R. Scott Trumbull, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Franklin Electric Co., Inc., announced that Franklin Electric communicated to the Water Systems Industry in North America last week that the new general sales policy, effective January 1, 2007, will be ...

... to sell all of its products, including 2HP and smaller submersible electric motors and associated products, only on a direct basis to wholesale water systems distributors. Exceptions will be made only where Franklin determines, on a case-by-case basis, that sales to a particular pump OEM (original pump-equipment manufacturer) would add significant customer value to the distribution of Franklin products.

As Franklin implements this change in the market, we will make available to wholesale distributors the needed assembly and test equipment coupled with the training they may require to assemble Franklin motors to Franklin pump-ends or other OEM pump-ends. It is our strategic business objective that water systems wholesale distributors should be able to supply their contractor customers with the motor and pump combination of their choice.

Franklin Electric is a global leader in the production and marketing of water and fuel pumping systems and is a technical leader in submersible motors, drives, controls, and monitoring devices.