LOS ANGELES — April 12, 2019 — The U.S. National Brand Awards have officially launched the first voting cycle today in Los Angeles. The public can vote now at usnationalbrandawards.com/vote.

The U.S. National Brand Awards will honor the American people’s favorite brands from all over the world. The nominations will be based on a process combining extensive market research with the votes of the American public. The public votes will be gathered through online surveys administered on the official website usnationalbrandawards.com and the research data will be objectively and equitably gathered by a team of market researchers at Lansion Media USA Inc. The U.S. National Brand Awards judge prospective brands on both customer opinions and a set of five distinct standards. These standards drive modern brands to achieve new levels of customer satisfaction, customer safety, and customer education, through creative activities and multi-platform social influence. The U.S. National Brand Awards recognize brands that transcend these standards and respect consumer choices and interests to the greatest extent.

The US National Brand Awards have 13 categories and will publish an authoritative list based on rigorous market analysis results.

The categories are:

1. Top 25 Automobile Brands
2. Top 25 Cosmetics Brands
3. Top 25 Apparel Brands
4. Top 25 Entertainment Brands
5. Top 25 Health Brands
6. Top 25 Technology Brands
7. Top 25 Travel Brands
8. Top 25 Social Media Brands
9. Top 25 Real Estate Brands
10. Top 25 Beverage Brands
11. Top 25 Rising Star Brands
12. Excellent Brand Manager Award
13. Outstanding Brand Founder Award

Among them, the Outstanding Brand Founder Award and the Excellent Brand Manager Award are the highlights of this year’s U.S. National Brand Awards. These two awards are intended to recognize the founders and brand managers who have made distinguished contributions in the process of enhancing their brand through unique campaigns to gain brand awareness and a loyal brand following.

The U.S. National Brand Awards are based on a process combining the votes of the American public with data gathered through extensive market research. The world’s major brands are evaluated on five key indicators in order to select brands that best represent the voices of the American customers. The five major indicators are:

Creativity — the brand has demonstrated its ability to learn, create innovative brand campaigns, and promote the brand with a signature voice that meets the changing needs of the market

Influence — the brand must have a high level of brand influence, with customers buzzing about the brand, honestly reflecting the quality of the brand’s reliability, product durability, and brand loyalty

Competitiveness — the brand must have an intrinsic value, and must have objectively manifested the brand’s competitiveness in the market

Satisfaction — the brand’s breadth of customers must reflect an overwhelmingly positive acceptance of the brand, prompting consumers to willingly express their positive opinions on the brand

Brand Value — the brand must demonstrate that it brings added value to the market, customers, or public as a whole

The U.S. National Brand Awards and Lansion Media USA Inc. have formed a strategic partnership and have created a specialized market research team to analyze the market data. The analysis results will ensure transparency and objectivity.

Posted April 15, 2019

Source: Lansion Media USA, Inc.

LEXINGTON, Ky. — April 15, 2019 — Tempur-Pedic, the brand synonymous with innovation in the mattress industry since 2012, is today unveiling the TEMPUR-breeze® mattress line, the first capable of keeping you cool from when you first get into bed, as you fall asleep, and throughout the night. Tempur-breeze® will help you feel up to 8 degrees cooler through the night.

“Sleeping cooler, and in particular, sleeping cooler throughout the night, is the number one unmet consumer need in the sleep industry — with more than 60% of Americans struggling with this problem — and the new TEMPUR-breeze is the only mattress line that truly addresses it,” said Rick Anderson, Tempur Sealy executive vice president and president, North America. “TEMPUR-breeze mattresses are a thermodynamic breakthrough that provide both unbeatable all-night cooling and maximum pressure relief for a deeper, more refreshing sleep.”

Tempur-Pedic’s thermal, material  and textile scientists — including ten cross functional teams across three continents — have spent more than ten years and 2.6 million hours on R&D in the industry’s most sophisticated Thermal Lab. Building on this commitment to innovation, the new TEMPUR-breeze mattress performs exceptionally at each layer — and for the first time in the industry — across the whole system. This coordination addresses temperature and humidity flux in the sleep microclimate during three separate phases of sleep:

• When you lie down: The high molecular weight yarn in the SmartClimate® Dual Cover System delivers a cooling sensation up to 30 percent more intense than non-cooling models. Thermal effusivity tests — which measure heat absorption — confirm this cool-to-touch yarn absorbs heat throughout sleep, continually feeling cool as you roll over and adjust. With a washable, easy-to-remove cover that features a patent-pending 360-degree zipper system, cooling effects will not diminish.
• As you fall asleep: At about 80°F, the molecules within TEMPUR-breeze’s most efficient Phase Change Material (PCM) to-date, PURECOOL+™, activate, shifting from a solid to a liquid to absorb massive amounts of heat. For the first time, Tempur-Pedic’s scientists successfully altered these proprietary molecules to deliver more phase change material, increasing its capacity to absorb heat by 2x compared to other PCM.
• Staying cool all night: In an unprecedented engineering feat at a cellular level, TEMPUR-CM+™ comfort layer is up to 10x more porous to more effectively channel heat and humidity away from you all night long. For the first time, both phase change and climate materials are integrated into the bed’s top layer where they’re most effective.

Coolness and comfort in concert

TEMPUR-breeze delivers the highest performing cooling system and most advanced pressure-relieving material in one mattress. On a molecular level, the ability to combine Tempur-Pedic’s pressure relieving, adaptation and motion-isolating properties with open-cell foam material is an industry-first. Tempur-Pedic is the only brand to successfully engineer this into soft, medium and firm feel preferences.

Perfect temperature every time

From cover to core the TEMPUR-PRObreeze™ and TEMPUR-LUXEbreeze™ mattresses combine the best cooling performance and pressure relieving properties in Tempur-Pedic’s history.  The new TEMPUR-breeze line includes PRObreeze, which features three-level cooling system and feels up to 3 degrees cooler through the night. It’s available in medium and medium hybrid and retails at a price point of $3,799 for queen-size.

The LUXEbreeze also includes the company’s most advanced pressure relieving material in a ventilated TEMPUR-APR® support layer, delivering even more breathability and cooling comfort for four-levels of cooling technology. As a result, it feels up to eight degrees cooler through the night. Available in soft and firm versions, the LUXEbreeze retails at $4,499 for queen-size.

Posted April 15, 2019

Source: Tempur Sealy International, Inc.

ALBSTADT, Germany — April 15, 2019 — The experts are agreed that every company, regardless of its size, must deal with the subject of digitization and find its own approach to it. Mayer & Cie. sees in smart solutions an opportunity to continue to be a step ahead of the competition. The circular knitting machine manufacturer is tackling the resulting tasks successively and with clear priorities. Its customers are to benefit first and foremost. That is why Mayer & Cie. is working on collecting and bundling machine- and quality-relevant process data. At the same time a continuous data flow must be ensured across all interfaces. Initial measures are already being implemented.

“There is no such thing as digitization per se”

Sebastian Mayer, a member of the Mayer & Cie. management, is in charge of corporate development at the circular knitting machine company. Digitization is an important part of his remit, but Mayer is reluctant to leave it at that. “There is no such thing as digitization per se,” he said. “There are different areas in which it can be of relevance for us as an engineering company. They include, for example, digitization of production and the value chain, better known as Industry 4.0, digitization of the organization and of collaboration, and digitization of the product itself. Each angle has different challenges and benefits. Within this framework every company must decide for itself what makes sense and when.”

A key concern at Mayer & Cie. is to take a closer look at existing processes and see how they can be mapped more efficiently and at less expense. There is nothing new about this approach as such. Regularly undertaking a critical appraisal and improving existing processes has always been firmly embedded in Mayer & Cie.’s DNA. “We would otherwise not be where we are today,” Mayer said.

Digitization at a circular knitting machine company: specific and yet like everywhere else

Until now, Mayer & Cie. feels, the need for digitization in manufacturing has not been as urgent as in other industries, especially the media. But that is no reason to take it easy, says Sebastian Mayer. Technical and mechanical leads are not infinite. He sees in digitization the potential to continue to set Mayer & Cie. apart from the competition.

Mayer & Cie. has already taken the first step: identifying approaches that are meaningful and relevant for the company. They consist mainly of ensuring data quality and continuity on the basis of sustainable future-oriented technologies. Specifically that means, for example, systematically collecting circular knitting machine data. With which machine parameters is which quality of knitwear produced? What are the differences if a machine is running one revolution faster or slower per minute or if the yarn is a little finer or a slightly different fibre mixture?

Data continuity and the seamless automated flow of collected data to its destination without perceptible interruptions play a special role. “The classic example of discontinuity is the Excel spreadsheet that one employee feeds with data he has collected from an existing database in order to send it to a colleague who then inputs it by hand into another system,” Mayer said, describing a practice that is far from uncommon.

There is also a very much Mayer-specific component where data continuity is concerned. The company can pride itself on a high level of employee loyalty; 40 years with the firm is not unusual. So there is an enormous amount of “head knowledge” around. “Think of employees who started at the firm as fitters over 30 years ago and are now performing management tasks,” Mayer added. “They are walking encyclopaedias of machine and customer knowledge. This valuable knowledge ought to be readily accessible for all employees.” This approach makes all the more sense because the digitization endeavours at Mayer & Cie. aim mainly to benefit one group: the customers. They are to benefit from a better overall customer experience and from even more specific advice.

Digital specifics: measures and challenges

Mayer & Cie. has laid the technical groundwork for change by introducing a new ERP system. It is the indispensable basis for all other services that the company would like to provide. Sebastian Mayer describes it as the company’s “digital spinal cord,” the central hub for all data and information flows.

Mayer & Cie.’s next target is specific measures to improve customer satisfaction. They include ways to provide remote technical support, better known as Remote Services. Knitting machines from Mayer & Cie. are all over the world. Even though the circular knitting machine manufacturer has about 80 agencies around the world it can take days for the nearest service engineer to call on the customer. That is too long and is often not necessary. “We are working inter alia on solutions that involve Mixed-Reality glasses,” Mayer explained. “They enable us to see what the customer sees without the need for protracted explanations. Everyone who has ever described a technical problem over the telephone knows just how arduous that can be.” Using these glasses, customers can be shown remotely how to carry out regular maintenance work and even simple repairs. A Web shop from which customers can order consumables and spare parts irrespective of opening hours or language barriers is also about to be launched.

In future, all these measures will lead to a comprehensive customer portal where customers can access centrally anything they need to know about their machines and communicate with Mayer & Cie. or its representatives. Maintenance might also be managed via this portal, with predictive maintenance as the keyword. “We see a great deal of potential.” Sebastian Mayer said, “and have every intention of putting it to use, albeit with moderation and targets.”

Posted April 15, 2019

Source: Mayer & Cie. GmbH & Co. KG