Southwire® Apps Bring Powerful Tools to Customers and End Users

CARROLLTON, Ga., May 22, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Southwire Company, one of North America's largest producers of wire and cable, is releasing a series of mobile apps that will offer electrical contractors, utilities, OEM's and other end users of Southwire's products and services powerful mobile tools that they can access on-the-go to maximize productivity.

"On visits to jobsites and customer locations, we observed how much time managers spent away from their desks and their computers. The Southwire Mobile Apps are designed to put powerful tools in the hands of end users and customers.  These mobile apps can help to calculate everything from the amount of cable left on a reel, to appropriate conduit size, to the voltage drop and current carrying capacity of an electrical circuit," said Stu Thorn, President and CEO of Southwire Company. "Smartphones and tablets are more common today for business applications, even on jobsites. We're investing in developing a series of apps that will help both customers and end users of our products get their jobs done more efficiently."

The first seven apps are now being released by Southwire, with several more to follow later in 2012. The apps focus on core needs that customers and product end users have to manage every day, like selecting and installing products and converting units of measure for more accurate pricing of quotes. The apps also make it simple to email the results to others on the jobsite, such as suppliers, when more materials are necessary, and inspectors, in connection with regulatory compliance.

The first seven Southwire Mobile Apps include the following:

• MC^AP® Cable Savings Benefit Calculator, which quickly illustrates the labor cost savings of using MC^AP® cable when compared to traditional MC for electrical contractors.
• Conduit Fill Calculator, which uses NEC^® Code to determine which conduit size is right for electrical installations. This app also includes the capability to calculate conduit-fill for Utility Applications. App users can email calculator results to others.
• SIMpull^® Cable Pull Calculator, which measures specific pull characteristics of different wiring and generates NEC-compliant solutions, which can be emailed by the app user. 
• Southwire Electrical Product Catalog.  This app offers mobile-optimized product data sheets, and enables contractors to look up and email product information and stock numbers. 
• Conversion Calculator.  The app offers data for converting CU to AL, unit price to another unit of price, and one measurement unit to another measurement unit.  The Conversion Calculator should be particularly helpful to OEM customers.
• Partial Reel Calculator, which estimates the footage of wire or cable that is left on a reel. This app is specifically designed to help utility customers. (Released January 2012)
• Proof Positive^® Copper app.  This app helps to track stolen wire. After Proof Positive^® Copper has been stolen; the app user can simply enter the license key and serial number from the recovered wire. The current owner and chain of ownership will be displayed on the ownership data screen.

These seven apps come on the heels of Southwire's successful Voltage Drop Calculator app, which Southwire released in 2011 and which currently has over 10,000 downloads on iTunes. 

A national industry study conducted earlier this year by Eric Mower + Associates Group B2B found that 50 percent of contractors use a smartphone, 49 percent use a laptop with mobile web access, and 21 percent use an iPad^® tablet or other similar tablet device for their jobs.  These statistics suggest that more business research and materials purchasing functions are being conducted online from the field rather than behind a desk. Out of those contractors that use a smartphone, more than half (53 percent) use a smartphone in the purchasing process to do things like research brands and products, compare prices and scan product codes. A 2010 Forrester study suggests tablet devices will outsell desktops by 2015. If recent numbers from sales of the Apple® iPad tablet are any indication, this shift may happen even sooner than projected. 

"Southwire is known as an innovator of products and services that improve jobsite efficiency. We are continuing that leadership by being the first wire and cable company to invest significantly in the development of mobile apps specifically designed to help make the lives of our customers easier," said Thorn. "The Southwire Mobile Apps help our customers to 'Work SIMpull^™' and work efficiently even if they are on a jobsite miles from the office."

About Southwire Company
A leader in technology and innovation, Southwire Company is one of North America's largest wire and cable producers. Southwire and its subsidiaries manufacture building wire and cable, metal-clad (MC) cable, FlatWire Ready^® products, cord products (including Tappan™ sound, security and communication cables through Tappan Wire & Cable Inc.), utility cable products, industrial power cable, OEM wire products, copper and aluminum rod, and continuous casting technology. Southwire also supplies MAXIS^® wire and cable installation tools to the commercial, industrial, and utility construction markets. To learn more about Southwire's products, community involvement, and its vision for a sustainable Southwire, please visit Southwire on the web at www.southwire.com.

SOURCE Southwire Company