Welcome to the March issue of PEW! I have been working from home for the last two weeks and am now in recovery mode having had my old bathroom ripped out and a new one put in. While at home I did manage to catch bits of the Winter Olympics and see what new and creative ways they had managed to come up with to hurl people down an icy slope as quickly as possible.

Out of curiosity I started delving into the history of the Winter Olympics. First held in Chamonix in 1924 and made up of five sports (bobsleigh, curling, ice hockey, Nordic skiing and skating), it has evolved over the years with new subdisciplines introduced, categories dropped and others modernised – for example military patrol eventually became the biathlon event. There have also been some surprising sports that, while never introduced as an official event, were showcased as demonstrations at various Olympics, such as skijoring (being towed on skis behind a horse or dogs), acroski (ski ballet), and speed skiing – where athletes descended a steep, straight course in a tight aerodynamic tuck at speeds of up to 130mph! Unsurprisingly, concerns about safety prevented that from ever becoming an official event.

So yes, the Olympic Games, both summer and winter, have evolved but at their core remain the key values of excellence, respect and friendship which have helped the games to endure for so long.

“Where are you going with this?” you might ask. Well, Theben’s journey began just before the first Winter Olympics. The topic of ‘sustainability’ might be considered a very modern movement but the thought process behind it goes back a long way. At Theben, as explained in this month’s Soapbox column, it was precision engineer Paul Schwenk who started developing time switches in 1921, with the principle that buildings don’t need to run at full tilt all the time. Fast forward about 100 years, with a lot of innovation and progress in between, we are living in the age of smart buildings.

Evolution runs throughout the built environment, including the electrical wholesaler, ever since G. Binswanger and Company, later to become the General Electric Company, first started selling electrical components over the counter in London in the late 19th century. In the 21st century traditional distribution methods are being challenged by rapid changes in customer expectations (especially digital buyers), sustainability requirements, and broader shifts in the energy and construction sectors. To evolve and thrive, wholesalers are rethinking their business models across technology, operations, sustainability and customer experience. In fact it’s evolving faster than an average curling match seems to take.

Enjoy the issue!

– Tracey Rushton-Thorpe
Editor

Catch up on previous ‘Editor’s Viewpoint’ here