Need an alternative to Allen-Bradley IEC control relays 1

[EEAutomEng]

I have been told that Allen-Bradley has another manufacturer make their IEC relays and they are identicle to the OEM's brand. Can anyone tell me if this is true and if so, who makes them? All I know is that the Allen-Bradley relays are made in Switzerland. We have several customers who spec Allen-Bradley relays but they are very expensive.

 

[PUMPDESIGNER]

JMBurgess,
I have no firm information but only that Sprecher has been much less expensive in the past. Lately however we see A-B getting more competitive and willing to work deals.

PUMPDESIGNER

 

[EEAutomEng]

Do you buy A-B direct or through a distributor?

 

[PUMPDESIGNER]

We are not currently purchasing A-B.
We were totally A-B long ago, and they would like to get back in.
Last fall we spent time with them and they were willing to match any price we had from Square D, Siemens, etc. That is quite a change.
They seem very different than in the past.
They want to provide a full line now including Circuit Breakers, etc. That is a lot of change because they were never a full line before. They seem to have active R&D with new products coming up, and from what we have seen they have a healthy imagination and are innovative.

I am not permitted to write specifically about pricing or how the product is handled.

PUMPDESIGNER

 

[jraef]

JMBurgess,
The magic word for A-B negotiations is...competition!
If they percieve that "I have no choice but to use AB or an equivelent to AB simply because our customers spec AB", it is all over. They will get their price. If however, you convince them that your customer will accept anything elese that performs equally well, they will do whatever it takes to keep your business (well, within ethical norms at least). Having worked with several S$S reps I can attest to the fact that when push comes to shove, the upper managers who ultimately make the final decision are shared between the 2 brands, and A-B will squash S$S if they want it.

PUMPDESIGNER,
Having worked for Klockner Moeller in the past, I can tell you that KM never brand labeled contactors to AB, but they did label their overload relays and motor protective switches up until the S&S buyout. Since then all of the newer AB products are S&S. Where you might have heard about the KM contactor connection was a funny story however. Prior to the S&S buyout, A-B wanted to release an IEC contactor. They had no experience in automated contactor production lines at the time, so they hired a company called Moeller Automation to design and build a process line for them. Rumor was that nobody at A-B made the connection to Klockner Moeller until it was too far along (althouhgh I find that part hard to swallow), but A-B made KM promise "not to tell". They never did officially, but on the cover of KM's 1984-85 catalog there is a color photograph of an automated contactor assembly line, and if you look in the fuzzy background you could see that it is A-B's gold contactors being spit out!

"Venditori de oleum-vipera non vigere excordis populi"