Universal Lighting Technologies Achieves IDEA’s Platinum Status

Universal Lighting Technologies has achieved IDEA’s Platinum level status, the most prestigious level of IDEA’s Bands of Excellence program. Owned by the National Electrical Manufacturers Association (NEMA) and the National Association of Electrical Distributors (NAED), IDEA established this program to recognize manufacturers for providing exceptional marketing content for 85-100 percent of their stock products.

To more closely align with NAED Supplier Scorecards, the criteria to receive a 2013 Band of Excellence was made significantly more difficult. The Platinum banding level now indicates that 100 percent of Universal Lighting Technologies stock items in the Industry Data Warehouse (IDW) include product specs, attributes, images, and descriptions within the online system. Launched in April 2012, the IDW allows distributors to download information and share it with their customers via the web, print catalogs, and other materials.

“These new more rigorous banding levels were designed to communicate the rapidly-evolving expectations of buyers, and recognize the manufacturers, such as Universal Lighting Technologies, that are meeting or exceeding those expectations,” says Bob Gaylord, president and CEO, IDEA.

“Universal sees many benefits to the enriched data program in support of the distribution channel. We believe offering information in this electrical format is essential and advantageous,” says Chris Holstein, vice president of marketing, Universal Lighting Technologies.