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Opening of Crestron House in Johannesburg

Tue, 18 Jun 2013 17:56

Robin van Meeuwen

On Wednesday 15 May Electrosonic SA celebrated the official opening of Crestron House in Blackheath, Johannesburg. The guest speaker for the event was Robin van Meeuwen who is the Vice President of Crestron International. Also present was Steven Dullaert, Director of Distributor Sales at Crestron International and Rupert Denoon, Crestron Regional Manager for South Africa. From Electrosonic SA; Bruce Genricks, Managing Member and Eugene Coetzee, AV Systems Manager attended.

Crestron House, which is in Weltevreden Road just opposite Cresta Shopping Centre, will house a dedicated team devoted to distributing and supporting Crestron products. Crestron is the world’s leading provider of control and automation systems and headquartered in New Jersey, USA. Their centralised systems are sold to residential and commercial customers, and control a range of functions including AV, lighting, thermostats, and security. Electrosonic SA is the sole distributor of Crestron products (of which there are around 3500) in southern Africa. The move away from Electrosonic SA’s offices to a dedicated venue will facilitate better service for customers, increased stock, and better repair return time.

In his address Bruce Genricks stated, “Crestron House is a giant step in the right direction, and we’ll continue to improve it – this is not the end.” He further noted, “It’s a great place to bring clients, it’s always better to show people the products physically – touch and feel is important.” Crestron House boasts four demonstration rooms, one of which doubles up as a training room. Besides kitchens and bathrooms there are a further six rooms, to be used as offices – or converted for other purposes should the need arise. There is also a warehouse and ample parking for customers.

In his speech Robin van Meeuwen pointed out that South Africa is the most far-flung country of the EMEA (Europe, the Middle East and Africa) region. He explained that it was important for logistics and support that South Africa has its own hub. Robin spoke in glowing terms about the growth of Crestron in South Africa (around 30% growth this year alone), and congratulated the South African team on their “commitment, passion and drive for the business.” He commented on the amount of stock carried at Crestron House, and promised to increase it. He also promised to up the training in Crestron’s products, and to supply the necessary tools to ensure the success of the South African outfit. “We’re going to give you more tools so that you can be successful, because without you being successful we can’t be successful. We have to act like one big family.”

Rupert Denoon echoed Robin’s words, “Crestron House has been a vision of ours for quite some time and is finally a reality. I’d like thank the Electrosonic SA family and the Crestron family for supporting us over the years and giving us the ability to create a place like this. We are proud to offer our Dealers a bigger and better demonstration area and faster service on order processing and movement of stock.”

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