ERA Vision Coming Into Focus By Traci Matt STAFF WRITER More training. More Internet ser- vices. Help with marketing. Help with business management. So goes the wish list of every rebuilder who plans to be around when the fat lady sings. These are the needs that the Electrical Rebuilder’s Association (ERA) board is listening to, and making plans to fulfill. All they need is you. “Association members will control what timeframe these things start happening in,” said Polly Shea, chair of the ERA and editor/publisher of the Exchange. “Tt’s so encouraging to see the membership numbers growing week by week. As a small, family-owned operation it’s great to see the possibili- ties for expansion. But we are totally member-funded, with no big business underwriting our expenses, so new services can only come as member numbers grow.” With almost 50 vendor members at press time, the ERA continues to offer the ‘Three E’s’ of Rebuilding— the Electrical Rebuilder’s Exchange news- paper, the EREN Website Database, and the E+ Trade Show. “Expanding upon and adding to the ‘Three E’s’ may complicate our marketing slogan, but we’d love to have a problem like that,” said Shea. Here are the plans that are beginning to crystallize at this point: More Specialized Training at Shows “The industry is full of generous people who want to see the small rebuilder succeed and will do a lot toward that end. But we must be able to at least cover expenses for those who so freely share their expertise,” said Shea. “And those who rely solely on research and teaching as their livelihood must be reimbursed for their time. A strong association would be able to do that.” As more funds become available, Shea said the E+ Show will become more training-oriented as trainers increase in both number and diversity. “We have already seen how the hands-on training stations that we introduced have been of great help to show attendees. We’d like to see more of that.” Saturday Seminars The all-electrical E+ Show is the result of the Saturday Technical Seminars Exchange founder Ralph Albares developed in the mid-80s. According to Shea, revamping and res- urrecting the one-day technical seminar would be the perfect complement to the annual trade show. “We’ve never been able to take a show to someplace like the Northwest, because rebuilders just aren’t there in sufficient numbers. But we could take a one-day seminar there. They wouldn’t be able to see their vendors, but that would take place at the E+ Show,” said Shea. The seminars would be regional and target the same audience as the E+ Show—rebuilders within a 250-mile driving radius of the session. Marketing Programs “Most rebuilders do nothing in their immediate neighborhoods to sell them- selves and educate people about who they are and what they do. One of the responsibilities the association would like to take on is to provide advertise- ments for members to use in local papers, or duplicate for mailings. We need to be their partner in educating the public about the quality and environ- mentally-friendly aspects of rebuilding,” said Shea. With the association providing camera-ready artwork and copy for flyers and print ads, all the rebuilder would need to do is add their local infor- mation and distribute it appropriately for their market. FRA Vendor Members ACE Hectric, LLC Alternators, Starters and Parts (ASAP) Applied Systems Research, Inc. Arrowhead Hectrical Products, Inc. Atlantic Generator Service Auto Hectric Rebuilders Association of Canada (A.ERA.C.) Automotive Importing Manufacturing (AIM) Barney Kaplan Surplus, Inc. Best Buy Automotive C.C. Battery Company, Inc. Composite Services Crozier Machine Tool, Inc. CSD America, Inc. Cycletronics Dixie Hectric DuBois Marketing Dubosky Auto Hectric Hectric Motor Service Hreg Distributors, Ltd. Hehr Power Systems Holcombe Armature Company Hoosier Hectric Company International Automotive Trading (IAT) IPM-A CW Group Company dmco, Inc. be Davis Enterprises, LLC Maxwell Products International (MPI) Norby Prez Company Northwest Regulator Supply NRG Auto Systems, Inc. Parts Depot, Inc. (PDI) Peer Bearing Company Perfect Fit Industries, Inc. (PFI) Quality Equipment Sales Quality Rebuilders Ram Hectric, Inc. Regitar U.SA., Inc. Romaine Hectric Corp. R & RRegulators, Inc. RCP Salcop, L.P Transpo Hectronics, Inc. Universal Products Company Vense! Enterprises Wagner Alternators and Supplies, Inc. Wetherill Associates, Inc. (WAI)