French Gerleman Wins Industry Awards

French Gerleman, St. Louis, was recently been honored with two industry awards: the Bradley Cup from Rockwell Automation and the MOSEIA Partner of the Year Award from the Missouri Solar Energy Industries Association (MOSEIA).

The Bradley Cup bears the name of Allen-Bradley founder Lynde Bradley. The press release said it’s awarded to the electrical distributor that has achieved the highest composite score across a group of metrics in sales and operational excellence during the Rockwell fiscal year.

“We are at such a pivotal time in manufacturing in the United States,” said Mike Stanfill, president of French Gerleman, in the release. “Our customers are seeing skills depart to retirement and there is a growing shortage of qualified production employees. Yet there is as much pressure as ever to deliver increased shareholder equity — in a clean, energy-efficient, and ethical manner.

“At the same time, the very technology we represent offers solutions to each of these challenges— security, reduced time-to-market, increased throughput and sustainability. These are the conversations that matter to customers.”

The MOSEIA Partner of the Year award recognizes companies or individuals who have gone above and beyond to support the solar industry in Missouri. French Gerleman supported MOSEIA by coordinating vendor training through seminars and webinars throughout the year, and hosting them at its St. Louis headquarters training facility.

“Over the course of our 96-year history, many customers have connected with French Gerleman because we provided access to certain products and services they needed,” said Stanfill in the release. “The solar industry shifted that model in a way that has caused us to become a better business partner. Most MOSEIA members already had access to their primary hardware needs, but our ability to provide access to credit and logistics (warehousing, just-in-time delivery, balance-of-system components) has been to key to aligning with the best of their industry.