ESL On The Move – 2016 Trade Show Recap

Erika Thorson

ESL Trade Show Recap

In 2016 ESL Power Systems attended over a dozen trade shows across the United States and internationally. Our journey included exhibiting at shows in many different regions geared towards multiple industries served including Intermodal Power, Molded Products, Custom Solutions, Entertainment Power and Emergency Power. ESL‘s expansive participation in industry leading conferences is illustrated on the map above.

Instrumentation
(Carson, CA)
ASCE Ports
(New Orleans, LA)
 TOC Americas
(Cancun, MX)
USITT
(Salt Lake City, UT)		 West Coast Energy Management Congress
(Seattle, WA)		 Integrated Port Equipment Seminar
(Miami, FL)
PDC Summit
(San Diego, CA)		 SAIA
(Indianapolis, IN)		  LDI
(Las Vegas, NV)
Port & Terminal Technology (Charleston, NC)  EGSA – Fall Conference
(Sacramento, CA)
Governor’s Hurricane Conference (Orlando, FL) POWER-GEN International
(Orlando, FL)		  

Notable highlights from these shows include:

  • ESL assisted with hosting the inaugural Integrated Port Equipment Seminars in Miami, FL. ESL collaborated with TMEIC, Phoenix Terminal Solutions, BROMMA, RTE, Remprex and Conductix to create a seminar focused on educating attendees on container operations of the future
  • Promoting ESL’s new Molded Product Line at the SAIA Show in Indianapolis, IN
  • First public display of ESL’s UL/cUL 1008 Listed 3200A TempTap -Generator Docking Station at POWERGEN International

To see where ESL will land next, visit our trade show page. For more information on any of our products please contact sales@eslpwr.com.

ESL Highlighted as Finalist for Upcoming Spirit of the Entrepreneur Award

Erika Thorson

spirit

Founded in 2003, The Spirit of the Entrepreneur Award recognizes the Inland Empire’s top entrepreneurial business leaders and was designed to recognize these leaders’ accomplishments and celebrate their success stories. The Spirit of the Entrepreneur Award has honored more than 200 finalists and bestowed the award to 70 entrepreneurs since its inception. According to Corona Business News, The Spirit’s black tie awards ceremony is becoming known as the top business event in the Inland Empire bosting approximately 800 attendees for this year’s event on November 15th at the Riverside Convention Center.

This year, ESL’s President Michael Hellmers is honored to be amongst the Inland Empire’s elite as one of the (5) Corona based finalists. For a successful nomination candidates must have demonstrated innovation, leadership, performance, character, entrepreneurial mindset and vision. According to IECE, the Spirit of the Entrepreneur recipient must be an individual who truly possesses the entrepreneurial mindset and is constantly pushing to improve their businesses, always striving to advance their ventures and facilitate progress in the industries in which they work.

As a two-time finalist, Michael Hellmers and ESL feel privileged to be nominated amongst such great entrepreneurs. As our company strives to reach new levels of success and aims to contribute to the betterment of the community, we take great pride in being recognized with such a diverse and remarkable group of entrepreneurs.

Positive Expectations for Reefer Shipping

Erika Thorson

reefer shipping

As projected at the beginning of 2016, this year is proving to be one of the worst for global container shipping, with one exception – reefer shipping.

In written clarifications by The Journal of Commerce, Container News, World Cargo News and Cleanleap, studies show cold chain has proved to be growing strong with frozen food shipments up 4% and chilled products up by 7%. The expectation being that the global refrigerated ocean transportation market will grow steadily from 2016 through 20201.

According to the latest edition of the Reefer Shipping Market Review and Forecast 2016/17, by 2020 seaborne reefer cargo will reach a staggering 120 million tonnes – increasing by an average of 2.5% per annum2. Such increases will have a direct effect on both container lines with reefer capacity and specialized reefer operators.

So where are these predictions coming from? One strong theme in reefer shipping performance is being attributed to the growing demand for food throughout Asia and rapid growth in meat imports into China3. China’s cold chain is now reported to be growing at 25% per year and projected to be worth $75 billion by 20174. In addition to the Asian market, Indian cold chain is also forecast to grow at 25% per year to 2017. This prediction is being accredited to popular fast food supply exports to India tripling over the last six years. Evidence shows the reefer shipping sector is also betting on growth in new and emerging economies, including Cuba. Trade organizations and industry groups have already conducted trade missions to Cuba in anticipation of the lifting of the U.S. trade embargo5.

…having reliable equipment when and where it’s needed is mandatory.

Emerging economies are not the only impact being taken into account, new business segments such as floriculture and pharmaceuticals are anticipated to continue to contribute greatly to the reefer shipping sector. Floriculture, or flower farming, is a $32 billion industry. It ranks as the third-largest U.S. crop, and growers in California make up 75% of the market. Pharmaceutical shippers are also looking more closely at ocean freight for their temperature-controlled shipments. The seasonal nature of floricultural and agricultural products combined with their short shelf lives mean having reliable equipment when and where it’s needed is mandatory. Despite the many current difficulties for the maritime sector, the predicted growth of reefer shipping has an encouraging outlook.

1http://www.joc.com/international-logistics/cool-cargoes/reefer-market-poised-growth-faces-supply-chain-challenges_20160709.html

2http://container-news.com/perishable-reefer-trade-growth-remain-strong-drewry/

3””Reefer Cargo is Hot” World Cargo News Magazine, September 2016, pp. 17

4http://cleanleap.com/brace-yourself-cold-chain-coming/cold-chains-developing-world-catch-and-leapfrog

5http://www.joc.com/port-news/international-ports/cubas-mariel-port-has-ambitious-plan-become-giant-feeder-hub_20160704.html

Our JOURNEY into Lean Six Sigma after 10 months

Pete Mehalechko

Lean Six SigmaIn February, at the beginning of our adventure, we described what Lean Six Sigma is, and the need for implementation at ESL Power Systems. ESL constantly seeks to identify ways to improve. To recap, even the best companies have waste (things that don’t add value to the product) and variation in processes that cost a company money. Our goal is to focus on getting the customer what they want, when they want it, “right the first time.”

OUR ROAD MAP

The first step in our journey was to educate and help everyone on board understand the path we were heading down. This very important first step allowed employees, from company owners to shop assemblers, comprehend the concept of continuous improvement and got everyone moving in the same direction.

TOOLS ALONG THE WAY

The first tool we put in place was 5S. The goal of 5S is to organize the workplace for efficiency and effectiveness by identifying and storing the items used, maintaining the area and items, and sustaining the new order. The 5S steps are Sort, Set-in-Order, Shine, Standardize and Sustain. At ESL, I’m happy to say that we are well along the 5S road!
Another tool being used is the “value stream map.” This “map” helps navigate our processes and seeks to eliminate waste. Along the same lines, we have implemented software called LeanKit, which assists in visualizing our work as it flows through our company, providing a big-picture understanding of our procedures.

NAVIGATIONAL PLANS

Moving forward, ESL’s executive committee has completed what we call the “3SL.” This is a 3 year plan for the organization that spells out a clear “true north;” ensuring everyone in the company knows what our plans are for the future. This transparency of goals ensures the company as a whole is heading in the right direction. The 3SL contains (3) elements:

  • 10 key metrics tracked
  • Goals for each metric
  • Specific projects to get us to our goal

This has become the most important document in the company.

We have made much progress over the last several months, and we must work hard to continually improve our products and processes to remain competitive in an ever changing market. We feel positive we will be successful and through our continuous improvement program create additional value for our customers in the future.