Industry Alert: PTFE Shortage

Due to the impending market exit of one of the three major producers of PTFE resin, major wire and cable manufacturers are reporting shortages due to their allocated supply being limited by their suppliers. As a result, consumers may begin to see longer lead times and price increases. This shortage is expected to last until at least the end of the calendar year.

Allied is always committed to helping our customers, and we are doing all we can to help limit the impact of this shortage on you. If you have a requirement for any PTFE or FEP product, we will do all we can to supply you with the parts you need. We have already dramatically increased our stock of various PTFE products to help meet your needs, and will continue to do so until the shortage ends.

If you have any concerns or need more information on which products might be impacted, please contact your Allied sales representative, or e-mail us at info@awcwire.com.

Allied Adds Four New Members to Sales Team!

With many companies scaling back, issuing employees pink slips just to increase their bottom line, the management team at Allied has taken a different approach, one of “Common Sense” not “Dollars and Cents.” As a family owned and operated business, we are proud to have added jobs throughout this recession. In order to continue our growth and to provide our customers with the best service in the industry, Allied added four new inside sales representatives this month in both the Pennsylvania and Wisconsin locations: Chris Linton, Jeff Cook & Kristin Fione in PA and Matthew Basile in WI.

• Jeff Cook graduated from Temple University in 2000 and swiftly moved into various sales positions after graduation. He's worked for several technological companies including Dataq, Techni-Tool and Richardson Electronics, but chose to come to Allied for an opportunity to work with a company that is growing in spite of the economy, as Allied has continued to do throughout the recession.
• Christopher Linton was a general manager for LA Fitness for over 4 years and was deeply involved in the sales process. Allied is his first entry into the wire and cable industry, but after receiving the highest score on our customer service test we are all positive he will learn the industry quickly.
• Kristin Fione graduated from Penn State in 2003, with a degree in Communications. Most recently, she worked as a banker at Citizen's Bank and as an Account Manager at USM Services. With her excellent communications skills and experience with customer service, we're very excited to have her join the family.
• Matthew Basile is a recent college graduate, having just completed his Bachelor's in Business Administration in Marketing Management this year from the University of Memphis. He is also new to the wire and cable industry, as well as sales, but he has an extensive background in customer service, having worked in the hospitality industry for over ten years.

Are You Ready For Some Football?

Pre-season is almost done and the good stuff is about to start! If you haven’t already, be sure to sign up for an account so you're ready to go when the season starts Click here for more instructions on signing up for the pool

An e-mail will be sent out next week with all the details. Good luck!

Joke of the Month!

"An old man, a boy and a donkey were going to town. The boy rode on the donkey and the old man walked. As they went along they passed some people who remarked it was a shame the old man was walking and the boy was riding. The man and boy thought maybe the critics were right, so they changed positions.

Later, they passed some people that remarked: “What a shame, he makes that little boy walk.” They then decided they both would walk!

Soon they passed some more people who thought they were stupid to walk when they had a decent donkey to ride. So, they both rode the donkey.

Now they passed some people that shamed them by saying how awful to put such a load on a poor donkey. The boy and man said they were probably right, so they decided to carry the donkey. As they crossed the bridge, they lost their grip on the animal and he fell into the river and drowned.

The moral of the story? ...If you try to please everyone, you might as well...Kiss your ass good-bye."

Source: Michael Port, Book Yourself Solid

Blog Corner

Here are the newest additions to our blog!

Allied Encyclopedia – Cable Construction Basics: Shielding and Armor    Shielding and Armor are often found side by side in Wire and Cable books and catalogs, and that makes it look like they’re practically the same thing. Both are metallic. Both are wrapped around cable components. Both are designed to protect the integrity of the cable. However, even though they have a lot in common, they are not the same and the terms shouldn’t be used interchangeably.

Allied Encyclopedia – Standards Organizations    At Allied, we want to know that the wire and cable we supply is safe and high quality. As consumers, you want to know that you are choosing the right wire and cable products– ones that are safe, well-made, and appropriate for your needs. So how do we make sure that everyone has the same idea of which specifications wire and cable should meet? That’s where standards organizations come in.

Allied Encyclopedia – Cable Testing: Flame Test, UV Test & ER Tests    Look at a spec sheet and you will see information on all kinds of data on cable characteristics. Flame-retardant. Excellent UV resistance. Poor flexibility. The spec sheet gives you all of this information, but have you ever wondered how we get that data? Cable goes through rigorous testing to determine what properties it has and to what extent those properties hold up.

Click here to see the history of Camden Copper

Click here to see the most up-to-date Comex Copper Prices