We are pleased to announce that matte black (56) finish is now available in the Bronwen® and Prezlee® collections from Newport 365!  You can find these items in the respective sections of the 2020 price book:

Pages 301-303 for Bronwen®    website link

Pages 306-307 for Prezlee®      website link

These SKUs are on our ReadyShip® program. 
PDF of the digital sell sheet attached.

Builder Programs

o   Bosch Builder & Preferred Builder Programs

§  The 3 of 4 categories requirement will be reduced to 2 of 4 through 12/31

§  OM will screen orders for eligibility as per normal standard process

§  Categories are Cooking, ventilation, dishwashers & refrigeration

o   Thermador Preferred Builder Program

§  Requirement of 4 serialized units does NOT change

§  B36 Pro Handle model B36CT81SNS will now be eligible for the 4-piece count but will not be eligible for the following discounts or benefits

·       Builder UMRP 5%

·       Will not count towards any benefits in the “1-2-FREE” program

§  The B36 will be eligible for standard Builder (U82) program pricing

·       Orders can be submitted on a single PO

·       OM will separate the B36 onto a different Sales Order (S/O) to prevent the additional 5% discount when applicable

·       OM will place “combined with S/O #xxx” (Thermador order #) to justify Builder program pricing for audit purposes

§  This change is permanent.

“1-2-FREE”

o   Ventilation will now be allowed as a Tier 1 option along with DW’s through 12/31

o   OM will apply earned program benefit price when placing order as per standard process

o   Tier 2 & Tier 3 benefits will remain as-is

o   Bosch B36 will not count towards any program benefits

o   This option should be handled by dealer associates in-store and will not be included in any Brand Marketing materials nor should be advertised. The Brand Marketing materials and messaging will remain as-is.

We hope this letter finds you are safe and healthy. As most of you are aware, there has been a lot going on at Water Street the past few months. Like many of you, we have been adjusting to the “new normal” with extra health and safety precautions and a socially distanced work force. In addition, we have upgraded our ERP system to integrate with the Top Knobs system and have begun planning a move to a new, larger facility. With all of this going on, we felt it important to communicate three main messages: 

• We recognize that these issues have caused pain in both lead times and even the occasional order error.  If you have experienced those pains, we offer our apologies.
• We are putting the bulk of these issues behind us and you will notice changes.
• We are building capacity – in people, space and machinery – to meet the strong, growing demand that you indicate to us. 

Covid-19
We are back to a full work force and normal working hours, but we continue to take safety precautions with sanitizing, air purification, and distancing workstations. The number of cases in our part of Western New York remains low.  As you can imagine, the virus has presented challenges with some of our suppliers as well.  For instance, our PVD coater was closed for a period.  Some lead times were affected by these issues.

ERP Upgrade
We are finishing up the implementation of a new ERP system that will provide increased visibility, shorter lead times and more accurate shipping information.  For those of you who have worked through an ERP transition, you know that the struggle is real! We’re just about there and expect to be back at normal lead times shortly.  We appreciate your continued patience.

New Facility
We are excited to announce that we have finalized arrangements on a new 45,000 square foot facility.  That’s more than twice the space we have now!  You’ve been hearing us talk about capacity constraints for far too long. We will now be able to add the additional equipment and personnel to work more quickly.  The move will be done in phases with very little disruption to production. Completion is planned for Q4. 

New Equipment
With the new facility we are going to install two new CNC machining centers – the first will be delivered on July 31^st and the second in a few months.  These machines will greatly increase our capacity and efficiency, particularly on door levers and cabinet pulls.

New Staff
We recently welcomed Shawn Desnerck to our staff as Project Manager. Shawn is responsible for quoting custom work, managing larger projects and overseeing our door department.

We have added another Engineer to our staff to support the growth of our door hardware program. Projects will move more quickly through engineering to the production floor.  We’ll also devote more time to new products.

We continue to add additional personnel in finishing, packing and assembly.

New Door Displays
We have shipped the first of our new magnetic door displays.  They look fantastic and we’re very excited to get more installed.  The panels are completely customizable to your available space and the removable blocks are perfect for client meetings and presentations.

New Collections
We remain committed to product additions and expect to launch two new collections in the first quarter of 2021. 

We’re not alone in saying that 2020 has certainly had its share of bumps in the road.  But we are optimistic about business going forward and excited about all the new things to come. We value our relationships with each and every one of you and appreciate your continued support.

Today is the official kick-off to our 140 year anniversary celebration!  As you know, since 1880, BlueStar has been proudly handcrafting home kitchen appliances in our Pennsylvania factory.  Today, BlueStars award-winning line includes cooking equipment, kitchen hoods and premium refrigeration. Using the finest, commercial-grade materials, each product is built by hand by skilled American workers. The quality and performance of our appliances have become the standard for home cooking enthusiasts and professional chefs alike.

As part of our celebration we are excited to introduce the Limited Edition 140 Anniversary Range, the highlights:

·         FREE Heritage Blue Paint on ANY size Platinum Series Range (this is a custom color match to BlueStar Blue, PMS 295)

·         Commemorative star logo with special 140 year anniversary inscription

·         Added value of up to $2,640 (for the custom color match paint)

·         Available from Now to December 31, 2020

·         See the range here

·         New Promotion POP attached plus live on website

Available Assets

·         Images: Includes ranges, anniversary star and 140 year banner here

·         Press Release: attached, give it a read

·         Our Company History

·         Email Blast: going out to database, please forward along to anyone that may be interested!

·         Video

·         YouTube Link to send to your dealers to watch

·         Full Size Download link if they would like to add it to their in-store TV monitors

·         Instagram Download link for you to post on your social media

·         If needed: Dropbox link with both videos

Spread the word, it’s perfect timing to celebrate American manufacturing

The following are changes we are enacting through the specified time to compensate for the DW shortages in Bosch & Thermador.

Bosch Package Rebates

·       Bosch Package MI Rebate

·       We will extend the claim process for DW’s shipped later exactly the same as we have been doing for B36 Claims

o   The consumer must go on-line (or via form Mail-in) to submit full claim including the DW.

o   360 will process the a payment at the qualified amount for the unit counts without the DW

§  3 Piece package claims will not receive any pre-payments until the DW (3^rd unit) is completed (meaning no initial payouts for the 2 pieces shipped)

o   When consumer receives their DW they will log back on and complete the claim with the DW information

o   A 2^nd payment will be processed for the balance due of the full eligible package rebate

o   Examples

o   As described already in the 2^nd half program, the following time-lines are in place:

§  Sale date on invoice deadline is 11/30/2020

§  Initial claims submission (postmark) deadline is 12/31/2020 (this means all claims in entirety; submissions after this date are prohibited under the program terms and conditions)

§  Final submission of required info (serial #, etc.) is 1/31/2021

§  We will extend the deadline for submitting the DW information beyond 1/31/2021 as necessary to facilitate back order fulfillment

I want to make sure you are aware that Emtek is really overwhelmed with orders right now, Pandemic and all.Currently, lead times to build and ship are running more like 5-7 days or less.

Also, Emtek has started writing these types of notes on the acknowledgments when they are sent to you, at the very bottom.  So always take a look there.  Hopefully you can adjust your expectations now that you have the heads up! Thank you for your business and understanding.  Please take good care!

As of Monday, July 6^th, Waterworks systems continue to experience various outage issues. These outages include the Boutique Partner Portal and various Waterworks.com documents, including Specifications & other Technical Documents.

Our IT department continues to address these outages and we hope to have all systems back online by the end of the week.

Please continue to reach out directly to your Regional Managers with any general questions and BPORDERSTATUS@waterworks.com for any updates on orders during this time.  To submit a Technical Support Ticket, please follow the link below to our Waterworks.com Service Portal. 

Waterworks Service Portal

Thank you for your patience while service is restored.  We will provide an update once available

Shipments

• Per the update to the PA government guidelines, as of June 5^th, we are allowed to ship ALL product lines to showrooms and warehouses. All product lines will be entered with an 8 week lead time.
• We are approximately one to two weeks behind on the expected ship dates and targeting mid-July to be caught up.

Drop Shipments

• Drop Ship orders – ALL product lines are allowed to ship to homeowners.
  • We will continue to offer drop ship through July 31^st. Shipping will continue to be free. Lead times will match current product lead times of 8 weeks for all items.

RGAs

• Please do not send back any RGAs until after July 6^th.
• We will be processing RGAs already received (currently in-house at Robern) from June 15^th – July 3^rd.

Quick Ship Orders

• We are currently not able to accept Quick Ship orders, while we catch up on orders received during the PA government’s mandated shut down. The Customer Delight Team will contact any customers placing a Quick Ship Order.

Robern Customer Delight Team

• We are currently surpassing our goal response time of 48 business hours and are at 24 hours for all email boxes!

Glass Bins

• The GLASSBIN8.5 and the GLASSBIN5.25 are currently delayed. We began to ship out glass bins and will be shipping out the remainder of open orders by the middle of July.  

Vitality Mirror

• YM4836RPFPD3P is currently delayed. We expect to be able to ship the mirrors out by August 7th.