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DEVELOPING AND IMPLEMENTING AN EFFECTIVE ELECTRICAL MAINTENANCE PROGRAM Part I: Selection Of A Testing Firm Part II: Developing Specifications Part III: Anatomy Of a Shutdown; Implementing The Program
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We have developed a list of 10 questions to help you determine the type of company you hire to work in your facility. Conveniently, we have provided our answers to all of the questions. There is a link at the end of the article for a listing of just the questions. These questions are not all inclusive however should give you the groundwork for identifying a qualified organization to help you maintain your facility. TOP TEN Questions to ask the technician or company that is going to work at your facility.
The Powertronic, Inc. lead technician is currently certified, continuously since 1992, in electrical distribution testing by the National Institute for Certification of Engineering Technologies (NICET). This certification required a minimum of five years field experience before the certification test could be taken. Also, our lead technician is a Certified Power Quality professional (CPQ), as endorsed by the Association of Energy Engineers. Are you willing to come to my facility to look at my equipment before you quote the job? We believe that most jobs require a site visit to ascertain any peculiarities about the location, equipment or environment. This also allows us the opportunity to get a stronger sense of the customers' requirements and any problems that may have to be overcome before work can commence. Are you willing to manage a job without the assistance of our facility personnel? Yes. No job can be done without some facility assistance however, we can provide guidance and project management at whatever level is required. When we perform a site visit to determine your electrical service requirements, we will ask several questions about your personnel's involvement. Your team of maintenance personnel can work with us to become familiar with the equipment or watch what we do to understand why the maintenance is required. If you want a complete "hands off" approach we can completely manage the job with little assistance. This may include, providing test specifications, scheduling the power company disconnect/reconnect, organizing the shutdown, providing a schedule, delegation of duties, parts ordering, etc. Where did you learn to work on this type of equipment? The Powertronic, Inc. lead technician was trained at the intensive 1Year Prime Power Production Specialist course in the US Army. This course began with electrical basics and worked up to medium voltage power generation and switchgear. Time in the military was followed by 6 years as a field service technician for a major electrical manufacturer. Continued training is important in any field Recent training courses include: ION Fundamentals 2001 Power Measurement, Victoria, BC Comprehensive Powerlogic System 1999 Powerlogic Plant, TN Fundamentals of Power Quality 1998 Sponsored by AEE Power Quality Analysis: Problems Analysis Solutions 1996 by PowerCET Training courses for Square D Company products include: Altivar ATV66 VFD (Startup and Troubleshooting) 1994 Raleigh, NC Plant Ground Fault System Testing 1993 Dallas Omegapak (8803) VFD (Application Engineering) 1993 Toronto Omegapak (8804) VFD (Troubleshooting Refresher Course) 1993 Raleigh, NC Plant LVDO Switchgear and DS Breakers 1990 Middletown, OH Plant Omegapak (8804) VFD (Startup and Troubleshooting) 1989 Columbia, SC Plant Solid State Starters (8660) (Startup and Troubleshooting) 1989 Columbia, SC Plant Dry Type Transformers (Construction, Startup, Test) 1989 Sorgel (Milwaukee) Plant Metal Enclosed Air Switch (HVL) (Construction, Startup, Repair) 1989 Smyrna, TN Plant Is your test equipment state of the art, well maintained, calibrated and traceable to NIST? Powertronic, Inc. has a complete inventory of calibrated test equipment from manufacturers like AVO International (Multi-Amp), Biddle, Dranetz, Fluke, Tektronix, Square D Company and Westinghouse. If you run into difficulties or come across a problem what type of resources do you have available? We have maintained strong working relationships with various distributors in the greater New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania area. This includes distributors of products from Square D Company, Cutler Hammer, Siemens, General Electric and more. Additionally, having worked previously for a major electrical equipment manufacturer we are familiar with factory locations, contacts and sales personnel. It is important to speak their language and provide important information; this is a cooperative effort that can help you get solutions fast. Do you ever turn down work if it falls out of your area of expertise? If we don't have a strong working background in a piece of equipment we will tell the customer up front that we don't have the proper resources. Often, with our network of associates, we can direct you to an organization that would be able to help. If you cannot do the work will you refer me to someone whom can, even if it is a competitor? Powertronic performs many electrical services at a high level. Because of our confidence, we are not intimidated by competition and certainly not afraid to refer customers to them. We believe that professionalism and quality workmanship of our technicians is clearly better than our competition and because of that we will be able to satisfy our customers in most situations. Will your job report be available within one week of the completion of the job? We pride ourselves on preparing a professional report that is delivered to you within one week of your completed service. One of the great aggravations having worked for an electrical manufacturer was having a customer call one month after the job was completed and ask "where is my report". What's the point of performing a maintenance or repair if you don't know the results? Do you have a web site that provides an easy way for me to contact you and provides useful information? The Powertronic, Inc. web site, www.powertronic.com, has been online since January 1998. Many of our competitors have web sites that are static and only provide a listing of services available and ways to contact them. We felt that the purpose of a web page is to provide dynamic and timely information for customers as well as market our services. At our web site we can be contacted through email. Access to monthly tech tips or informational sheets is available and each quarter we provide a more extensive article, our featured article. We are continually updating our Electrical Links, which take you to not just the easy to find web sites but a few hidden gems. As a pleasant distraction, we also have a Fun Links page that has diverse and entertaining links to other web sites. The "View from the Road" feature is the owners lighthearted look at field service, business ownership and life. At Powertronic we take our work seriously, but we occasionally need some relaxing diversions from work
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Copyright (c) 2002 Powertronic, Inc. All Rights Reserved. |
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