machine building & automation - Industrial Technology Magazine

EAR TO THE GROUND • Becky Silvertonbecky@itmagazine.uk.comShoes and bags anda girl’s first love...Yes, boys, we know you hate to shop, but it’sone of a girl’s greatest loves. Which is whysome girlfriends and I all headed up toLondon for a bit of pre-Christmas windowshopping, just for a few ideas to add to our lists forSanta. A leisurely stroll along Oxford Streeteventually brought us to Selfridges where, uponwalking through the doors, we were confronted by arather long queue. Guessing it was probably tooearly for Christmas grotto season(and I for one am now just a littletoo old to be sitting on Santa’sknee) we joined the queue andsent a scout on ahead to find outexactly what we were queuing for.She returned a few minuteslater to paint a picture of a ropedoff area, with people being allowedthrough in ones and twos, underthe watchful eye of beefy bouncerjust in case things should get out of hand, and newsthat we were actually queuing to gain access to theLouis Vuitton bag collection. These rather draconianmeasures were being employed to prevent apurchasing frenzy in the wake of an LV shortage.There are many things for which I will toleratequeuing, but this was not one of them. So wemoved on. But, as you’ll imagine, we being typicallygossipy girls, Louis Vuitton became something of atopic of conversation and a recurring theme for therest of the day. I’m sure this is not the first time I’veheard of Louis Vuitton reporting a shortage, and Ibelieve there has been talk of customers beinglimited to purchasing just one product a day.Now I’m not going to question whether thecompany has production issues, and certainly thereis burgeoning demand in Asia for luxury leathergoods. But I wonder what would have happenedhad no announcement of a possible shortage beenmade. It seemed to me that the traffic into the LVsection of Selfridges was higher than it might havebeen normally had there been no worries of a lack ofproducts to purchase.Give us a reason to panic buy, and we generallytake it. In fact, even if you tell us there’s no reasonto panic buy, we still seem to rush to spend.Remember the last time someone told us there wasno reason why there should be a petrol shortage or abread shortage? We all rushed out, drained thepumps and stripped the shelves, thus creating ashortage of these key commodities. In short, howmuch of this is marketing spin to drive up demand?Or indeed, how much is Machiavellian mischiefmaking? I wonder how long it will be before avendor in our sector sees a marketing opportunity inthe recession that is (hopefully) behind us, andspotlights some area of sluggish restocking as acritical product shortage. What will our reaction be?I’d like to think that as an engineers withinsensible industries we’d probably be above any ofthis kind of panic purchasing, but then I do tend tobe prone to wishful thinking. Which reminds me: Ihave bags to dream of and a very important letter toSanta to write.SPS/IPC/DrivesNovember 23-25, 2010Exhibition Centre, Nurembergwww.mesago.de/en/SPS/main.htmMesago Messe Management(+49 711 61946-67)Southern ManufacturingFebruary 16-17, 2011FIVE, Farnborough, Hantswww.industry.co.ukETES (01784 880890)Southern ElectronicsFebruary 16-17, 2011FIVE, Farnborough, Hantswww.industry.co.ukETES (01784 880890)Packaging InnovationsFebruary 16-17, 2011NEC, Birminghamwww.easyfairs.com/piukEasyfairs UK (020 8622 4411)Health & Safety 2011 SouthMarch 1-2, 2011Sandown Park, Esherwww.healthandsafetyevents.co.ukWestern Business Exhibitions(01342 333720)MOTEK FranceApril 5-8, 2011Lyon, Francewww.industrie-expo.comPE Schall (+49 7025 9206-0)Machine BuildingApril 6-7, 2011NEC, Birminghamwww.machinebuilding.co.ukCanon (020 3147 4620)MEDTECApril 6-7, 2011NEC, Birminghamwww.medtecshowuk.co.ukCanon (020 3147 4620)Index to Advertisers November 2010Aerotech .................................................. 37Air Control Industries ................................. 10Air Control Industries ................................. 11Alcatel Lucent Deutschland ........................ 34Automation Supplies ................................. 47B&R Industrial Automation ........................ 39Balluff ..................................................... 31Bambi Air Compressors ............................... 9Boldman .................................................. 47Dell Computers ......................................... 52Elesa (UK) ............................................... 22EMS ........................................................ 35ETA Enclosures (UK) ................................... 5Euro Bearings ........................................... 14Festo ......................................................... 2Fibox ....................................................... 23George Emmott (Pawsons) ......................... 25Henkel Loctite Adhesives ............................. 7Hollin Applications .................................... 48Interroll .................................................... 37Lafert Electric Motors ................................ 36Lee Products ............................................ 41Lenze ........................................................ 9Machine Building Systems ......................... 43Man and Machine ..................................... 13Maxon Motor UK ...................................... 33Mayr Transmissions ................................... 37Mclennan Servo Supplies ........................... 43Micro-Epsilon UK ...................................... 29Micro-Epsilon UK ...................................... 48MK Profile Systems ................................... 47Monitran .................................................. 27NSK Europe ............................................. 15Phoenix Mecano ....................................... 45Poppelmann Plastics UK ............................. 7Protex Fasteners ....................................... 19RA Rodriguez ........................................... 17Reliance Precision ..................................... 42Reliance Precision ..................................... 51Rittal ....................................................... 20Rotalink ................................................... 33Sensor Technik UK .................................... 31Sensors UK .............................................. 29Sensortechnics ......................................... 31Spelsberg UK ........................................... 19Spirol Industries .......................................... 9Spirol Industries ........................................ 17Tandler Precision ...................................... 41Variohm ................................................... 27WDS Component Parts .............................. 45Wymark ................................................... 1750INDUSTRIAL TECHNOLOGY • November 2010