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On January 31st, QC Industries will set a record for the number of distributors that will come in for our Level One conveyor training. The school, which is conducted on a regular basis at our headquarters in Cincinnati, is regarded as one of the best training schools among the many manufacturers represented by our Distributors.

During every session we hand out surveys to help with our continual improvement. Here are a couple of comments that show why our attendance has been so strong:

Jason Kraft, Sales Engineer, Voelker Controls, Franklin, Ohio says, “QC Industries is by far one of the best training schools of any of our manufacturers. The classes move fast and keep your attention. Alhtough you’ve been here for a couple days, it seems like hours. They also have a great happy hour and dinner at Montgomery Inn.”

“As if the  fast paced nature of the training wasn’t enough, they have a great facility and demos. Honestly it is the best training our team has attended. Having our sales team spend a few days at QC Industries just supports why we represent them. Pure and simple, this company is on it. The company is growing you can feel the buzz,” said Dan Heiling, President of HeiTek in Phoenix, Arizona.

Training consists of a well rounded view of all of the product lines we offer. The broad stroke approach allows us to cover favorite topics like the competition comparison and the new Conveyor Configurator.

Even during the down turn of 2009, we had just under 70 distributors in for the introduction of our Automation Series line of conveyors.

“We have a clear appreciation of the time and financial resources it takes to travel in for training. We simply want to make the best of our Distributors investment,” said Dave Endres, General Manager of QC industries.

We would like to wish all of our customers and distributors a happy 2012! To help with your company’s advancements in automation we have just introduced our new AS40Z conveyor and a great new Conveyor Configurator. We will also have some exciting surprises coming as well.

You will have an opportunity to visit with us as we wil be exhibiting at the ATX West show in Anaheim, February 14 – 16; in Texas at the new ATX Texas show, March 14th and 15th; at the ATX South show in Charlotte, May 2nd and 3rd; as well as at the Pack Expo in Chicago over Halloween, October 28 – 31.

This year we are introducing our newest line of conveyors, the AS40Z Automation Series Angled Frame Conveyor. The new AS40Z combines the great selling features from our Automation Series platform including the Pivot™ and Tension Release Tail with elevation changes in three different configurations.

Our new Conveyor Configuator now gives customers the ability to configure their own conveyors systems and request quotes from their distributors 24 hours a day. It incorporates intelligent rules from our engineers to ensure that everything works together properly. If a customer makes a selection that would result in a conflict, the Configurator gives smart suggestions to correct the problem. Once the system is configured, customers can download all the appropriate specifications sheets, drawings and CAD models they need to incorporate the conveyor into their plans.

This summer QC Industries’ conveyors will appear in a motion picture released by Sony Pictures. There may be a hint or two dropped along the way, but they will be hard to decipher as we are bound not to disclose until the world wide release. What we can say is that after exhaustive research Sony Pictures chose QC Industries over all other competitors for this opportunity!

Happy New Year and here’s to a prosperous 2012!

The Material Handling Wholesaler cover story on family succession was a great profile of our friends at Conveyer & Caster – Equipment for Industry, a material handling distributor in Cleveland. They’ve been a great distributor of ours for the better part of twenty years, working hand in hand selling our belt conveyors.

There are great stories within the MHW article. The push from their father to cut their teeth somewhere else before coming on board. The sounding board which they bounce business ideas off of each and every quarter and then of course the succession plans that you need to have in place regarding estates, trusts, wills, etc.

But I feel the untold story about this business is the success they’ve had navigating through tough times over the last few years. Let’s not forget Cleveland is smack dab in the middle of the rust belt and we — all of us — are still digging hard during difficult times. According to Department of Numbers, Cleveland has lost  143,000 job since May 2000. So for a company to be having success, making moves to grow and hiring a great staff, I’m telling that story and shining a light on this company.

Knowing Jeff and Trevor now for many years. I was always impressed that their father made them go to work and be successful with other companies first. So thanks to dad for preparing the boys and setting the company up for potential turbulence and of course the work ethic to make success happen. The great part of the untold story is we are living, growing and prospering together with Conveyer & Caster and it is to be continued.

Last week our marketing team took part in our annual Marketing ROUNDtable event hosted in collaboration with our friends at Balluff. The event started at the beautiful Metropolitan Club in Northern Kentucky where Balluff played host. The Met overlooks the Ohio River with views of Paul Brown Stadium as well as Great American Ball Park. The entire group enjoyed a great dinner, drinks and good “marketing” conversation!

The next day, you guessed it — QR codes, Social networking, content for blogging, white papers, and marketing automation were just a few of the many topics discussed at Balluff’s North American headquarters. Last year’s theme gravitated towards personal interaction and trade show related discussions. This year was completely different and even more exciting as the conversations swirled around social media and marketing best practices.

Kelly Panko, Marketing Communications Manager from Balluff said, “Loved the format with a couple of timely presentations, a tremendous amount of great discussions and free-flowing dialog. The meeting gave everyone an opportunity to talk about projects they’ve done and suggest new ideas so at the end of the day we aren’t wasting time and money on dead end projects.”

We had two great presentations. One was by business consultant (and former Marketing Manager for ATS) Jim Beretta and the other by Scott McCafferty, the co-founder and Managing Director of WTWH Media, a family of over 25 dotcoms and two industrial publications including Design World Magazine.

Others in the meeting included Chris Thompson, Marketing Coordinator and Graphic Designer with QC Industries Conveyors; Anjna Petal, Marketing Manager from Epson Robots; Alisha Howard, Marketing Manager from Markem Imaje; Lisa Pitzer, Marketing Manager from Oystar Jones; Melissa Freeman, Marketing Manager and Marc Ostertag, President of B&R; Mike Hilsey, Director of Marketing from Flexlink; John Budd, Director of Sales and Marketing from Fiero Fluid Power; Roger Judson, Director of Sales for PMA and of course Tom Rosenberg, Director of Marketing, Kelly Panko and Roger Altendorf, Business Development Manager from Balluff.

Thank you all for coming this year. We are looking forward to another great meeting next year!

This year’s Marketing ROUNDtable event will take place at Balluff Sensors Worldwide’s offices in Florence, Kentucky. Balluff, founded in 1921, is the world leader in sensors for a wide range of applications and industries.

Everyone who attended last year’s event (hosted here at QC Industries) considered it a success. With a focus on personal attention to the customer, we discussed trade shows, print advertising and the web.

We’re looking forward to another great event this year. Marketing peers from Epson, Markem Imaje and others will be making their way to the Queen City for a great evening at the Metropolitan Club this evening and then a full round table event tomorrow.

Business consultant and speaker Jim Beretta (formerly the marketing manager for ATS Automation) will be speaking on “Retooling your Marketing.” Scott McCafferty, Co-founder and Managing Director of WTWH Media, LLC (owner of 20 tech based websites and two print magazines including Design World Magazine), will be speaking on new technologies for B2B Marketers.

I look forward to seeing everyone! Stay tuned for a recap here after the event ends.