they asked us to include a line item for startup on our controls. One of our Alliance partners, Canada-based JNE, has an office near Belgrade, Serbia. JNE’s quote for startup services provided from their local office came to 9,000 EUR which is about $12,000 USD. This price included 2 engineers, 1 translator, and all travel expenses, including airfare. By comparison, for us to send 2 engineers (without a translator) to Belgrade for a startup period would have cost nearly twice that. And because all the Alliance members adhere to the same CSIA best practices, the end-user will receive the same caliber of service. Being able to offer our OEM clients more economical options helps them win more projects and make more profit due to a smoother startup. Being able to offer the same types of economies to our end-user customers means they get a better price without any loss of quality performance.
