Equipment loan program adds value to customer visits
When Nebraska Municipal Power Pool Key Accounts Representative Jim Keeler offered customers an infrared audit on their facilities, they jumped at the chance. Keeler knew he could help his customers locate problems by using infrared cameras and report writing software from Western's Equipment Loan Program.
The first customer already had an extensive electrical maintenance program in place, but the seven-hour audit found 11 problems requiring equipment repairs inside the facility. The audit pinpointed potential problems and gave the maintenance crew time to schedule repairs without disrupting production schedules.
NMPP
Utility Services Representative Bob
Meade who conducted the audits said, "After conducting
the infrared audit inside the facility, I got together with
a utility lineman and the head meter technician. We decided
to look at the facility's switchgear and transformers. While
inspecting a pad-mounted 2,500-KVA transformer, we found a major
concern. The secondary had 12 500-MCM secondaries per phase
with current-limiting fuses.
Diagnosis saves time and money
Meade explained, "Apparently, the contractor had installed shrink tubing on the current-limiting fuses when they were first installed. Over time—probably because of ultra-violet light—the fuses had split and started to come apart. This was an accident waiting to happen. We didn't close the transformer door, fearing disturbance to the secondary wires.
"The
next day, we shut down the facility to work on the problem.
It became a team effort as the two utility representatives offered
to help the facility any way they could. They helped during
the planned outage the next day by handling primary switching
to de-energize the transformer and other primary switching for
the facility.
Meade
said the problem emphasized the need for the utility crew and
the facility maintenance staff to work together and magnify
an already cooperative relationship.
By heading
off this potential transformer failure, the facility maintenance
staff figured they saved at least one day of production—about
$165,000. A replacement pad-mounted transformer would have cost
about $20,000, and since they didn't have one on-hand, they
would have had to locate and install one quickly.
Troubleshooting efforts build customer relations
Regular key account visits are vital to building strong customer relations. When Keeler discovered that many larger key accounts had not been visited, he again turned to Meade to conduct infrared audits at larger customer facilities.
Meade
said, "With the new FLIR camera and its report writing
software, I was able to show customers problems they had on
their electrical systems or equipment. One customer was surprised
that the electric utility actually cared enough about his business
to come and talk to him, and then offer to help him out.
"The next day he was equally surprised to find that the utility had services he could take advantage of. By conducting the infrared audit and providing quick results, we were able to establish very good relations between the utility and the customer."
Meade figures that over the months he and Keeler have improved relations with more than 50 key customers and their electric utility by using Western's infrared camera to audit facilities.
Meade said, "I
conduct six to 10 audits a month to help customers discover
everything from leaking roofs to bearing problems in generation
facilities. Western's Equipment Loan
Program helps us help our customers by loaning equipment,
educational kits, fuel cell demo kits and a variety of other
tools."